Getting a personal loan in Ireland

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Llama

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I have been living in Ireland for a little bit over 1 year, and have tried before to get a credit from Tesco Bank ( declined twice, yuhu ), get an overdraft or credit card from my bank ( I admit only 6 months had passed since I had been in Ireland, so that may be the reason for which they declined me ), and now I am looking at a personal loan of about 4000 euros for 3-4 years ( will pay it earlier, but just to be safe I quoted a longer time ). I need that loan to use towards the purchase of a car and pay other things needed for a car ( insurance for example , got the learners permit so that will be pretty expensive ).
I am thinking that a loan can also help me jump start my credit history , since my ICB record is blank , so please do not tell me to get the car with my savings, because I can't get credit history using them.
What do you think are my chances for getting such a loan, and what bank would you recommend ?

My yearly income is over 50000 euros/year gross, so a little under 3000 euros. I save money monthly, depending on the month and depending on expenses.
 
You may find it easier arranging finance through a dealer - it may be difficult getting finance for a car costing 5k (too little!)
 
A question, are you aware that legally you can't drive with a learners permit on your own?

To clarify, you earn 3000 euro per month but you want a loan of 4000 euro? Depending on your circumstances is it possible to save that in a short period of time and avoid the whole hassle of trying to get a loan?
 
Thank you for the replies!

I will not be breaking the law since I have a friend that will be in the car with me when I will be using it, and he has an Irish drivers license for the past 15 years. He has agreed to assist in teaching me how to drive properly, and I do not plan to drive except on weekends for the next 6 months until I can get the full driver license.

P.S : Tti that was one of the questions I had at the test ( or something similar to it :) )

As stated in my first post my monthly paycheck ( full time employee, permanent status ) is a little under 3000 euros ( also full life insurance, so if anything happens the bank will still be able to collect on the loan, work in a big tech company, so not worried about loosing my job, or in the event something would happen, not worried about not finding another one ), reason for which I was able to also save money. I want to continue saving money since in 1-2 years I plan to invest in a mortgage for a propriety, reason for which I do not wish to use my savings at this point and reason for which I wish to make some credit history. Taking the loan and clearing it will also help with the credit history part as I do not have any credit history. Now due to the mortgage law coming in 2015, a deposit for a decent house in Dublin will be pretty high ( around 20% of the value I believe ) so even saving for 1 year 1000/month euros would still not cover it ( this is to take into consideration the rapid increase in prices on the Irish market ), so having next years savings and this years saving, plus another year ( or maybe half a year ), would cover that.
I have discussed with a person in AIB ( walked into a branch ) and I was told that I seem to be a perfect candidate for a loan, and that if I apply with them there shouldn't be anything to worry about. I declined to apply then since I was looking only for information, and wanted to ask around more experienced people on forums about what bank to choose. The interest rates seem to be quite similar, so I think that a deal breaker would be the banks customer service, as no deal seems to be better than another, financially wise. I haven't worked that much with Irish banks, so was curious what bank to go with, and to be honest, I was curious on your input if Irish banks do give out loans or is it still a recession from a banking perspective.

I do not wish to go through a dealer since the car I am thinking about would be a cheap ( under 1500 - 2000 euros ) car, and the rest would go towards insurance ( for a learner, the quotes I got were pretty big ). I said 4000, but it may be 5000 ( still thinking about it .. anyway no more than 5000, because I wouldn't need that much ).
 
You might consider opening a credit union account. If you can save up or lodge the cash amount you need, you can borrow against that at a lower, 'secured' loan rate. In addition, most credit unions are members of the ICB and your credit record will be started off.
 
LLama,
Welcome to Ireland;
A few things .

1. Strongly advise you to NOT get a car yet.

A. You have to take registered lessons before you can do the test ; so not much point in having friend drive with you.
B. As a learner, your insurance will be very very expensive.
C. Learners are inclined to wreck cars (no offense).
D. Old cars are very prone to problems.

You have a good paying job , so set up a separate saving type ac with any Bank, over say 6 months you will have shown a good credit profile, you will hopefully have a full licence and can then embark on car purchase.
If you want or need a car , I suggest go dearer and avoid the older cars.
As previous posters , the better deals are on HP via Dealers.
When you get finance , if you post it here you will get free advice on whether the deal looks good.
 
Thanks for the advice Gerry !

I will take it into consideration. I have applied for the loan this morning, waiting on an answer from AIB, couldn't go the credit union route as I have never worked with one, and I wanted to start building my credit history.

Regarding getting a car, I still have that idea in mind, but you made me think twice about it Gerry, maybe I'll just change my mind regarding the loan, and either decline it or do something else with the money ( like pay for driving lessons that are needed anyway for the final test ).
 
I still think you should open a credit union account, in case you are refused again by bank. It will take a few months of regular savings before they will give you a loan anyway and it will build a credit rating as most of them are on the credit bureau now.
 
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