Участник:PannellMacdougall77

Having just experienced a double dip recession britain's economy is still somewhat shaken. Despite this we are seeing indications of revivals, especially from the loan market.

In 2010, around the same time that the UK saw major banks collapse, personal bank loan rates hit rates close to 7.5%, slowly but surely these rates started to drop, sparking a price war amongst numerous banks, building societies and supermarkets.

In October and throughout November the Derbyshire Building Society lowered their rates 3 times in order to gain and sustain the marketplace leading rate of 5.4%. This figure is the lowest seen for more than 5 years.

However, unfortunately it is not as simple because this. These rates of 5.4% are only available for large personal loans of between �7,500 and �15,000, and while lenders will brand them as mid-sized loans; when you take into account this is a personal loan with no security of the asset, mid-sized isn't a fair representation of the risk involved.

If you are searching for smaller loans of around �5000 then it's not really plain sailing. The least expensive rates on a �5000 loan are offered by Zopa (a peer to see lender) at 5.7% over a three year term and 6.7% on the five year term. The next cheapest is SAVVI, closely flower through the large banks and supermarkets.

And then there's the rates; 5.4%, initially these sound great but they're only representative which means that only 1 / 2 of successful applicants can get these rates. Another half may be quoted rates well over double or triple this figure.

The least expensive personal loans providers may have very strict lending criterias, and therefore many will not even be offered a loan at all! While many will have been declined because of their credit history, there are a number of some other reasons:

   Age
   Employment Status
   Electoral Roll Status
   Insufficient income
   Not having a bank account

While low rate loans are now available, they are not available to many, and therefore someone who may have been deemed eligible for one of these loan 5 years ago, may now be declined.

So that all in all, these rates will only be available if you are searching for large personal loans and even if you're offered financing by the cheapest rate providers, there is only a 50% chance that you'll be offered the cheapest rates.