unsecured personal loan

The amount availed in these loans can be utilized for many purposes like buying a luxury car, financing education business expansion, debt consolidation etc.

The loans can be defined as a temporary monetary help from financial establishments given to the necessitous people. Previously, incurring a loan from a bank was not easy at all. It required lots of paper work and it was time consuming.

The financiers were asking a whole lot of questions before lending loans. The paper works were so hectic that sometimes it took several months for processing a single loan request. Various people were afraid of applying for the loans. However, now the scenario have been changed.

Nowadays, the banks are showing flexibility in lending money and they are offering loans for various intentions. These days, people are selecting the loans for relaxation needs like holidaying, purchasing a car, performing cosmetic surgery. Sometimes, people are also applying for a loan for serious reasons, like buying a car, consolidating the debt, home renovation etc. The reasons or intentions of borrowing the loans may be different for each individual. However, the UK financial market is offering best loans to fulfill all those wishes.

Nowadays, various people are going for personal loans for different needs. If a person has spent some extra money while he was vacationing, he can take help from personal loans. The personal loans can be used to provide finance to buy a car, pay for your dream vacation, buy a boat, finance your home improvement plans, paying for credit card bills or payment of alimony etc.

As a matter of fact, personal loans can be used for any of your fiscal crisis. Such loans can be secured or unsecured in availability. In the secured category, you may have to pledge your home as security against the loan amount. The financial institutions have some plans in which you can have the loan upto 250,000 pounds.

The secured loans are available at a lower rate of interests. But, the risk of repossession is there and you may loose your home if you do not pay off the loan on time. Various financiers are offering such plans for personal loans. You should also compare various loans to grab a fair deal.

Sometimes, specific conditions of fiscal market may affect the rate of interest for the personal loans. But, in some loan plans the rate of interest remains constant for the assigned period of time. The rate of interest for such loans has no relation with the ups and downs of fiscal market. Whereas, in some loan plans, the rate of interest may change with the fluctuation occurred in the financial market.

Source:http://www.bestsyndication.com

Source:http://www.arabianbusiness.com

Source:http://www.the-debt-clinic.co.uk

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Tighter lending conditions led to a slump in UK housing activity in March, with mortgage approvals for house purchases falling to their lowest level since the series began in September 1997, the British Bankers’ Association said.

In its monthly analysis of the property market, the BBA said the number of mortgage approvals for house purchases — a gauge of future demand — dropped to 35,417 in March from 43,147 in February. This is well below the previous six month average of 44,879.

Net mortgage lending fell to 5.1 billion pounds in March from 5.5 billion in the previous month, and is also below the recent six month average of 5.2 billion.The average loan approved for house purchase was 158,000 pounds, down 4.8 percent from a year earlier.

‘The consequences of low banking sector liquidity show up clearly in March data; reduced product ranges and tighter criteria resulted in slower mortgage lending and significantly fewer loan approvals,’ said David Dooks, statistics director at BBA.

The figures also revealed gross mortgage lending fell to 16.6 billion pounds in March from 17.6 billion.The BBA said that with approvals for all forms of mortgage lending declining further, it expects gross lending to continue to weaken.Unsecured lending on credit cards, loans and overdrafts remained very subdued.

Credit card borrowing rose by a net 0.1 billion pounds to 0.3 billion, while borrowing on personal loans and overdrafts fell by 0.3 billion pounds to 0.2 billion, the figures showed.’Pressures on personal finances are also constraining demand, not only for mortgages, but also for personal loans and borrowing on cards,’ said Dooks.

Source:http://www.forbes.com

(FORTUNE Small Business) — Dear FSB: Our Internet hosting firm is in its second year of operation, and trying to establish bank credit. I’ve read that a DUNS number is a good place to start, but what is it? What else do banks look at when evaluating loan applications?

- Frederick Selby, Owner
On Point PDS
Lake Worth, Fla.

Dear Frederick: A DUNS number would indeed be a good place to start.

It’s a nine-digit identification number assigned by credit-rating company Dun & Bradstreet (DNB) that lets banks and other potential lenders see a snapshot of your company’s bill-paying history and general financial stability. To apply for one, go to D&B’s website and, under Customer Resources, click on “Get a DUNS Number.”

Beyond that, when applying for a bank loan it’s crucial to have a pristine personal credit history - especially with a firm as young as yours, says Rebecca Macieira-Kaufmann, head of small-business lending at Wells Fargo (WFC, Fortune 500) Bank in San Francisco. Since you will be the guarantor of any loan a bank extends to your business, a loan officer will scrutinize your credit record.

