Not just for Groceries (Tesco Personal Finance)

Member Name: hypno06

Product:	Tesco Personal Finance
Date:	07/08/09 (106 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent service throughout.

Disadvantages: None

Several years ago, due to some unforeseen and very urgent building work to our house, we needed to raise a large sum of money, very quickly. We could not raise this by way of an addition to our mortgage, so had to look at loans and credit cards to give us the necessary cash.

As you can imagine, over the years, we have had ups and downs with the various financial institutions, as some are far better than others.......Tesco Finance, through whom we borrowed £10000 over 5 years, were, absolutely, one of the very best, and I would not hesitate to use them again if the need presented itself, or to recommend them to someone else.

We applied for this particular loan in summer 2003, online after picking up a leaflet in our local Tesco Store. The loan was in conjunction with Royal Bank of Scotland, although the only way we knew this was due to the sort code of the account to which we had to make our monthly payments - everything else was dealt with and fronted by Tesco Personal Finance.

Whilst we were offered an agreement in principle online when we applied, we had to submit 6 months worth of recent bank statements by post to them before they would confirm the loan and release the funds. I thought that this was a responsible action on their part - £10000 is a considerable amount to be lending, and they wanted to ensure that we could afford the repayments.

Once we had sent the bank statements and had them approved, the money was sent instantly to our chosen bank account. If I recall correctly, we did not need to make a repayment for the first couple of months.

Our rate for this loan was 6.9% APR - this was a very competitive rate back then, when base rates were over 5%. Even now, with base rates at 0.5%, I think you would struggle to find a loan at such an attractive rate of interest.

Once the loan was set up, we could set up an internet log in through the tesco.com website. We could see how much was outstanding on the loan at any time. Sadly, we could not make random overpayments to bring the term of the loan to a close any sooner, but to be honest this was not a problem for us, as we had other loans etc with much higher APRs which we wanted to clear first with any spare (or should that be rare?) cash.

The ability to see your account online meant that in the month that we missed a payment because we switched bank accounts from which we made our direct debit payment, we could see this and inform Tesco of the reason why, immediately, without even having to receive the standard "you have missed a payment" letter.

Although we were, technically, late, because of this, Tesco were quite happy to ensure that no charge or late fee was made, and that no adverse record would appear on our credit file.

On another occasion, I checked my credit file, as I do frequently, and found that a late payment notice had been placed on my account, yet I could not understand why. I called Tesco Finance, and they were very quick to look into and correct the issue, and I received one of the best worded letters of apology I have ever seen! Their customer service was second to none.

My five years came to an end last year, and in all of that time, it was really quite plain sailing. Excellent (English speaking) customer services, prompt action when something went awry, and what I reckon was responsible lending, all mean that I would recommend others look at using Tesco Personal Finance for loans etc.

Of course, it should be noted that the economic climate has changed somewhat since I took out and cleared my loan, so current services may be slightly different.

APRs change frequently, so there is little point in me putting current rates up, but you will generally find them competitive.

Further details and applications can be found on www.tesco.com

Summary: If you need a loan, look at the supermarkets as well as the banks.