Bank loans and personal finance

[popegregory]

Evening all. Looking for advice off people far more knowledgeable than myself with a view to getting a little more financially savvy...

Back in 2009 I took out a loan of £8500 to buy a car with a lender who "specialises" in loans to my profession. I opted to pay this back over 5 years but three years later had seen another car I wanted too. I therefore restarted the loan with another ten grand or so on top of whatever I owed at the time to buy this one. The year after I saw another car I wanted! I then borrowed the max available - £25k - to pay back loan with enough on top to buy final car.

I've been paying this loan back for almost 5 years (of a 7 year term). Now I'm getting married. Balance is down to a little over £9k so I asked for another loan to pay off this one and pay wedding debts. I asked for just over £16k over 4 years - this lowered my repayments AND I'm on about £9-10k a year more than I was when I took out the £25k loan. They came back and said that due to "responsible lending" protocols they would give me £15k.

This is fine, with savings and parents it won't be a problem and I'm intending to overpay it due to repayments now being less than they were (there's no early payment charges). My questions are:

1. Where have they got this £15k ceiling from? The AA were trying to throw £17k at me when I went through them over Money Supermarket yesterday (but I cancelled that when the 3% rate jumped to 9.9%). Is it now harder to get money off people?
2. Do I want to do an Experian credit check thing - do these tell you how to boost your score?

[bad company]

It’s all down to the banks new ‘responsible lending’ policies. I had my credit limit on my credit card reduced to £12K. I managed to get them to increase it to £20K but even that can be a problem when I’m travelling.

[rsbmw]

popegregory said:

The AA were trying to throw £17k at me when I went through them over Money Supermarket yesterday (but I cancelled that when the 3% rate jumped to 9.9%). Is it now harder to get money off people?
2. Do I want to do an Experian credit check thing - do these tell you how to boost your score?

If you're applying for multiple loans and cancelling them, I'm not surprised lenders are raising eyebrows. This leads neatly onto 2, you should certainly be taking a look at your own credit file.

[popegregory]

Thanks both. It wasn’t multiple by any means, I went on money supermarket and the AA were shouting about 3% loans so I applied; as soon as that one went I went straight back to the original lender. The guy on the phone said about new “responsible lending”, have they just tightened the strings in general?

[Butter Face]

popegregory said:

Thanks both. It wasn’t multiple by any means, I went on money supermarket and the AA were shouting about 3% loans so I applied; as soon as that one went I went straight back to the original lender. The guy on the phone said about new “responsible lending”, have they just tightened the strings in general?

Why not take the AA deal?

[popegregory]

Butter Face said:

popegregory said:

Thanks both. It wasn’t multiple by any means, I went on money supermarket and the AA were shouting about 3% loans so I applied; as soon as that one went I went straight back to the original lender. The guy on the phone said about new “responsible lending”, have they just tightened the strings in general?

Why not take the AA deal?

Upon completing the application it magically transformed from 2.9% into 9.9%! Original lender said their rate was 5.9% and wouldn’t change.

[Butter Face]

popegregory said:

Butter Face said:

popegregory said:

Thanks both. It wasn’t multiple by any means, I went on money supermarket and the AA were shouting about 3% loans so I applied; as soon as that one went I went straight back to the original lender. The guy on the phone said about new “responsible lending”, have they just tightened the strings in general?

Why not take the AA deal?

Upon completing the application it magically transformed from 2.9% into 9.9%! Original lender said their rate was 5.9% and wouldn’t change.

There’s something in your credit history that has made them do that. The 2.9 is a headline offer and the APR gets adjusted depending on your profile and risk score etc.

[supercommuter]

Check your credit file. Something maybe awry