“People who don’t honor their personal commitments generally don’t honor business commitments either,” Macieira-Kaufmann notes.

Source:http://money.cnn.com

Source:http://www.infolink.com.au

Ten out of 25 banks that have a Sh500,000 loan product revised upwards the interest rates charged between May and December last year riding on the popularity of unsecured personal loans, the Central Bank of Kenya has said.

A banking sector report that the regulator released yesterday also indicates that nearly a third of all banks that offer Sh50,000 loans have increased their rates to as much as 21 per cent per annum.

Charges on current accounts have however declined by 12 per cent following the public disclosure of the rates charged by various banks in August last year.

Holders of current accounts are however still bearing a heavy charges burden with some banks charging high monthly fees of up to Sh1,700. Oriental Commercial Bank (Sh1,686), Commercial Bank of Africa (Sh1,649) and National Bank of Kenya (Sh15,34) have been named as the top three most expensive banks in terms of monthly charges on current accounts.

Source:http://allafrica.com

Source:http://www.onlyfinance.com

Banks, building societies and financial services providers have hiked personal loan interest rates in the first three months of 2008 despite a Bank of England base rate cut, according to MoneyExpert.com…

Average rates on all unsecured personal loans are up from 10.62 per cent at the beginning of the year to 11.4 per cent now, the independent financial comparison website says.

And the cost of borrowing is on the increase no matter how much money you ask for, according to MoneyExpert.com. Rates on balances of £2,500 are up from 9.49 per cent in January to 10.11 per cent now, while the cost of a £5,000 loan is up from an average 9.76 per cent to 9.93 per cent.

The cost of lending on larger sums is also increasing -a £7,500 unsecured loan would have cost an average 8.3 per cent at the beginning of the year, but now typically costs around 9.21 per cent. And the average rate on a £10,000 unsecured loan was 8.88 per cent three months ago but now is 9.55 per cent.

The independent financial comparison website says lenders are fearful of high risk customers who may not be able to repay their loans and are tightening the screws on borrowers as a result.

Source:http://firstrung.co.uk

The number of people struggling with their debts looks set to double during 2008 as the clampdown on lending will limit their refinancing options, according to a report published today.

It is estimated that about one million people have “problem” unsecured debts, and that these add up to £25bn - an average of £25,000 each, according to debt management solutions firm TDX Group, which issued the findings. Its clients include lenders such as HSBC, HBOS and Alliance & Leicester.

About 60% of this money is owed on credit cards, with the rest mainly personal loans.

The report, entitled UK Problem Debt - consumer crisis or efficient market? warns that changing economic conditions, including the property market slowdown and an increase in personal inflation, will result in more people facing financial difficulties.

It adds that the recent credit crunch and stricter lending practices will have a major impact on the solutions available for people looking to manage their debts.

A spokesman said: “There will be fewer refinancing solutions such as re-mortgaging and homeowner loans available, because banks and building societies have tightened up their lending criteria. This could mean there could be a doubling in the number of people taking out repayment plans such as individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs) and debt management plans.” IVAs are an alternative to bankruptcy that allow borrowers to restructure their debts. Last year, an estimated 58% of people who were unable to keep up with their debts refinanced them or remortgaged to make their repayments more manageable.

The company urges those who find themselves in difficulties to shop around for the best solution for them. The majority of people who take out a debt solution sign up with the first organisation they contact, despite fees from IVA providers varying from £5,000 to £9,000.

Meanwhile, up to 45% of people fail to complete their IVA - these typically run for five years - with 15% dropping out during the first 12 months.

Mark Onyett, chief executive of TDX Group said: “These issues need to be addressed urgently, as we expect strong growth for the debt management market during 2008.” The number of people becoming insolvent unexpectedly dropped last year for the first time in nine years, but experts have warned that 2008 is likely to set another record as debt problems mount.

The most recent government figures, issued in February, showed that personal insolvencies in England and Wales fell 4% in the final quarter of 2007 to 24,846 - a drop of 16% from the same period in 2006. That left the overall total of people declaring themselves insolvent during 2007 just below the previous year’s record levels.

The level of bankruptcies rose 2.4% during the year, although a fall of nearly 5% in the number of IVAs pulled the overall figures down.

Most commentators agree that the drop does not point to a downward trend.

Source:http://www.guardian.co.uk