Loans: have you ever taken one out?

[lulubel]

Why?
With whom?
How did you decide?
Did you consider the terms fair?
What security did you offer/ was required.
Quick and easy?
Satisfied? Why? If not, why?
Doing some research.
Your impressions of the overall experience?

More than I can count, all unsecured.

Lender: I see you have a balance on that credit card. Would you like to convert it to a loan to save interest payments?
Me: Yeah, OK.
Lender: I see you already have a loan with us. Do you have any credit anywhere else? Cards, good. If you consolidate it all into one bigger loan, we can offer you a much lower interest rate.
Me: Yeah, OK.
Lender: So you want to borrow £3,000 to pay for your training course? We can lend you that, of course, but we can offer you a much better interest rate if you borrow a minimum of £10,000.
Me: Yeah, OK.

Some time later ....

Lenders: Where's our money?
Me: Um - well, it looks like I spent it.

I borrowed from whoever offered me money, and ended up borrowing more to pay off the existing debt, until I reached the point where no-one would lend me any more. There was no way I could keep up the interest payments, and since I had no assets, my only option was to go bankrupt ... if I could find the money to pay for it.

We moved into a smaller house to save rent, and I realised after a few days how lovely it was with the phone not ringing, and demands for money not arriving through the door, so I "forgot" to tell any of the lenders that I'd moved. For some reason, they never found me.

It's been nearly 7 years now ....

(Wrong? Yes. I shouldn't have borrowed money without knowing how I was going to pay it back. But they also shouldn't have lent it to me because they also knew full well I wouldn't be able to repay it.)

 

[slowmotion]

We had a repayment morgage for 20 years but paid it off with a lump sum at the earliest opportunity. The credit cards get paid before any interest kicks in, although I wasn't that organised a long time ago. Generally, if I can't afford something, I don't even think about getting it. I guess I'm a bit old-fashioned. I always thought that the original credit motto "Takes the waiting out of wanting" to be a massive con. Money lenders are utter spivs and they certainly won't be doing you any favours.

Phew...and breathe....

 

[swee'pea99]

I have, and it was fine. I knew what I needed, and had a regular income to pay it back, and I did and that was that. I think it was Northern Rock, but I couldn't swear to it.

This was back in the day, and my research was limited to checking out the 'deals available' tables at the back end of the weekend papers - if I was doing it now I'd use sites like moneysavingexpert and moneysupermarket, but to be honest I don't think there's a lot of difference between mainstream lenders, in terms of rates, conditions and the like. It's not like insurance, which is a constantly shifting market where there are potentially big savings to be made by shopping around. You basically have your HSBCs and Barclays, or your Wongas...but you probably won't find a big difference between lenders in either camp. I could be out of touch, but I think that's pretty much the case.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

No loans, no mortgage, no credit cards - everything we own is ours ie house, car,van and all the other crap we need.

In the past we have had mortgages, various loans and credit cards which were all useful to get us to where we are today.

Nothing wrong with borrowing if you can afford to pay it back.

 

[The Jogger]

my mortgage is my only loan. If you need a loan to buy something, it generally means you can't afford it. start saving

Surely a bit of a contradiction there defy?

 

[TheLondonCyclist]

Nope,although I nicked a couple of quid out of my Mum's purse.

I'd never steal from my mum.