Personal Loan

Advantages: Competative
Disadvantages: None

...I haven't wrote a review on Ciao for quite some time, so to get back into the swing of it, I thought I'd write about something I know quite a lot about!!!! HSBC Loans. HSBC offer several ways of borrowing money, I'm going to talk to you today about the personal loan. SOME BASIC FACTS An HSBC personal loan is a good idea if you want fixed monthly repayments and you know exactly how much you want to borrow. You can borrow any amount between £1000 and a whopping £25,000. As I said the repayments are fixed which basically means you will pay the same amount back each month for the period of the loan. Loans between £1000 and £15,000 can be taken over any period between 1 and 5 years. Loans over £15,000 can be taken over a maximum of 8 years. An HSBC personal loan can be agreed for any purpose, and if you are accepted the money can...

coolaskaha 15.05.2004 (15.03.2006) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of HSBC Loans

MBNA personal loans

Advantages: Ease of application
Disadvantages: Poor organisation, customer care. Incorrect outstanding balance. Incorrect default letters.

...I took out an MBNA (then VIrgin) personal loan 4 years ago. The ease of the application at that time was good and the money came promptly. I am now told that you cannot get this loan via Virgin any more. I made payments regularly for 4 years and I now have another year to run. However in July last year I had problems due to the fact that somebody else owed me money and a payment was returned by my bank (NatWest). For this I received 38 pound charge from my bank and a default charge from MBNA. This happened again the next month (already therefore 126 in charges) and I was telephoned by MBNA where I live in Greece. I explained the situation and the girl was in fact sympathetic and I made a payment by debit card then and it was decided to spread the other outstanding payment over 2 months on top of my regular payment. The lady then...

Phweeter 04.05.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of MBNA International Bank Loans

Tesco Loan

Advantages: apply online
Disadvantages: weren't up front about the loan we were been offered

...We applied for a 7.4%25 loan over 10 years. We phoned their loan progress number as we had a time limit to reserve our purchase, and was told our application had sucessfully been accepted. Paperwork came through 5days later and the loan rate had gone upto 9%25 over 7 years £80 dearer a month. We complained we'd been mislead and they said it states rates may vary on application. I understood that and that would have been fair enough had we been informed we'd been accepted at a different rate / repayment period. We also said we couldn't afford the monthly repayment under the new terms and the guy just kept pushing my husband to take out the loan, he was supposed to be phoning to discuss our complaint. He was very indifferent and at times just rude! I am very disappointed with tesco as they put us through a lot of needless...

nkyher 07.07.2008 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Tesco Personal Finance Loans

Loan (ar) Ranger

Advantages: Fun, easy to lend, makes you feel good, can earn better interest than a bank sometimes.
Disadvantages: Can lose your money, your money is tied up - I mean it's tied up for years (or forever)

...Zopa is a company based in the UK which offers an alternative way to make money for those who want to make money, or an alternative way to get a loan for those who want to get a loan. It's a bit like ebay, but for loans. How it works ? borrowers You can apply for a loan either by creating a listing, which is effectively your chance to plead to some lenders for their hard earned cash by appealing to their kind heartedness. If you put a picture up showing you're a good looking girl, or write an amusing yet convincing argument about why you want the loan then you might get a decent rate. If your case isn't good, or you've put up an ugly male picture, then you might be offered the money but at a worse rate. In reality of course people aren't going to judge people on looks and personality when it comes to lending money, I'm sure it...

hard_to_please 10.08.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Zopa Loans

Tesco Loan - slow process

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...

