Personal Loans

Get A Great Personal Loan Deal!

Looking to borrow between £1,000 and £25,000 and have a good credit history? If yes, see our latest deal from the Post Office. 

Compare Personal Loans

We all experience times when we need extra money we can’t cover out of our day-to-day income or savings.

Whether you need to pay for a new car, home improvements, a wedding, or any other type of sizeable one-off expenditure, there are a number of different ways you can go about finding the funds.

Determining the right way to borrow for you will depend on a number of factors, including your personal financial circumstances, your credit history and what, if any, assets you already have. To make the best decision possible, it’s important to be clear what the various options are and what they involve.

Unsecured personal loans

Depending on how much you need to borrow, you may be able to apply for an unsecured personal loan. This means borrowing money from a lender that is not secured against an asset, such as your home. You will then normally need to make minimum monthly repayments until the balance is paid off.

Benefits of unsecured personal loans

• Borrow up to £25,000 (depending on the lender and your circumstances)

• Interest rates are often fixed for the life of the loan

• You can choose how long to pay the loan back over

• You can make over-payments or pay off the balance early if you are able to do so

Restrictions on unsecured personal loans

• Unsecured personal loans usually have higher interest rates than other forms of borrowing

• The repayment term may be shorter than for other types of credit

• If you overpay by more than a certain amount in any 12-month period, the lender may be able to charge compensation (although how much they can charge is limited by  law)

• If you miss your repayments it can affect your credit rating, making it much harder to borrow in future

• You could also end up with a County Court Judgement (CCJ) against you, which may make it harder to find jobs in future, especially if they require a DBS check

• Although the loan is unsecured, your creditor may still be able to apply to a county court to appoint a bailiff to collect the debt, which may involve seizing goods from your home or business

Find unsecured personal loans

If you want to see how much you could borrow as an unsecured personal loan, take a look at the Post Office loans calculator which provides a representative example.

Secured Loans

If you own an asset of significant value, such as a property, you may be able to apply for a secured loan. This can allow you to borrow more and may result in a better interest rate and longer repayment term than for unsecured borrowing. 

Loan-to-value ratio

The amount you can borrow will normally be determined by your loan-to-value (LTV) ratio. This is an assessment lenders make based on the total credit that will end up secured against your asset if they offer you a loan, versus the market value of that asset.

So, if you own a property worth £100,000, already have a mortgage for £50,000 and want to borrow a further £25,000 against the property, you would have a combined LTV ratio of £75,000/£100,000 or 75%.

Generally speaking, most lenders will not want to let you borrow funds that will take you above an LTV ratio of 80%. You are likely to get much better rates if your LTV ratio is under 60%.

Benefits of secured personal loans

• Most unsecured lending will be capped at £20-25k. With a secured loan most lenders will lend up to £100,000. Some lend up to £1 million

• Interest rates are often better than for an unsecured loan

• Many lenders offered fixed repayment rates

• Repayment period are often longer than for unsecured borrowing

• You can normally pay off the balance early

Restrictions on secured personal loans

• If you fail to keep up with your repayments, your lender could force you to sell your home.

• As lenders will usually want to force a quick sale, you could end up getting less that you might expect if forced to sell.

• The amount you can borrow will normally depend on your income, crediting score and existing financial commitments

Compare secured personal loans

If you are looking to borrow more than £25,000, our secured loan calculator makes it easy to find the most attractive offers currently available. The calculator allows you to filter results from across the industry according to your borrowing needs and the value of your assets.

Alternatives to personal loans

Depending on the amount you need to borrow and how long you need it for, there may be other options which are more suitable than a personal loan.

Overdraft

If you only need a relatively small amount of credit, it is worth checking with your bank to see if you can simply extend the overdraft on your current account. This can often be the fastest way to borrow and some current account providers offer attractive interest rates on their overdrafts.

Credit card

For short and medium term borrowing, credit cards can be useful. Many offer interest free credit for up to 40 months. However, interest rates after this introductory period are likely to be variable. This means if you don’t pay off the debt, you could end up significantly worse off than with a personal loan with a fixed interest rate.

Remortgaging

If you are thinking of taking out a second loan on your property, it may be better to simply remortgage. This means taking out a new mortgage which is enough to pay off your existing mortgage and provide the extra money you need to borrow.

This can be cheaper than taking out a separate second loan, but it could also leave you worse off if you have a particularly good rate on your existing mortgage.

Bridging loans

If you need short term finance, a bridging loan may be a possibility. This is money loaned on a short term basis to help cover a temporary lack of funds. They are commonly used by people looking to buy a new property before selling their existing home, or by amateur property developers who need funds to bring a property up to a standard where it becomes eligible for a standard mortgage.

Rates on bridging loans are normally much higher than for other types of borrowing, meaning they can become very expensive if not paid off quickly.

Click here for more information on bridging loans »

Looking to borrow more than £25k?

With so many different brands and types of borrowing available, it can be hard to know which personal loan offers the best deal for you.

If you are a property owner aiming to raise funds for improvements to your property, please feel free to contact our specialist loan advisory team by calling 0117 403 4474 or using our contact form.