Money
advice

A loan may not always be right for you
We believe that in some circumstances, a loan could assist you with your financial needs., However, a loan may not always be the best solution and short term loans in particular can cause you problems is not used correctly. We have put together this page to try and show what the other options are, you may find a better way to handle your finances. If you still feel that a loan is the right solution for you then you can apply here.

The money advice service
The Money Advice Service has been set up by the government to help people who want to improve how they manage their finances. Before you apply for a loan it would be a good idea to take a look at the advice on their website and make sure that a loan is the best solution for you. If you have any questions or you are worried about your finances then please go to: moneyadviceservice.org.uk.

Budget Better
The need for a short term loan is usually as a result of a change in your monthly budgeting. Sometimes the best solution is not to take out another loan but to try and budget better in order to get over the shortfall without having to borrow more money.

The best way to do this is to write out a list of all of your outgoings for the month. Once you have all of your outgoings written down, go through everything individually and see whether there is anything that you can make savings on for that month.

It’s always a good idea to set yourself a budget each month, as that way less things will “spring up” on you and you will have less need to borrow.

If you still need to borrow then it’s important to take the time to work out how you are going to pay back the loan and manage your existing financial commitments. This again comes down to budgeting.

Please do not apply for a loan if you do not think you can afford to pay it back.

Longer Term Loans
Some lenders we work with offer longer loans, and sometimes a longer term loan is a better solution than a short term loan. These loans take a little longer to approve and get to you, but in the long term they can often be a better financial solution.

Typically they will have lower interest rates and can be paid off over months and years rather than days and weeks – so you pay back smaller chunks.

That said, if you only need a small amount of money for a short period of time then a short-term loan is a good solution, just make sure you can afford
to pay it back.

Debt Solutions
Some people fall into what is known as the “Short-term trap” which is where they have borrowed a short-term loan and then cannot afford to pay it back. That leaves them short of money each month and they may end up getting into more financial trouble than they were in initially.

If this is your situation then we would always suggest that you do not apply for any more loans but instead consider other solutions such as those outlined here.

There are debt solutions that may be available to you which involve you paying off your existing debt without borrowing more money.

We would recommend speaking with Step change stepchange.org they offer free impartial advice to tackling debt problems.