Is this possible with quidco?

[LeperousDust]

Was browsing quidco and saw this:
http://www.quidco.com/real-personal-finance/

£150 if i take out a personal loan? Seems good, so whats stopping me taking out a loan minimum to their requirements, and paying the first one/two monthly instalments waiting till it tracks and clears and then just paying my "loan" off in one lump sum? What have i blatantly missed that doesnt allow me to do this?:huh:

[NokkonWud]

Minimum of £750 at 80%+APR means you can take your £150, but you'd end up paying more than that on your original loan anyway.

[LeperousDust]

If you paid it back over their 18 month direct debit instalments yes, but whats stopping me paying it off early? Avoiding all that? Dont need a loan never looked into them at all, hence why im asking :)

[Kitten]

Many loans have an early redemption fee. It's either a charge to end the loan early (usually more than £150) or they take all the interest that you should have paid over 18 months and charge you that. This site mysteriously doesn't go into detail about early payments just says 'we will tell you how much you still owe'.

[Desmo]

As Kitten said, it depends on how they work out the loan. Some will have an early settlement fee, others will "front load" the interest meaning your first payments will be 90% interest/10% capital and then gradually work down to paying less interest and more capital. Put it this way, anyone charging over 80% APR is not to be trusted ;)

[Mark]

In one word: Don't

(1) You will get shafted by early repayment charges, (2) their loan conditions are hidden behind the application form (or not there at all) so you can't see how much you'll get shafted, and (3) it probably isn't good for your credit rating. All around bad idea.

[LeperousDust]

Yeah the don't was obvious, i was never going to jump in because its too good to be true :p Thats why i was asking what i was obviously missing i see how loans work now. So you get shafted for paying money back early? I can't even believe thats legal ;D Genius...

[Desmo]

You only get shafted if you don't read the terms of the loan properly ;)

It's pretty much the norm really for most places and that includes the high street banks, not just the dodgy 80%+ APR guys. Front loading the interest and early settlement charges will be in pretty much every loan you apply for.

[Mark]

I'm so glad I'm (finally) out of the loan game (paid off the last one last week*). Whether I'll have to get another one in the future, dunno, maybe - unexpected stuff happens - but I'm fine for now.

I'm sure the banks have made their fair share out of me over the years even though I've never had to pay a penalty charge.

* Will still have some on plastic for a few months, but that's covered, and of course the mortgage.