Representative Example: Rates from 49.9% APR to max 1333% APR. Minimum Loan Length is 1 month. Maximum Loan Length is 36 months. Representative Example: £250 borrowed for 30 days. Total amount repayable is £310.00. Interest charged is £60.00, annual interest rate of 292% (fixed). Representative 669.35% APR (variable).
Have you got a great credit score, built over years of careful spending and excellent payment schedules? Or, is your credit a little less than perfect?
There’s a good chance that your credit might not be as wonderful as you want it to be, particularly in a world where a small mistake can instantly get you into trouble with the banks and credit agencies. Sometimes, something as simple as forgetting to make a payment on the right day could mean that you end up with a less than ideal credit score, and problems getting the cash you need when you want to borrow.
Representative Example: Rates from 49.9% APR to max 1333% APR. Minimum Loan Length is 1 month. Maximum Loan Length is 36 months. Representative Example: £250 borrowed for 30 days. Total amount repayable is £310.00. Interest charged is £60.00, annual interest rate of 292% (fixed). Representative 669.35% APR (variable).
In fact, if your credit rating is bad enough, you might have even found yourself asking whether it’s possible to take out a quick loan like a payday loan, without a credit check. Unfortunately, despite the dozens of websites online that claim you can get fast loans no credit check required; the truth is that there is no way to get a loan without a credit check in the UK.
Here’s the truth about those apparent no credit check loans.
If you have a less than ideal credit rating, then you’ll know it can be difficult to get the money that you want to borrow without potentially spending years of your life building that credit back up again. Unfortunately, no lender – not even a payday lender – can give you a loan without a credit check. Safe lending in the UK just doesn’t work that way.
Though credit checks can seem like a nightmarish thing to people who don’t have the best history with loans and money, they’re actually there to protect you, as well as your lender. When you need money quickly, it can be stressful to have someone search through your history and look for evidence that you can’t be trusted with cash. It seems like sometimes lenders just use credit checks as an excuse to avoid giving you the help you need.
However, credit checks are actually a way for lenders to ensure that you can afford to repay whatever money you’re borrowing from an unsecured loan. They help your lender to determine your risk level and ensure that you’re not putting yourself into excess debt by giving yourself an uncomfortable borrowing situation to deal with.
Sometimes, even people outside of lending institutions will perform credit checks to learn more about you too. For instance, if you’re applying for an apartment to rent, then your landlord might look at your credit history to see whether you can be trusted to pay your rent on time. Because credit checks are there for your safety, and the safety of your lender, you can’t just avoid them. However, you can reduce your risk of a credit check leaving a black mark on your history.
Fast loans with no credit check in the UK simply aren’t an option. All lenders need to perform a fundamental check to see whether you’re qualified to get a loan. However, if you work with a broker like Boutell, you can avoid the risk that comes with applying for a loan with multiple lenders. Basically, when you apply for a £3000 loan of any kind, the lender needs to form a deep credit check to determine how much you can get and what your interest rate will be. Even if you’re rejected from your loan, you’ll still end up with a mark on your credit report that makes you seem like more of a risk to the next lender that you apply for.
However, when you apply for a fast loan through a lender, you’re not actively applying for the cash straight away. Instead, you’re giving your information to a company that can go and present your situation to other leading lenders on your behalf. Those lenders will then conduct soft searches to check whether you’re eligible for alone. Those soft searches allow the lender to determine whether they can give you the money that you need, without leaving a mark on your file.
When your broker comes back to you with the companies that you can perform a full application with, you can decide who you want to go ahead with and fill out a full application form. Only when you go into the next stage of applying for your credit will your lender do a hard credit check, which is the one that leaves the mark on your credit history. The hard credit check won’t matter as much in this situation, because you know you’re going to be approved.
Because the soft credit check doesn’t have as much of an impact on your lending potential, some brokers and other companies refer to this as a no credit check loan, particularly loans for poor credit. Your details are still being examined by the lender, but it isn’t the same as going through the full credit check process.
Fast loan options like payday loans are a lot safer today than they used to be. Not only are the Financial Conduct Authority responsible for making sure that these loan providers adhere to specific standards, but brokers exist to help you make the right choice. With Boutell, we make sure that all of the lenders that we present to you are legitimate and reputable companies.
However, there are still some ways that you’ll need to do your due diligence when you’re looking for the right loan. For instance, if anyone promises to guarantee you a loan without any form of credit check, even a soft credit check, then this should be taken as a red flag. You should also make sure that you check the website of your lender to ensure that they have affiliated themselves with the FCA and that they’re following the rules and requirements of safe lending.
It’s also a good idea to spend some extra time when you’re looking with your loan thinking about what you need to do to boost your chances of getting approved by as many lenders as possible. For instance, before you start applying for a loan with a broker or a direct lender, make sure that you know what kind of details you’re going to need to apply for that money. Most of the time, payday providers and companies that offer fast loans won’t need a lot of details from you.
The average payday lender won’t ask you why you need to borrow the money that you’re asking for, and they won’t require a lot of details from your history. However, they may ask you to provide information on your career and share details from your last paycheck or your monthly income. This is so that your lender can ensure that you have a regular source of income available to use for paying off your loan.
All people applying for a payday loan will also need to be over the age of 18, living in the UK, and have a UK bank account. Beyond that, getting approved for a loan after your soft check is completed is a lot easier than it seems. Many short-term lenders are willing to look beyond things like credit ratings because they know that they aren’t taking on as much risk. Your lender will be more interested in your current affordability levels than your history.
When you need a fast loan and you’re worried that your credit rating isn’t the best, it’s tempting to try and hide your history as much as possible. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to hide from credit checks forever. Whether it’s a soft check to determine your eligibility for a loan or the hard check that happens later, credit will always be an important part of the loan process.
The good news is that your credit history doesn’t have to stop you from getting the money that you need. With the right payday lenders provided by your broker, you can make sure that you’re not wasting your time with companies that aren’t going to approve your application in the first place. A good payday loan provider will be willing to look beyond whatever it says on your credit rating and examine other things, like whether you have a regular source of income, to decide whether you can apply for a loan.
Since you’re borrowing a small amount of money and paying that money back quickly, your payday lender won’t be as worried about your borrowing history as some other traditional lenders. This means that you can get the money you need for an emergency fast and get yourself out of debt again just as quickly. In fact, you might even find that borrowing money with a short term loan provider has a positive impact on your credit score.
If you borrow your money from the right lender and pay it back fast, you have an instant way to show the credit agencies how reliable you are.