Kingsland 02.06.2001 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Tesco Personal Finance Loans

The Best Phone Call of My Life

Advantages: Low rate, low interest, quick and easy
Disadvantages: Having to get a loan

...Since I passed my driving test I've been driving around in a Volvo 340. By itself that doesn't sound too bad now does it? But what if I also mention that said Volvo 340 is twenty-one years of age, still not so bad? Well, I'm only nineteen years of age; hope that puts things into perspective for you. And, as if that wasn't bad enough since I've been driving said car the fan belt, the water pump, the spark plugs, all the tyres and the battery have been replaced, out of pure necessity. So, I wanted to get a new car, from the day after I passed my test. As, with most people I cannot afford to go out and buy a brand spanking new car, but what I can afford to do is to get a loan and buy a much newer car. I discovered the AA Personal Loan service completely by chance. I was hunting for a loan on moneysupermarket.com and noticed an advert...

Expired-Account 28.09.2006 (28.09.2007) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of AA Personal Loan

Egg Fried Loans

Advantages: Simple application process. Very flexible personal finance. Low APR
Disadvantages: Telesales staff very pushy with the payment protection sales.

...After making a decision to buy a new car, (see my previous op!) I shopped around for the best loan deal I could find that suited me. The most obvious places, like my bank, or the place I was buying my car from did not offer anything favourable to me. What I was looking for was a loan where I could be flexible, i.e. be able to pay off lump sums when I can afford it, or increase my monthly payments or take a month off maybe now and then. It would also be nice to clear the debt without incurring penalty. So, after checking my banks website, and calling them, I searched on the net for flexible loans. Two familiar names came up, Egg, and Cahoot. The Cahoot site didn’t load for me, I am an impatient sort, so they lost my business straight away. Egg was looking good already! The Egg folk offer a number of personal...

alflavor 22.09.2001 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Egg Loans

The wacky loan-zone

Advantages: Easy to use, excellent rates, cut out the banks
Disadvantages: Some longer term rates can be less competitive for borrowers

...What's good about a Personal Loan? If all the junk mail and newspaper ads from the big banks are to be believed, a Personal Loan is a great product that everyone should have! In reality, the best thing is usually receiving the money, and buying your big-ticket item or paying off those debts... it's rarely the loan itself, but that is about to change, thanks to Zopa. Zopa (short for the "Zone of Possible Agreement") is an online exchange offering savers the chance to lend money to borrowers in a safe and straightforward way. Savers wanting to earn a higher rate of interest than they might get from a bank can pay money into Zopa and offer it to potential borrowers at rates and terms (length of time of the loan) that suit them. Borrowers can similarly be matched to these lenders. The beauty of the system is this - your...

andyev 10.04.2007 (20.04.2007) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Zopa Loans

picture loans

Advantages: service
Disadvantages: changing rules

...Service from picture is ok when you initially get in touch with them, and the promptness is okay but please think twice before getting a loan with them if you are thinking of moving to a bigger house or in fact changing anything at all about your mortgage. we have had nothing but problems with Picture since we got a secured loan from them. We have a loan for £36,000 and were more or less told that if we didnt get the payment protection (a separate £9,000 loan) we would get loan. We were due to move to a bigger house, but picture said that they wanted all the free proceeds that we got after we had repaid our original mortgage. when I pointed out to them that this wasnt in their literature or the agreement, they said that this was a new rule that they had because of the current economic situation. Even though we were moving to a more...

frewster 31.08.2008 (30.08.2008) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Picture Loans

Credit In The Form Of A Personal Loan

Advantages: It May Help You When Looking For Loans
Disadvantages: It May Not

...the normal credit checks. OK, assuming you wish to apply for a personal loan, i.e. one that is not secured on your home or any other property. This is different to a mortgage or a secured loan as the lender has nothing for security against what you borrow. Personal loans tend to be for smaller amounts and over shorter periods with higher interest rates than mortgages, this is because there is more risk to the lender. Most high street banks and even supermarkets now offer personal loans. Decisions can be obtained in minutes and it is pretty quick and painless. The better your credit rating/scoring the more chance you have of being offered a loan and you may even get a lower rate. In addition the rate offered is usually affected by the amount you wish to borrow. Surprisingly the more you borrow and the longer time you take to pay the lower...

criple 23.04.2003 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Everything that starts with C ...