Warning: Late repayment can cause you serious money problems. For help, go to moneyhelper.org.uk

Getting accepted for a cash loan

Borrowing when you need it

Using the I Need Cash service is more beneficial to you when you want to borrow money. We do all the searching for you. When you search for car insurance or holiday deals, you will often use a comparison site to search and find you the best price. Using I Need Cash works in a very similar way. When you complete our form, we search our panel of lenders to find you the best loan, and the cheapest loan, for you. This keeps you in control, saving you time by not having to visit each lender individually

Before applying for any loan, you need to ensure that you are eligible and that is affordable - you can make the repayments. Without leaving you with nothing at the end of the month. Check out our cash loan affordability checker.

Use our Affordability Calculator
to see what you can afford to repay each month.
Click here to check your affordability

The process

1. Complete the application form

To process your information for a loan, you first must complete our easy to fill application form. It will only take a few minutes but you must complete ALL sections. We also ask that you are honest when completing the answers. Lenders will know if your answers are not genuine, as they will check your credit file and possibly your bank statements. Not being honest may lead to a delay in your application being processed or you could be declined.

The lenders we work with are all regulated by the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority), which protects you if you have any complaints or issues with your lender. As a result of them being regulated by the FCA, they must all follow a set of rules around the checks they make to ensure you can afford to repay the loan. Without putting you into debt.

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2. Credit Check

When a lender receives your application, they will conduct a credit search to see if they can help you. Each lender we work with has their own set of rules, as to which credit score they will accept. They will also look to see if you have any other loans, arrears on any credit payments, number of credit searches performance recently and how much debt you may have.

Before applying for a loan, look at your credit file for the information lenders may look at. Due to fraud, there may additional information on your credit file that may not belong to you. Such as someone has taken out credit in your name or use a different address with your name. Contacting the credit file company to amend any fraud, will help improve your score and get a loan.

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3. Open Banking

To assess your affordability, a number of lenders now use Open Banking as part of the loan application process. Other lenders may ask for a copy of your bank statement.

They ask for this to confirm your income and outgoings, and that you can afford the repayments each month.

After you have completed the form and the lender is interested in discussing the application further, they may redirect you to an open banking page. On here you will the lender with direct access to your bank statement information – this is the only information they are allowed to access.

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4. Loan Offer

Only after you have passed the affordability checks by the lender and match their criteria, will they make you an offer of a loan. Depending on the process of the lender, this can be in minutes, with others taking 1-2 days.

Before accepting a loan offer, read the terms carefully. Look at what the monthly repayments will be and how much the loan will cost you over the proposed repayment period. It is also important to be aware of any charges you may receive if you are late with a repayment, or if you wish to repay the loan early.

If everything is ok, then sign the loan offer to receive the cash

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5. Cash in the Bank

If you are lucky and both the lender’s bank and your bank supports Faster Payments, the loan could be transferred in minutes. Each lender and bank is different, with some taking 2-3 days for the loan to arrive.

When applying for a loan, allow up to 2-3 days for the cash loan to arrive in your bank account.

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Our advice when applying for an unsecured loan

It may be tempting not to put accurate information in your application form. This is not good to do, the lenders will often find out what your actual income and outgoings are. They also perform a credit search, so will see what existing credit commitments you have.

Not being honest on your application will only delay or decline your application.

Example:

Alexey, a Single father with 1 child, applying for £1,500 loan spread of 2 years who has not been truthful on his application:

Total income each month after tax £2,100
  • Rent 200
  • Utilities 10
  • Entertainment 0
  • Food 50
  • Mobile Phone 5
  • Credit commitments 45
  • Travel/petrol 150
  • Clothing 100
  • Holidays 50
  • Going out 100
Total expenditure: £1507
Affordability £243

Would Alexey’s application have been accepted?

Probably not.

There are two reasons for this:

He has an income of £1,825 left after paying bills each month. Why would he want a £1,500 loan spread over two years, when he could afford to repay the following month?
It is not possible for a single father and a child, to live on £275 a month which includes paying rent, utilities, travel and food. Lenders may look at the cost of living and make assumptions as to what these costs may actually be.
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