Northern Rock bank has been sold to Virgin Money and the deal is to be completed on 1 January, 2012. What does it mean for you, if you have a Northern Rock personal loan, credit card or mortgage?
Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as a specific “marriage loan” or “wedding loan”. Whatever loan you take out, it will be either secured against your property, or unsecured loan, but the purpose for which you are using the money is absolutely your own business. It you type a “marriage loan” in any search engine, it will surely come up with a huge number of providers, offering such loans, but the conditions will only vary depending on the sum, the term and on your credit rating, as for any other type of loan.
Meanwhile, why not look at some alternatives to taking out an unsecured marriage loan?
Home renovation loans are designed to help you to make improvements to your home – fix, repair or renovate by changing some elements , such as doors, windows, boilers and electrical systems, as well as in expanding by adding some construction or re-planning the inside of your house. Renovation loans are provided by many high-street banks, building societies and independent brokers, as well as by the government.
The first and the most important piece of advice here is – shop around for the best deal! Providers have been cutting costs on their loans, and you can currently get a £7,500 – £15,000 loan at APRs around 6.3% – 6.6% from such providers as Nationwide, M&S Money, Sainsbury’s Finance and Alliance and Leicester.
Unsecured personal loans are best for small-to-medium sized improvements. Unfortunately, those remain quite expensive, and, depending on the sum you need, it might be better to put your expenses on a 0% credit card (in this case you even get extra protection in case your builder goes bust before completing the job or there is an argument about the quality). Peer-to-peer lending sites, such as Zopa, Rate Setter, Quakle or Yes-Secure are worth trying as well when you are looking for a renovation loan.
Student loan repayment rates are expected to rise this autumn and if you are currently paying one off, it might be the right time to take action to prevent your finances from suffering a sudden blow later this year.
Those who took out their student loans before 1998 pay off a “mortgage” type of loan with an interest rate of 4.4%. Interst rates on this type of loan depend on the inflation rates (RPI) and are adjusted each 1 September.
Everybody who took out their loan after 1998 has a modern-type “income” loan. Interest rate tracks the Bank of England base rate adding 1%, which means that current interest rate is 1.5%. Continue Reading
Getting a personal loan is not so easy in these tough financial times and it takes good credit rating, a fair bit of shopping around and some planning to obtain the best loan.
The final aim in obtaining credit can be divided in several parts – finding the best unsecured loan with the lowest interest rates, getting accepted for it and, what is most important – being offered the advertised rate!
