Provident Loans (Provident Personal Credit)

Member Name: stephbond89

Product:	Provident Personal Credit
Date:	15/08/09 (372 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: VERY quick, easy to obtain even if you have bad credit, CCJs etc. Not loan sharks!

Disadvantages: High interest rates if you pay minimum amount each week.

We have come into a bit of a monetary issue, we need a car desperately, just a little old banger really, but at the minute we have no money to get one, even if it's only for a couple of hundred pound, but we can't get credit, and wouldn't ever get credit on a car again after the problems it caused last time, and the huge cost of just the interest on it (tell me when a car is worth £3500, why we were paying 150% interest on that and paying £9000...this is for a 3 year old Ford Fiesta, bog standard!). So, we were looking at a loan, but as I don't work, and my husbands credit history is well...better left to the imagination shall we say, we were finding it very difficult to get a small loan which wasn't going to end up costing us the earth, i.e. we wanted to lend around £500, but many loan places will only give you £1000 at least, then charge £80 a month, now this isn't too bad, and we would have been able to afford it, but it was us been greedy, we didn't need the extra £500, or even extra £700 as £300 would do us fine! Plus we were going to have to wait a good few weeks until we were properly approved and had the money there, I cannot get a loan with my bank as the account is at the moment with the "collections department" as they messed up and charged someone with no income...but didn't think to let me know about this, causing a build up of £200 charges. So for another two months or so, I can't get anything with the bank. And we were struggling wondering what we could do, when my mum advised I look at Provident.

I went online, and looked through their website, after looking at the cost of the loans and what I could borrow (which was from £50-£500), I knew it was going to be the best option, just had to pass the checks...!

Provident is a company who work by giving you a cash loan or something called a Provident Cash Card, which I think is like a debit card, which had money topped up onto it like a phone card, and you can pay bills etc with it, a good idea for people bad with money and if they have it on their person they will spend it!

When you look at the interest you will see it is very high, you can take a loan out over 23, 31 or 50 weeks, at 50 weeks the interest is at 254.5% APR, which is high, this means when you take out a loan for £300 your paying back £10.50 a week. But you need to rememember this is a pretty short term loan, it's not even a full year that your paying back, and that is a minimum payment (as with a credit card), if you can pay it all back or pay off a big lump sum, the interest goes down alot, and you get that back, or knocked off. So say you wanted to treat the loan as a payday loan, you could do that, by taking out £100 when you had no money to buy food etc, then paying back that £100 the next week when you had been paid, probably with interest on it of around £50, but this is the most it would be!

Sorry if it seems like I am rabbiting on, but this is the only way I can get across how the company works! :)

When you apply for your loan online, you then get a phone call a couple of days later from an agent in your area, mine is called Paul. They ask you if your still interested, and check that all the details they have for you are correct. They then arrange for a time to come to your house to discuss this further with you, and continue with your application. I was very very nervous about this, I was embarrased for a start having a man come to my house and probably end up having to turn me down for a loan. But Paul was very helpful and friendly and came at a time which was suitable for me.

He came round and asked me about the details again, checking spellings etc, then said he would do a quick check, I thought this would take days, and that he would go away and phone back a week later to tell me if i could have the loan or not, but no, he spoke into a phone, and they inputted my details into a system which automatically passed me or dismissed me.

Now, I am unemployed, I don't earn anything at all each month, maybe £100 from here, Ciao and a little commission based work I do. I have bad credit history from overdrafts which haven't been paid off, and apparently a catalogue which hasn't been paid off (I checked my credit history and it said I owed it money but I don't actually know what this is!) and also as I am financially connected to my husband who probably has the lowest credit score you can get. But, I was accepted by Provident for a loan, I had asked for £250, but as I am not working and they don't do joint accounts, he could only give me £200, but thats very good, and the repayments are £7 a week for 50 weeks, or whatever extra I can afford to pay on top of that! Which I hopefully will be able to do, I plan on paying back £50 to him when we're paid as we're hopefully on a "rich" month...!

Paul is coming round today, the day after he processed the loan, with the money in cash for me, all I have to do is show him some ID, birth certificates etc etc, and I have my money, and the repayments will start next week as far as I am aware, though I am going to ask him if I can pay monthly as thats how we're paid!

I definitely recommend a Provident loan if you have been refused elsewhere, they're not loan sharks, they're there to stop you going to loan sharks! They're a safe way to get fast money, that is easy to repay as they take into account your earnings and what you would be able to afford. My mum and my sister have both had accounts with them, and have never had issues with them if they haven't been able to make a payment for whatever reason.

Also, another thing to add, is that after 13 weeks of paying your loan off weekly, you then get offered another loan, if you want to take it you can, if you don't want another loan, that's entirely up to you of course, but the more you have paid off your loan, the higher the second loan will be. By the time my 13th week comes around, it will be coming up to Christmas, so I will be likely to take it after around 20 weeks.

As long as you pay the minimum amount each week, your agent will look after you, he/she will make sure you're getting the best deal. If you do have issues paying one week, then don't be afraid to tell them that, if you want to pay monthly not weekly, tell them that too.

Unlike many loan places, they're not scary, they don't patronise you, the guy I have as an agent came to my door wearing normal clothes (not a suit in site!) with a big smile on his face, he was very friendly and helpful, and we chit chatted as well as sorting out the loan business!

If I can be accepted, then most people can be accepted. If I do have any problems with them I will edit this review to tell you, but as of now, they have been more than helpful, kind and polite. And thanks to them, we have a small cash loan to buy a car with which we wouldn't otherwise have had! :)

Summary: A great and easy way to get money when your low on cash!