“Short term loans with no credit checks” – there are no such things. They just don’t exist.
Lending to consumers in the UK is governed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA is the government body which authorises and regulates the two types of company which can offer loans in the UK – lenders and brokers. No credit check loans are not regulated by the FCA.
And the FCA are very clear. To offer short-term loans to consumers in the UK, lenders must do two things. First, they must run a full credit search on you when you complete your application. Second, as part of their decision-making process, lenders must run an affordability assessment on you.
Full credit searches and affordability assessments help finance companies to be able to lend responsibly. Responsible lending means that no borrower should be put in a position where they take out a loan when they realistically can’t afford to repay it.
Here at Growing Power, we’re an FCA-authorised and -regulated broker with a panel of over 40 FCA-authorised and regulated lenders. We understand that many borrowers are worried about credit checks being run on them when they apply for a loan because they think that they’ll be turned down because of what the lender might find.
The good news is that many of the lenders on our panel specialise in working with borrowers whose credit record is not spotless. Although what’s on your credit report is still important to these lenders, it’s not the only thing they consider. They also take into account who you are now and how affordable the loan repayments are in your current financial situation.
While that’s not a guarantee that we’ll be able to find you a loan from our panel of lenders, it’s good to know that there are lenders happy to help people with bad credit ratings. In fact, there are over 80 bad credit short term lenders in the UK.
What you need to know
- Will Growing Power credit check me?
- Do Growing Power charge any fees?
- How do I find the best short term direct lender for me?
Will Growing Power credit check me?
Growing Power does not actually credit check you – the lenders we select do.
This is how our system works. For each of the bad credit short-term loan providers on our panel, we know two important things about them. First, we know the types of loans they prefer to make – minimum amount, maximum amount, how long they like borrowers to take to repay their loans, what the loans are intended for, and so on.
Second, we know the types of borrowers with bad credit histories they like to lend to – factors like how much they want a borrower to be earning as a minimum, the amount of debt they’re currently managing, what they spend every month on their outgoings and so on. What lenders are looking for is reassurance that you can comfortably meet the repayments they’ll be collecting from you every month.
From all the information you share with us on our application form, we get a really strong idea about the lender or lenders that are most likely to want to find out more about you and your application. Please note that we’re not always able to find a lender for each borrower.
Each lender will run a soft credit search on you – only you can see soft credit searches when you look at your report. Any company checking out your credit report can’t see the soft searches which have been run on you and it doesn’t affect your credit score.
Once we’ve got the responses from each lender we’ve sent your details to, we will redirect you to the website of a lender likely to offer you a competitive loan. When you’re at their website, you’ll be asked to answer a few more questions.
Once you’ve sent your answers to the lender, they then run a full credit search on you. Full credit searches are visible by other companies which you give permission to look at your credit report. If there are a lot of full credit searches on your report within a short space of time, your credit score may go down and you may find it harder to be approved for any other type of finance you apply for within the next 12 months. Using Growing Power to find you a short term loan means that only one full credit search will occur compared to many hard searches if you applied to each lender separately yourself.
On most occasions, you’ll either receive a firm offer from the lender within a few seconds (they’ll show you all the details about the loan and the charges on the screen) or they’ll decline your application for a loan.
If you receive an offer and you decide to proceed, the money could be on its way to your account within minutes* once you’ve accepted the lender’s loan agreement and you’ve agreed to the terms and conditions on the loan.
Do Growing Power charge any fees?
No, Growing Power doesn’t charge you any fees. Our service is completely free for borrowers - regardless of whether your application is accepted or not. Better still, if we do find you an offer, there’s no obligation on you to proceed – you’re in control at all times.
How do I find the best short term direct lender for me?
There are dozens of reputable short-term direct lenders on the market. You don’t have to use Growing Power to apply to them – you can go direct to their websites and do it yourself.
However, we think that using a broker like Growing Power is a better choice for borrowers. Why? Remember how we told you earlier that each lender we work with tells us the type of borrower they like and the type of loan they want to make?
This information is rarely displayed on a direct lender’s website so you could end up making an application direct to one of them but there’d never be a chance that they’d say “yes” to you. You could do this again and again before you find a lender who you’re a good match for.
The problem is that, if you do make full application after full application, then a full credit search would be run on you each time. And, as we brought up earlier, if there are a lot of full credit searches on your credit report in a short space of time, then it actually becomes harder to get a loan even from a lender that you’re well matched with.
When you use Growing Power, there’s only one full credit search that’s done on you and that’s by the lender most likely to approve you for the loan you want.
Let us save you time and frustration by using our service.
Please only apply for a short term loan if you are sure that you’re going to be able to meet all of the repayments and certain where the money will come from to meet them.
There are many debt help organisations in the UK offering free advice and support in full confidence. If you are in debt and you feel that you need help to manage it, you may benefit from speaking with one of their advisors. We have included links to the main six organisations here – StepChange, PayPlan, National Debtline, the Debt Advice Foundation, the Money Advice Service, and Citizens Advice.
To apply for a short-term loan through Growing Power, please click here.