Loans | Loan news, rates and offers

Michelle Slade, analyst at Moneyfacts.co.uk, comments "It's not only mortgage rates that continue to increase, so too have the rates and monthly repayments on personal loans.

As a result of the credit crunch, more and more people are being forced to look for alternative sources of credit, and ‘money shops' are springing up around the country.

More than two thirds of the money lent in unsecured loans in the last year was granted without consumers being asked to prove their income, according to uSwitch.com, the independent price comparison and switching service.

Banks, building societies and financial services providers have hiked personal loan interest rates in the first three months of 2008 despite a Bank of England base rate cut, according to MoneyExpert.com.

M&S Money is offering a cashback reward to customers who take out a personal loan between 1st April and 3rd June 2008.

Not only have personal loan rates increased by an average of 1.7% over the past year, lenders have also made some significant changes to the way that they offer these products.