A real rate is the actual interest rate that a lender can offer you and is used to calculate the monthly repayments. It is important to know that the interest rate on a loan is not only based on your credit score but also the loan amount you are looking for. For example, here are the lowest loan rates available from one of our lenders.

This is an illustration of how the loan amount affects the rates available using the lenders Representative APRs. Such rates may look great, but our data shows that only 1 in 10 people are eligible for the lowest loan rates on the market - and that’s why we believe comparing real interest rates is far superior as Representative APRs do not represent you as an individual.

All personal loan rates quoted come are guaranteed. This means that the rate you see is the rate you’ll get if you are accepted. These rates can be guaranteed for 48 hours or up to 30 days (depending on the lender).

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has very specific rules on calculating Representative APRs. Credit providers and brokers can only advertise an APR as “Representative” if 51% of their customers get that rate or lower. This is not specific to your personal circumstances.

Here’s the awkward part - The FCA legally requires us to show a Representative APR and example on our site - we know, this contradicts everything we’ve been saying. So here’s ours.

Representative Example: Borrowing £3,500 over 36 months with a Representative 21.5% APR fixed, the amount payable would be £132.76 per month with a total amount payable of £4,779.47.

All personal loans come with an ‘Acceptance Certainty Score’ - each lender will send us a score which is the degree of certainty that you will be accepted if you choose to apply. For example; you could be 100% pre-approved from one lender but see 95% certainty for another lender.

The score is based on a soft search so if it’s not 100% pre-approved then this means the lender may need to run some final checks if you choose to apply.

When you get a quote with us, our panel of lenders run a soft search on you to check your creditworthiness. This is a search on your credit file that does not affect your credit score.

A hard search is only conducted if you choose to apply with one of our lenders which will have an impact on your credit profile. Unlike other websites, we can show you your real interest rate with a soft search only to allow you to compare.