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Slight Increase in Loan Rates

With all the recent talk about the credit crunch and the lack of cash being made available for loans, you would be forgiven for thinking that loans are now very much more expensive than they were before this uncertainty started.

Just by keeping a record of the loans best buy tables, we're able to check back to see how rates have changed. When we looked back at the rates on offer last July we were surprised to see that the rates on the best personal loans were only slightly lower than they are now.

Checking on the Moneyfacts website last July we found that the top 3 personal loans on offer were charging interest at 6.3%, 6.3% and 6.5% respectively for a £5000 loan.

Now, just into the new year, with 4 or 5 months of credit uncertainty behind us, you would expect charges far in excess of those low rates we saw back then. However it's interesting to see that the top 3 loans are now priced at 6.5%, 6.7% and 6.8%. So just a 0.3% increase on the best loans over the past 6 months and, with interest rates predicted to drop at least once in the current year, we could see the loan rates of last summer returning very soon and even being undercut as we move further into the year.

As always, it pays to do plenty of research and shopping around or to take advantage of an experienced loan broker to do the hard work for you. The best rate loans are only available to people with clean credit records, so if that's not you, then expect to be offered higher rates than those quoted above.

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