Hi courawoora.

It is possible that the reason for Abbey declining your application is the number of times you have been credit scored in such a short space of time.

If you are making more than one or two applications for credit within a six month period this can have an adverse effect on your credit score, so the fact that you made seven definitely means your score would have been reduced.

Am I right in presuming that you made the 7 applications, therefore had 7 credit searches, before you made the application to Abbey?

Regarding the rates that Abbey and other lenders advertise, this is their "Typical APR". For a lender to advertise a Typical APR, in this case 7.9% APR, they have to give that rate to 66% of their approved customers.

Taking the above into consideration, if you have been offered a competetive rate by one of the lenders that accepted your application you are best taking one of those loans. I would suggest you avoid making any further applications for credit over the next few months to give your credit score time to increase, which it will if you continue to make your re-payments on time

Many thanks

After 7 phonecall applications to different loan companies I was approved each and every time. So - successful each time, as expected - but saw an offer from Abbey Personal Loans that seemed too good to be true. I was right.

Despite OVER 40 minutes on the phone to Abbey Personal Loans, I was refused a £2000 loan (over 12 months). For an 0870 number, this amounts to over £3 for this call.

I have an excellent credit rating, I am a homeowner, I have never defaulted on a loan and I earn over £40k a year. There is no logical reason for being refused.

I wonder whether they are instructed to keep you on the phone for as long as possible in order to make money from your Going-Nowhere phonecall.

I had been rather dubious in the first instance due to their "Low Rate" APR. I would be interested to know if anyone out there has actually been able to take advantage of Abbey Personal Loan "Low Rate" offer of 7.9%.

Thank you for reading