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Tesco is the supermarket credit winner

Customers looking for cheap credit along with their groceries should make Tesco their first stop, and avoid Marks & Spencer altogether.

Zopa ‘Social Finance’ community launches in USA and Italy

Having successfully launched the world’s first peer-to-peer lending service in the UK, Zopa today becomes the first global business, with launches in the USA and Italy.

Personal loan market shrinks 10% in November

Esther James, personal finance analyst at Moneyfacts.co.uk comments: “Another two lenders bite the dust in the personal loan market this week, with the withdrawal of Hanley Economic BS and Northern Rock funded Eskimo Loans.

Loans squeeze at £5,000 as average rates hit 9.5%

Average rates on unsecured loans of £5,000 are now nearly 9.5 per cent as the credit crunch hits home, new research from MoneyExpert.com reveals. But borrowers who take a £7,500 loan will see average rates drop to 7.97 per cent.

Loan providers getting choosy as consumers suffer

People are facing increasing knockbacks on loans as banks get tougher with their lending criteria.

More loan providers back out of the market

Samantha Owens, Head of Personal Finance at Moneyfacts.co.uk comments: “Competitive loan rates can still be found, especially if you are borrowing larger sums of money. But as rates continue to rise and lenders begin to withdraw from the market, it could look a very different picture in a few months’ time.

Graduate loans on the increase

Graduates are facing a hard time with their interest bills at the moment. With student loan rates linked to inflation, this last year has seen rates jump up. Should they be looking for additional borrowing by way of a graduate loan, it’s not good news to see Lloyds TSB and NatWest increase their rates this week.

Social lending comes into its own

With conventional lenders increasing the cost of their loans in the wake of the debt crisis, Zopa loans - secured from other people rather than the banks - remain some of the very best deals available anywhere.

ABCUL welcomes crackdown on loan sharks

ABCUL – the Association of British Credit Unions – has welcomed the Government’s crackdown on loan sharks.

Picture Financial: Denial of debt in the UK

In response to statistics released by Chiltern today showing that one in 16 Britons are officially overindebted, Picture Financial highlights the importance of individuals becoming more engaged with their money management.

Britain’s overindebted in denial

Nearly four million Britons are officially overindebted but two-thirds of them are in denial according to research from leading debt management specialist Chiltern.

Picture Financial: Levels of borrowing in the UK

The gross domestic product (GDP) of Great Britain will hit £1.33 trillion this year, less than the £1.35 trillion which was outstanding on mortgages, credit cards and personal loans in June, according to a report by Grant Thornton.

Borrowers unrealistic about paying debt off

Two thirds of borrowers (66%) have unrealistic expectations about how quickly they can pay off their debts, according to research by personal finance information website Fool.co.uk.

Degrees of debt consign graduates to 11 year ‘debt sentence’

Over the past decade annual student debt has increased by a staggering 167% - from £1.2 billion to £3.2 billion, according to a new study by uSwitch.com.

Loan-a-friend Brits hand out £510 million

Britain is officially a nation of big lenders, as research from Abbey Loans finds that 4.4 million Brits (nine per cent) lend or borrow a sum of money over £50 from friends each year - totalling a whopping £510 million. The average friend-to-friend loan stands at £116.