# Personal loan from HFC Bank (household bank), Tallaght



## joel (6 Jul 2006)

Hi,
Anybody has good / bad experience in taking  a personal loan from HFC? How their interest rate?

Thanks
Joel


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## ClubMan (6 Jul 2006)

They don't appear in the  in case that's of any significance.


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## CCOVICH (6 Jul 2006)

I wouldn't imagine they are the cheapest-some (dated) background [broken link removed].


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## lff12 (7 Jul 2006)

If I am not wrong they were bouight out by HSBC a while back and are considered a subprime lender.  This basically means that while you will pay an interest rate of up to 4 times the normal rate, they are more likely to give a favourable response to somebody who otherwise might not be able to get any credit.

They do a lot of the credit for chain stores etc.  Rates seem to be around the early to mid 20s which is extremely high but as a lot of these loans are for small amounts (i.e. less than 2500 generally you pay slightly higher interest rates anyway, though still only about half of what HFC charge).

To be honest I would only use them as a lender of last resort if I was unable to get credit anywhere else and really needed credit for something like a car.


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## ClubMan (7 Jul 2006)

In short - shop around!


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## olddog (7 Jul 2006)

www.hfcbank.ie


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## ClubMan (7 Jul 2006)

No rate information listed as far as I can see.


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## gauloise (7 Jul 2006)

That's probably because they have an APR of 23%!


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## dobsdave (8 Jul 2006)

Have used HFC for interest free goods from chain stores etc and as mentioned if you dont repay inside the 0% period, the interest rate shoots up to the mid 20%.
However their personal loans are quite different, with interest rates comparible with banks etc.


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## ajapale (8 Jul 2006)

I became aware of "The Household Bank" a few months ago when I saw a small A4 (word document) notice on a non descript office door in Naas Co Kildare (beside M&S on the Dublin Rd). The A4 notice stated that the Household Bank closed early on Wedensday for staff training. This Naas office is not listed on their website.

Does anyone else know anything else about this bank?



> HFC Bank Limited is a member of the HSBC Group, which is one of the world's largest banking and financial services organisations and has over 110 million customers worldwide.
> 
> We provide customers with retail finance loans, unsecured personal loans and insurance - helping people realise their short-term and medium-term aspirations so that they can live their lives the way they want to.
> 
> ...


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## demoivre (10 Jul 2006)

dobsdave said:
			
		

> Have used HFC for interest free goods from chain stores etc and as mentioned if you dont repay inside the 0% period, the interest rate shoots up to the mid 20%.
> However their personal loans are quite different, with interest rates comparible with banks etc.



 I bought a computer a few years ago  on the interest free deal with Currys and the APR was 29.5% if you didn't clear within the year which I did. They subsequently sent me out info. about personal loans with APRs ranging from 29.6% for a €1000 to 23.9% for 5k - and that was before any ECB rate hikes.


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## dobsdave (13 Jul 2006)

demoivre said:
			
		

> I bought a computer a few years ago on the interest free deal with Currys and the APR was 29.5% if you didn't clear within the year which I did. They subsequently sent me out info. about personal loans with APRs ranging from 29.6% for a €1000 to 23.9% for 5k - and that was before any ECB rate hikes.


 
Ok, I must be special then! LOL
Seriously though, I was offered a loan by them at about 7-8% a while back, Ranging from 1000E to 18000E.


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## marby (23 Jul 2006)

HFC offer interest free loans through lots of retail outlets such Argos, Dixons, PC World and Reid Furniture. I found them great as I was able to buy the suite of furniture from Reids that I wanted and not pay anything for 9 months. They wrote to me to tell the I needed to pay off the amount before the end of the 9 months otherwise I would start gathering interest - which I did.  

I was also offered a 10,000 personal loan from them recently at about 8.5% which is similar to the main banks. I think they only offer loans so I guess they might be quicker to deal with than the other banks - they certainly were when I bought my sofa.


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