Loans Archive
Posted on June 24th, 2008 in Loans.
An increasing proportion of consumers across the country are turning to doorstep loans as their money problems worsen, it has been suggested.
Credit has become more difficult to access in recent months and as a result the offers made by short-term loans are gaining in popularity, according to a report from Equifax on behalf of ITV.
Many people with debt problems view such credit deals as the only way to get by but the interest rates are such that a difficult financial situation could very quickly become much worse.
The research found that almost one in three people who are concerned about their ability to gain credit had used doorstep loans.
Neil Munroe, external affairs director for Equifax, said: "We urge people to talk to their lender if they are struggling with repayments in order to avoid trouble further down the line."
Richard Brown, chief executive of moneynet.co.uk, suggested recently that when it comes to being accepted or refused for a loan deal, lenders look solely at the evidence contained in a person’s credit history file.
Posted on June 23rd, 2008 in Loans.
Small businesses around the UK are losing faith that the current government will act in a manner that promotes their interests.
Many small firms are facing serious money problems and almost 96 per cent now feel to some extent "dissatisfied" with policy makers in London, according to a recent poll by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).
In response to its own findings, the FSB has suggested that its members feel that their money problems and operating difficulties are not being taken seriously enough by the state.
"All we see is government consulting big business, with small businesses being left out of the loop," said John Wright, the FSB’s national chairman.
"But small businesses produce over half of UK gross domestic product (GDP) and it is important that their needs are addressed if we are to get through the current economic difficulties."
In August of last year, the accountancy firm Grant Thornton revealed that for the first time the UK’s consumer debt mountain had become larger in scale than its annual GDP.
Posted on June 19th, 2008 in Loans.
Personal loan deals are getting more expensive as far as British borrowers are concerned, it has been claimed.
According to a report from research firm Defaqto, the typical cost of taking on a personal loan in the UK is higher now than it was when the base rate of interest was last set at five per cent in December 2006.
In fact, a loan of £2,000 is now on average 3.3 per cent more expensive over the course of 24 months than it would have been 18 months ago.
Many of the UK’s biggest lenders are thought to be tightening their criteria and looking for what Defaqto describes as "better quality business".
"The rejection rate for unsecured loan applicants is higher than it has been in previous years with Nationwide reporting that they’re now declining about 60 per cent of applications," noted the research firm’s principal banking consultant David Black.
A report from the Council of Mortgage Lenders last week suggested that an increasing number of homeowners are opting for fixed-rate mortgage deals in an effort to avoid money problems in years to come.
Posted on June 19th, 2008 in Loans.
The Bank of England’s monetary policy committee (MPC) considered whether to hike the base rate of interest when they met earlier this month.
According to the minutes from the committee’s most recent meeting, the threat from inflation was deemed to be such that an immediate base rate increase needed to be assessed.
A rise in the base rate would have been bad news for borrowers around the country and particularly for anyone with debt problems.
Ultimately, however, eight of the nine MPC members took the view that the cost of borrowing should remain at five per cent at least until July.
Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at Global Insight, said: "The overall impression is that the Bank of England is in no hurry to move interest rates, given the current major uncertainties surrounding both the medium-term inflation and growth outlook."
Figures from the Office of National Statistics recently showed the money problems British consumers are facing as inflation was revealed to have hit 3.3 per cent in May.
Posted on June 18th, 2008 in Loans.
Thousands of consumers across Britain are lying to their lenders about how much money they earn on an annual basis, according to a recent study.
Figures from uSwitch.com show that five per cent of people deliberately mislead the lender they are applying to in order to gain access to more credit than they might otherwise be able to.
Meanwhile, financial service firms are giving out billions of pounds in credit to consumers whose income level they have not had officially checked.
All of which could leave borrowers facing debt management and money problems and lenders having to write off sizeable sums.
"We cannot ignore the fact that consumers have a responsibility to borrow sensibly, but lenders need to help the process and tighten their credit checking procedures," said Simeon Linstead, head of personal finance at uSwitch.com.
Darren Cook from Moneyfacts.co.uk said recently that the days of cheap credit a years away from a return in the UK.
