Hi, I spoken to the loan people yesterday for a 7k loan for consolidation purposes. I have poor credit from my student days, and have a default on my account from 5 years ago from Vodafone due to an unpaid bill of £49. This has caused my credit rating to tumble and i am unable to get a loan from any of the high street banks.

the loan people gave me figures over 3,4 and 5 years and told me the repayments. it was as if i was already approved for the loan. i agreed on 5 year term, and then i was told that i would have to pay a one-off set-up fee of £49.99. because i was convinced that the loan funds would be in my account within 5 working days, i agreed to pay the set-up fee and gave the man my credit card details, the £49.99 being debited from my credit card straight away.

today i realised that i did not take the apr from the man, in fact he didnt even mention it, so i rang the customer service line. i gave him my reference, and he told me that the APR was 19.9% typical. it was at this point that i realised that the loan people were in fact brokers, and that my loan was in fact still not agreed by anyone!

after realising this, i looked for reviews from this company on the internet, and the only mention i can find is on this site.

has anyone had any luck with these people, or are they just a scam?

please help before i sign and return the paperwork that is on its way tp me through the post. i am desperate :(

hi the only advice i can give is if you have to pay them money up-front don't touch them with a barge poll, i'm fighting to get my money back with little success, best wishes taz girl

Taz, what was the outcome in ur situation then after u had paid the set-up fee?

what happened after that with regards ur application? did u get the funds? if not, why not?

Do you have a number on which they can be contact (my husband threw my letter away assuming that we would have the funds with no problems!!!!!!!)

The cheque I sent these people cleared last Wednesday and it has now been 8 days but still no funds

i too have just been sent this letter but i think i will now not bother after reading this thanks sounds dodgy to me

I ALSO HAVE LOST £50 WITH THESE PEOPLE. THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE NUMBER IS 0870 950 9568. HAS ANYBODY EVER GOT A LOAN THROUGH THIS COMPANY?

I'm going through the same problem. Applied for loan, was made to believe I had loan and was told funds will be in account 3-5 days later, was told if I pay admin fee of £50 now, there will be no delays in process. Got a call on the 4th day saying 1st application declined, and they want to check credit file before trying with a second lender. They seem to be brokers, but they don't make that clear to begin with and come across as very dishonest... I'll keep you posted

I had to ring these people as I hadn't heard from them in 2 weeks since they cleared my cheque for £29.99. The loan that they said was approved actually wasn't and got declined so that's money I've now lost that could of bought other stuff for my children rather than just being wasted. Is there no way this company can be made to declare that it is a broker before people like me give money to them???

will get my deposit back in 6 months time,and if i'm luck possibly 3.

i too think i have been stung.....

letters arrived yesterday, thought id be quick... put the money directly into their account. Barclays (20-01-96 30793590)

and i sent the forms back special delivery (so i knew they would be signed for)

I noticed the first line of the letter reads

"i take great pleasure in informing you that your loan application is approved in principal"

This did raise concern for me.. so i phoned the company after 2 tries i managed to get through.Was informed that they had 14 lenders and at least 8 of them had approved me for a loan, so the repayment amounts were almost correct, but it was an average of the 8.

I also wondered why it took so long for the money to be in my account.. 5 days is a long time in comparison to most loan lenders... they said its because of the transfer or documents.

i've been informed that i would receive a telephone call within the next couple of days and the money would be in my account at the latest by next Thursday.

has anyone yet received any money?

Have just reported the above company to trading standards. I contacted credit.org.uk and after speaking to 3 different advisers I was put through to someone from the loan people who asked for a payment. I advised that credit.org had told me that I would not be required to pay a fee and the advisor said he had not heard of this company. At this point I became suspicious and asked to speak to a manager raising my concerns that I had been intentionally misled. The manager assured me that the loan people was a reputable company and said they had positive reviews on the internet , clearly he had not read the reviews of this site for some time!!!

When I questioned him further and requested the company address and his name and advised that I intended to report the company to trading standards he simply hung up on me , leaving me in no doubt that this company is indeed not to be trusted.

for those who have been dupped out out money then I think it is important that they make a complaint to trading standards , the more complaints that are made then the stronger the case against this company is. Contact consumer direct on 08454 04 05 06 they will take note of the complaint then pass on to trading standards.

Hi. I am sadly one more on the expanding list of being ripped off. How did you manage to get someone to say they would return the money? Did you get legal backup or just spend a lot more money calling them?

I recently sent a cheque for £49.99 to 'The Loan People' (dated on the 11th October) and also gave them my bank details in regards to a personal loan for £5k which I wanted to take out. I received a call yesterday afternoon stating my application was not going to be processed due to a problem with my credit rating. Was this the excuse from them to everyone else who applied? After being assured on the phone that it would be going through, I waited 11 days to find out it wasnt.

I know there is nothing wrong with my credit rating, and they are sending me a letter which i have to fill in for them to access my credit file to tell me I have something wrong when I know this isnt the case!! This is disgusting. I am calling my bank about cancelling the cheque which the payment has not gone out of just yet. I am refusing to pay them for this, I have been thoroughly deluded into thinking I was going to be able to get this loan. I have emailed them telling them they are not getting the 'processing fee' from me, now or ever!

Believe me I am going to be making a massive complaint about this. I explained to them I was expecting a baby and that I needed the loan to move into a new house with and pay off my existing loan. They are causing me unnecessary stress and my partner and I are beside ourselves about what to do right now besides start our search again.

Has anyone had a positive experience with this firm? I have also spent the money with them today and am now v worried about it.

Section 155 Consumer credit act 1974

1.1 Under section 155 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, a consumer is entitled to a refund (less £5) of the fee paid to a credit broker if for any reason the consumer does not enter into a relevant agreement within six months of an introduction to a source of credit or hire.