Small loan urgenlty

Hi
I need a small loan urgently for personal reasons, (€1,000). I had a less than perfect credit rating almost five years ago, but its still on my file. (I wass young and foolish, but the amount was cleared on time and in full, by the way!)
I did manage to get a mortgage with my partner thanks to a great broker! However, I can't get a personal loan from any banks. I heard about a company called Providant that seem to provide what I am looking for and have approved me.
Does anyone know anything about this company or can they reccommond any other bank that may be able to help me out?

Thanks
Folly

Don't know about Provident (?) but any company that is willing to offer loans to borrowers that other institutions wouldn't touch due to blemishes on their credit history are likely to charge a premium for the privilege so pay careful attention to the charges and rates applicable to such a loan. Do you have an account with your Credit Union as they may be more flexible than the major institutions even if they may not always be the cheapest lenders? Do you definitely NEED the loan? Can you liquidate any other savings/investments to avoid the need to borrow? Is a mortgage top-up or repayment "holiday" for a couple of months out of the question?

Provident Personal Credit is a lender who will give you money but their APR is beyond normal belief.

Also they expect you to pay back weekly and you can not pay to their bank account, they send an "agent" collecting it at your home or place of work.

If you want to go with them, more info is here:

www.providentpersonalcredit.ie/

But did you think of www.onedirect.ie/ which seams to be willing to lend money for a higher apr to people with credit risk.

Edited by ClubMan to fix broken link.

small loan

Don't be mad folly. 150% APR ! Beg a mate to lend you. Get your ass in gear and get a niht job to pay back the money.

small loan

The IFSRA guides to credit and (licensed!) money lenders might be of interest in this context:

[broken link removed]

Re: small loan

From the provident website

A friendly local Agent calls regularly at your home

Click to expand...

They make it sound so nice and helpful don't they.
This is just a regularised version of the service provided by illegal money lenders in the 80's.

Interesting that the APR for office collections is lower than for home collections. I wonder why?

As for the shopping vouchers, my understanding is that these companies knock on doors in working class areas and leave vouchers even if the occupant doesn't want them.

A week or two later if the occupant is a little short of cash, those vouchers start to look very tempting.

Also, I don't see any mention on the site of being regulated by the IFSRA.

regardless, I'd steer clear of 150% APR.

-Rd

.....

Another setup that does small loans at mad rates is ( I think ) called 'household' or some such - they have a few branches - one in Swords IIRC

I was shocked to find that they are owned by a pillar of the international banking world that does not need to engage in this sort of business to make huge profits : towit HSBC

Re: .....

I think it's called HFC and they provide the loans/ hire purchase to customers of Dixons and other electrical retailers. They provide the "interest-free" loans on these purchases as well.

I think that their rate for unsecured personal loans is 29% APR.

Brendan

Interest Free

"They provide the "interest-free" loans on these purchases as well."

Those interest free offers at Dixons and others should be illegal. It's interest free if you pay it off within 12 months, but they set up a replayment schedule that takes longer than 12 months.

And if you stick to their repayment schedule, the interest for the 1st twelve months is added back in.

The fact that someone is willing to pay 29% APR suggests they might not be fully up to speed with how to use credit.

Not that I'm suggesting people should be fully protected against their own stupidity or ignorance, but I think these "Interest Free" offers like the infamous bubble payments on cars are bordering on swindles.

-Rd

Interest Free

> but I think these "Interest Free" offers like the infamous bubble payments on cars are bordering on swindles.

Have you tried raising this complaint with IFSRA by any chance?

Interest Free

I haven't because technically they are not misleading. If you read the details it's explained that the interest does kick in.

It's one of those technically true but misleading offers. As opposed to straight out lies.

I do think IFSRA should be spending it's time educating people about these sorts of swindles rather than wasting times on price comparisons for insurance etc. Maybe the Consumer Forum will help steer IFSRA down some more fruitful paths.

But, I don't think I'd get anywhere lodging a complaint. Remember it was difficult enough to get IFSRA to do anything about PTSB when it was a clear case of actual lying. How much harder would it be to get something done about this?

Best we can do is put the word out and hope people get the message.

-Rd

> I do think IFSRA should be spending it's time educating people about these sorts of swindles rather than wasting times on price comparisons for insurance etc.

Agreed - I believe that there may be scope for IFSRA to use its resources a bit more efficiently/productively too. However to be fair to them the stuff we're talking about is covered in their "Independent consumer guide to personal loans and credit" and perhaps also some of their other publications:

[broken link removed]
[broken link removed]

Guides

However to be fair to them the stuff we're talking about is covered in their "Independent consumer guide to personal loans and credit" and perhaps also some of their other publications

Click to expand...

Agreed, but let's face it. You and I and IFSRA and everyone else knows that these are not read. That's not a criticism of IFSRA, they can only do so much. And at least they put the info out there.

My criticism is that when they actually get on the airwaves, on Radio or TV, they use the opportunity to talk about stuff that people either already know, or that other people are already talking about. We don't need IFSRA to tell us to shop around.

What they should be doing is using those opportunities on Radio or TV to explain some of the more misleading tricks of Banks and Credit Companies.

I'd like to see a series of ads where each ad is about 30 seconds long and shows someone being caught out by one of these tricks.

I'd like to hear them on the News at one, 5-7 Live or The Last Word, Pat Kenny, Gerry Ryan etc, explaining to people that Interest Free doesn't always mean Interest Free. Or explaining that you don't need to sign up for 29% APR Hire Purchase, while you've got a credit card offering 12% in your wallet.

I only seem to hear IFSRA in the Media if they are announding a price comparison of some sort or another.

They do a lot of good work, but it's frustrating to see that a lot of it doesn't manage to reach the people who could benefit from it.

-Rd

Guides

> you and I and IFSRA and everyone else knows that these are not read.

I've read them but then I'm the type of person who reads the ingredients and nutritional breakdown on the side of food packaging when I've nothing else to read...

> I'd like to see a series of ads where each ad is about 30 seconds long and shows someone being caught out by one of these tricks.

Again to be fair to IFSRA I think that their initial marketing/advertising budget was concentrating on raising awareness that a new financial regulator exists and highlighting the name of the www.itsyourmoney.ie website (which redirects to the IFSRA consumer publications pages). I thought that the TV ad with the couple speaking to each other in arcane financial legalese was mildly amusing and a good way to start.

However I agree that their spokespeople don't seem to crop up that much on consumer finance slots/pages as far as I've noticed and they still tend to rely on staid and aloof Central Bank style missives issued as press releases when communicating with the general public...

I have had mixed results with reporting issues to them by email - they have generally responded promptly but sometimes needed convincing that something was amiss when it was actually pretty obvious in the first instance.