Personal Loans Hard To Come By As Lenders Shun New Customers

Borrowers are still struggling to find personal and home owner loans as most high street lenders are not offering credit to new customers.

Only 5 out of 26 high street lenders are prepared to offer personal loans to new customers, research by TheLendingWizard has found.

The lenders that will offer loans to new clients include Alliance and Leicester, Sainsbury’s Finance, Tesco, The Co-Op and Zopa. This represents a significant drop when compared to 23 lenders (88%) in October 2008.

High street lenders are shunning new loan customers to minimise their risk. Existing customers have an established history with the bank or lender who can also access the client’s current bank account details to accurately assess their ability to meet the obligations of the loan.

There are still a number of specialist loan companies such as CreditFlex, who partner with MoneyHighStreet.com and can offer a range of personal and home owner loans to new customers. Maximum loan to values have been increasing recently and now borrowers looking to borrow up to 85% of the equity in the home, may succeed in their application if they meet employment and credit history requirements.