Compare Northern Ireland Loans
If you’re based in Northern Ireland and plan to take out an unsecured loan you might be able to find a local lender, but it’s also a good idea to compare unsecured loans offered by companies across the UK as well. By broadening your search for a suitable lender you stand a better chance of finding the right unsecured loan at the right price.
NI Loans - Compare Lenders
No matter your reason for comparing NI personal loans, you don’t have to limit your search to unsecured loan companies in Northern Ireland even though you might be based there yourself. You can apply for an unsecured loan from any UK lender, which means you can have much more options available than you might think when you’re searching for an ‘unsecured loan NI’.
Will my Northern Ireland postcode affect the interest rate I’m offered?
There’s a common personal finance myth that your postcode can affect your credit rating, which is based on the idea that postcodes with higher rates of defaults or CCJs are somehow ‘blacklisted’ by lenders.
This simply isn’t true – lenders will use your postcode to verify your identity and check your credit history, but you won’t be penalised with a worse interest rate on your unsecured loan even if a lot of your neighbours have poor credit histories.
When you’re looking for an unsecured personal loan in Northern Ireland it will be your own credit history that will determine whether you’re offered a loan (and the APR you’re offered on it), although a range of other personal factors will also influence those decisions, including your income, your occupation, your outgoings and any outstanding debts you already have.
Are Northern Ireland unsecured loans an option if I have a bad credit history?
If you do happen to have a poor credit history there is still the possibility that you might be able to take out an NI personal loan, but it’s important to bear in mind that this can sometimes mean you might have fewer lenders to choose between, and you’ll almost certainly pay a higher interest rate because of your adverse credit history.
Can I take out an NI loan if I’ve only recently moved to Northern Ireland?
If you’ve recently moved into a new home it can sometimes complicate the loans process, and that’s true whether you’ve moved to Northern Ireland from somewhere else or whether you’ve simply moved from one part of NI to another.
If you’ve moved to your new home from another part of Northern Ireland or another part of the UK then you’re likely to have an existing credit history, and provided that history doesn’t include credit defaults or CCJs there’s a good chance you will be able to find an NI unsecured loan. Of course, you likely won’t be on the electoral register yet, so you might have to send through proof of address before your loan is approved.
One caveat though – if you’ve moved to Northern Ireland from the Republic of Ireland, or from another country outside the UK, it’s likely you will struggle to find an unsecured NI loan until you’ve built up a UK credit history. Lenders in Northern Ireland (and other parts of the UK, for that matter) aren't able to verify your credit history in other countries, which means you'll represent a much higher risk to lenders until you've built up a UK credit history.
How can I find the best unsecured NI loan rates?
The interest rate you’re offered when you’re taking out a personal loan in Northern Ireland can vary considerably from one lender to the next because they each have their own lending criteria, so it’s vital that you shop around by comparing unsecured NI loans from a wide range of different lenders.
It’s also important to ensure that you have not missed any other debt repayments in the months prior to applying for your unsecured NI loan, and you should avoid dipping into the overdraft on your current account as well, as both of those factors can result in higher unsecured loan rates.
