It is a well known fact these days, that applying for a new personal loan or other form of credit is not as easy as it used to be, largely due to the fact that banks and other loan companies have placed much tighter lending criteria on their loan products, particularly when it comes to unsecured loans.

But a recent survey has suggested that many potential borrowers may be making the situation even harder of themselves, due to making several loan applications at the same time, or applying for an inappropriate loan amount or loan type.

The study, conducted by Freedom Finance via its own website, found that around 82 per cent of those individuals who had been rejected for a cheap loan deal were actually in full time employment, with a third of these having been in the same job for at least 10 years.

Furthermore, around 30 per cent of people who were rejected for a loan were earning more than £30,000 per year and 55 per cent were over the age of 40.

Freedom Finance has warned that making multiple loan applications can lower a person’s credit score, as each lender will carry out their own credit checks on an applicant, which will leave a mark on their record.

The survey also found that once a person had been rejected for a cheap loan deal from a bank or other lender, in many cases they turned to an expensive pay day loan as an alternative solution for their funding needs.

Nicola Winter of Freedom Finance said “Many consumers are being rejected for headline rates with other lenders and are not aware that there is an entire spectrum of loan products available to them that “soft search” sites are able to help them find without making the situation worse by damaging their credit rating.”

For some time now, it has not been possible for a borrower to obtain a secured loan on their home if they lived in Northern Ireland, as no lenders were prepared to offer secured loans anywhere in the region.

However, Evolution Money, the secured loan lender who offer unlimited loan to value secured loans has just announced that it will be offering secured loans to borrowers in Northern Ireland from the 1st March this year.

At the moment there are no mainstream lenders who offer secured loans in the region, with the last company to offer such loans being GE Money, who withdrew from the market more than twelve months ago.

The news was announced last week by Loans Warehouse, who are currently the first master loan broker for the new Evolution Money secured loan product, although the loan product could well be available through the services of other loan brokers in the near future.

Matt Tristram of Loans Warehouse said “When we heard the news that Evolution Money were to go where no other lender has gone before, at least for the last few years, we were genuinely excited.”

“Secured loans in Northern Ireland have been practically non existent in recent years and the announcement will be extremely well received by the intermediary and loan broker market in the UK. We are especially pleased that we are the first official master Loan Broker named by Evolution Money.”

The new secured loan product from Evolution Money offers borrowers secured loans of up to £10,000, even if they do not have a large amount, or any equity in their property. The loans will also be available too borrowers who have an adverse credit history who require a bad credit loan.

New students who are applying to start at university this year have a lot more to think about than just which university they should attend and getting the necessary A level grades to achieve their first choice.

From this year, tuition fees have shot up to a maximum amount of £9,000 per year with many universities and at the same time, the student loan system has been overhauled to deal with this huge increase in loan debt which many students will inevitably face.

Although students graduating from university in the future are likely to face much higher levels of student loan and even personal loan debt than those graduating today, the changes to the student loan system means that they will not have to start repaying their loans until they begin to earn at least £21,000 per year.

Once a graduate reaches the salary target of £21,000, in today’s money, they will then start to repay their student loans at a rate of 9 per cent of their earnings, with higher earners paying more on their loans.

As a part of the review of the student loan system, the government had originally proposed that penalties should be applied to any overpayments on student loans in excess of the standard amounts, at a rate of 5 per cent of the loan overpayment.

However, after much pressure from student and consumer groups, the early loan repayment penalty has now been dropped and graduates will be able to repay as much of their student loan as they wish, without penalty.

Whether anyone would be best advised to make overpayments on their student loan is another matter though, due to the fact that if the loan debt has not been fully repaid after 30 years, the remaining balance is written off and with the high levels of loan debt faced by many and the poor job prospects on offer at the moment, this could be a likely scenario for many.

Credit cards were once considered to be the easy way of obtaining credit for many people in the UK, with the result of many individuals building up large balances on a number of cards, which they would eventually clear by taking out a debt consolidation loan.

However, a new report from the accountancy firm PricewaterhoouseCooper has shown that households across the UK paid off significant amounts of unsecured loans and credit card debt over the course of last year, although the average household was still left with around £7,900 worth of loans and card debt.

The report also highlighted that more and more people are turning away from using their credit cards, with both the total number of cards and the outstanding balances on these, both falling throughout the last twelve months.

More people are now using debit cards, rather than credit cards or personal loans and younger people in particular are using digital payment methods, such as via their mobile phone.

However, what seems to be more alarming is the fact that many individuals who previously used credit cards or unsecured loan from their bank, are now turning to expensive pay day loans as an alternative method of borrowing money.

One reason for the huge growth in pay day loans could be due to the fact that the majority of credit card and unsecured loan providers have tightened their lending criteria since the credit crunch and banking crisis, which has caused many borrowers to be rejected for the loan they want by a traditional lender.

Neil Blake of Ernst & Young said “Households that fall outside of the credit terms of traditional lenders are increasingly looking towards other credit and loan providers, regardless of the cost. With banks expected to further tighten lending conditions, we expect the shift towards alternative lenders to continue unabated.”

Over the course of the past few years, the number of young people going to university has steadily increased, despite the cost of tuition fees and living costs and the need for the majority of students to rely on a student loan to help fund their education.

Although these days it has become almost essential to have a degree in order to get a good job with a decent salary, the cost of a university education and the huge amount of loan debt which graduates are often left with afterwards, has put a growing number off the idea of further education.

The latest figures from UCAS, the university admissions body, have shown that the number of students applying to university has fallen by 7.4 per cent this year, compared with the same period last year, with the overall cost and eventual loan debt being one of the biggest reasons for not going to university.

University tuition fees are increasing from September this year, from a maximum of £3,375 for the current year, to a possible maximum of £9,000 and although these fees are not payable at the outset of the course, the cost is all added to the total student loan debt which will eventually need repaying.

Whilst many students still see the value in a university degree for their future career, others who were unsure about whether or not they really wanted a university education may have been put off by the total cost and likely long term loan debt they will face afterwards.

Even though student loan debts are not started to be paid off until the graduate is earning more than £25,000 under the new rules, the thought of at least £27,000 worth of loan debt for tuition fees alone could be more than many potential students are willing to accept.