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Thanks for visiting my site.  You are probably here because you are researching short term loans.  I hope this site can assist you in finding the information you need.

After years of research into various loan types myself and taking out quite a few loans I realised that there just wasn't enough coverage of loans from an independent perspective.  No-one tells you the truth, it seems there is always a hidden agenda to make sales.

This blog is set up to be the opposite of that, it is just a wealth of information about loans that I hope will answer lots of the questions you have.  The site is growing and I will add as much as I can on an ongoing basis.

Thursday 29 January 2015

When You Should Not Take Out A Loan Against Your Car

The problem when you search online for information about a product or service is that you will invariably find a lot of sales information.

You will be bombarded with the reasons why you should take out a loan, all the benefits to you if you do and how cheap particular companies are. The problem with this is that you are hardly ever told the negative side of it, and even if you are it will be in the small text at the bottom of the page.

It is now compulsory to have representative examples on a website that tells potential customers how much it will cost to take out a loan. This is all good but lets be honest, most people will not even read that. When someone needs money fast and they find a company that will lend to them, they go straight to that company and take out the loan.

Buy now think later

There are a large number of people who will not worry that there is the possibility of their car being repossessed and they could be left without a vehicle, they will cross that bridge when they come to it. The same goes for the interest rate, to these people it doesn't matter that the interest rate in 500 percent, at least they can get a loan. Again, they will worry about it when they are paying off the loan and are having problems making the payments.

When are loans against your car useful?

Logbook loans are useful when you need a bit of quick cash and know you can pay it back quickly. Lenders will carry out affordability checks on you, but only you as the borrower know how stable your job is or if you will be able to pay the loan back in a few months time. Everyone who chooses to use a logbook loan needs to carefully think through the consequences of not being able to pay it back. It could set you back financially for years if you go into serious debt.

Affordability checks

Lenders should be open and honest with you about the loan. If they think you can't afford it, they won't give you the loan. In fact if they are allowed to trade under new rules, they will be bound by agreement not to lend to you. Sometimes people will slip through the net and manage to take out loans that they cannot pay off.

If you are in a situation like this, firstly speak to the lender, they may offer you a payment plan and allow you longer to pay back the loan. The next step would be to consult the Money Advice Service for help, and then possibly go to Citizens Advice or a debt charity. There is plenty of help out there from experts who will be able to guide you in the right direction.

The video below shows how people have used debt advice from Citizens Advice to get out of tricky financial situations.



Tuesday 20 January 2015

Why Logbook Loans Offer A Useful Alternative

Logbook loans or V5 loans as they’re sometimes known aren’t the most common form of short term finance because they haven’t had the publicity that other forms of loan have had, but they are a way of raising money that can be useful for some people.

It’s not that they are particularly cheap because I would be lying if I said they were, but they don’t need you to have an impeccable credit record and in most cases they won’t credit check applicants at all.


Of course the main pre-requisite is that you have a vehicle to use as security for the loan.  The loan is offered against the value of the car if it was sold at trade prices.  The lender will then lend up to 70% of that value.

Not all logbook lenders are the same

Each lender is different and they will lend at different percentages and importantly different interest rates.  It’s not the kind of market where lenders offer rates that are a few percentage points different from each other, there can be large differences.  

From searching the market, Varooma’s logbook loans are the cheapest, but check all lenders for deals and other costs that may be associated with the loan.  Just because one lender is cheap it might mean that the company are recouping it’s costs in other areas by charging additional fees.

 These loans offer a good alternative because they are quick, easy to set up, are available for people with bad credit and are a regulated market, which is far better than a loan shark.  They are even better than a payday loan that has very high interest rates.

Better than payday

Logbook loans can also be a better bet than payday loans if the loan is for a longer term.  These loans are designed for lending money over a short period.  The interest rates are too high for it to be lent over a long period.  Logbook loans can be taken out over 2 months, which gives borrowers the chance to spread their payments, although it does mean that interest on the total loan amount will be more, the longer the loan is taken out for.

No early settlement costs

The main logbook lenders generally won’t charge early settlement fees, which unlike many other short term loans means that borrowers can repay their debt early without having to pay a significant amount to come out of the agreement.  This is advantageous to people who know they will be able to pay the loan amount back quickly and think they might need an injection of cash quite often.


Taking everything into account, V5 loans aren’t a bad deal for borrowers with bad credit ratings who have been refused credit cards or other forms of finance.   The interest rates are high, but for people who desperately need cash fast and can pay it back fairly quickly, they are a good option.