Advantages: money works harder than in a normal bank
Disadvantages: can be complicated to understand at first

...I must say I was surprised to see so many critical reviews of Intelligent Finance here on Ciao. I felt I must redress the balance somewhat as I have had a completely different experience with them. Intelligent Finance are a division of Halifax plc. They are solely internet based which is ideal for a lazy bones like me. Having come across a link to their website I went to investigate... The website (www.if.com) itself is clearly laid out and easy to understand. There are fantastic step by step demos which explain the way IF work using Macromedia Flash or Non Flash (text). You can find information about the different products they offer on this site but in my case I like to talk to someone first so I just telephoned and presented the poor service agent with an endless barrage of questions. The agent I dealt with was incredibly... Read review

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Advantages: Good rates and well trained staff
Disadvantages: Decision process on loans may be too long for those in need of money quickly

...Why the other side? Well, I used to work for this here company as a Personal Finance Advisor (that's one of those jumped up titles which isn't quite as good as it sounds). So, I have an insiders view of how it works and how well it works too. ------ Tesco Personal Finance is a relatively new company, offering a range of financial services from loans, to credit cards, and all manners of insurance. I worked in the loans division, taking potential customers through loan applications, answering questions, and also dealing with existing customers, whether it be changing their payment dates or paying off the remainder of their loan. First off, I have to say that the staff are very well trained. We spent two weeks in full time training, which may not sound a lot, but when you remember that TPF only offer one kind of loan, that... Read review

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Advantages: a way to get a new car if you have credit problems
Disadvantages: not so good if you want the car they tell you you can have

...was not in our price bracket but that there were a few cars he could show us. I must point out that at this point no-one had told us what figures they were working to. We were then ushered out of the main showroom into a "holding area" for cars. He pointed out a Rover 400, a Rover 200, a Mitsubishi and an Escort with the comment that these were all we could afford. Subsequently we agreed that the Rover 200 was probably the best car for us. Then it was back to the table again, the man made his apologies and left us sitting there again. Another 30 minutes go by and someone else arrived clutching a sheaf of papers. This person told us that the finance had been approved and subject to sight of all necessary documents we would be driving our new car home within the hour. By this time I was really getting fraught, not knowing... Read review

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Advantages: easy phone application, friendly staff
Disadvantages: slow postal service

...I recently applied for a home improvement loan with Tesco Personal Finance. I gave all my details over the phone i.e incomings and outgoings and was given a yes in principle at a good rate after they had checked my credit file and credit score. Then the waiting started .... It took a week for the paperwork to arrive, I was expecting a first class service. I had to send in original payslips and three months bank statements along with the credit agreement. I paid for it to be returned Special Delivery to ensure a speedy service. The details say you then have to wait 48 hours for a final decision, unfortunately this doesn't include weekends "as the checking department don't work weekends". I have now been declined as I have apparantly got too many outgoings, despite honestly giving these details in my application. I am now... Read review

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Advantages: can apply online or on hard copy. Excellent rates for higher amounts borrowed. Fast decision, usually
Disadvantages: Postcodes are vital!

...I needed some money - I thought the best thing to do for me was to consolidate anything I owed, and just have one amount to pay each month. I was not really thinking of doing a loan until I was in Tesco and i happened to see one of their loan leaflets- it's quite distinctive and has a shopping trolley on the front. Anyway, the leaflet said it was even cheaoer to apply on line and ever one for getting on line and exlporing, I gave it a go. SIgning on to the Tesco websie is easy. Tesco.com will find you on the site. Click on "personal finance", and a full product range will come up, which includes insurance and loans. Click on "loans". You get a picture of a calculator and one of a lady wondering what to do. If you want to see how much a month an amount will cost, now is the time to enter the information and the monthly payments... Read review

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Advantages: Good interest rates for both borrowing and saving.
Disadvantages: Slow international incoming transfers. Credit card account now outside of IF plan.

...OK ... I started off being really quite pleased, and proud of my Intelligent Finance accounts. I had been a student, and we all know what students are like with money. This was my first "working now ... going straight" account, and I opened up the current account, credit card and savings account. All was fine, until I had a reasonably large sum of money sent from the US. This was funds from a sale of stock in the company for which I work. Most of my work colleagues were receiving their money on the 4th working day after selling the shares in the US. Mine was taking nearer 10 working days. I queried this with IF, and after much umming and arring, they admitted to me that they could not tell when funds wired to my account from the US would arrive. It wasn't the 3,000 mile journey that was the problem. They agreed that the funds were... Read review

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Advantages: Only as a last option
Disadvantages: Unintellegance, and confusing.

...Going through this whole ordeal would be too much to bear to be honest so this is going to be a very short review. My apologies to those of you who like long in depth and fully researched stories, but I can only tell you of my experiences after all... It started when my fiance and me decided to purchase a house. It is over £100k and over our budget, but we thought, what the heck. The problem was finding a company to give us a mortgage. The only one was Intellegent Finance. Hooray, we thought - a decent company... Shortly after, we were discussing our personal affairs with them about money coming in and out and such, all to be confirmed by post. When our forms arrived to sign, I noticed they had decided to call me 'David Peter Kent Kent'. I quicky called to correct them - "i