RaboDirect with Friends First compete in personal lending market

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RaboDirect to compete in Irish Personal Lending Market in partnership with Friends First Finance. Interesting new personal Credit Account from Rabo launching on the 20th March. You apply for a 'line of credit' for a preset period, and then draw down as you need it. Standard repayment amount is fixed, but you have flexibility to draw down more or repay lump sums as it suits. I'm not sure how competitive the interest rates are, but the 'line of credit' isn't tied to any particular purpose (car loan, etc.).
 
The easiest way to explain the Credit Account is by way of example:
The APR rates charged are variable:
€2,500 - €9,999: 9.50%
€10,000 - €19,999: 8.45%
€20,000 - €50,000: 8.15%

- Say you apply for a "revolving" credit limit of €20,000
- The interest rate that would apply to this limit would be a variable rate of 8.15% APR
- You decide that you only want to draw down €12,000 at first. The interest rate is still 8.15% as opposed to 8.45%.
- The mimimum repayment you must make every month is 2% of the credit limit. The max is 4% of the credit limit. But you can make a lump sum repayment at any time without penalty.
- You can draw down the remaining €8,000 of your credit limit at any time online. The minimum draw down amount is €1,000.
- You can change your minimum payment amount once a month, eg, change from 2% to 3% which will mean that your instalment will increase and term of your loan will reduce.
- You can change your monthly repayment date online
- Rates are variable. However, if interest rates increase your monthly repayment remains the same. The term of your loan will increase as will the cost of credit.
- Security or guarantors are not required
- Optional Payment Protection Insurance is available

Friends First Finance are the credit underwriters.
Warning: If you do not meet the repayments on your credit account your account will go into arrears. This may affect your credit rating.

I trust that the above info is of some use.

RaboDirect
 
Yes it is, but I have one question.

If I'm approved for €20,000. I then draw down €10,000 for whatever reason.
My monthly max repayment is, according to point 4, €400 (4%) plus/including interest? However the point then adds that I can make a lump sum payment without penalty. So if I wanted to pay back €5,000 I could, but I cant if the max is 4%?
 
Skin,
Your regular instalment each month must be between 2% and 4%. You can alter the % as it suits you. However, you can also pay off a lump sum if you want to clear a big chunk of the loan off. Total flexibility!

The key think to remember about this credit facility is that unlike a term loan where you borrow a fixed amount and that's it, the Credit Account allows you apply for a line of credit that you only draw down as you need and you can top it up within your limit as it suits.

Any more queries please ask.

RaboDirect
 
RaboDirect:

I rang your customer service asking what's the story paying off more than 2% - 4% per month, and your rep said I need to ask Friends First. He gave me a phone number for them, but I really couldn't be bothered having to deal with two companies.

Could you tell me please, what is the procedure for paying off more then 2% - 4% per month?

Thanks.
 
RaboDirect said:
Skin,
Your regular instalment each month must be between 2% and 4%. You can alter the % as it suits you. However, you can also pay off a lump sum if you want to clear a big chunk of the loan off. Total flexibility!

The key think to remember about this credit facility is that unlike a term loan where you borrow a fixed amount and that's it, the Credit Account allows you apply for a line of credit that you only draw down as you need and you can top it up within your limit as it suits.

Any more queries please ask.

RaboDirect
Click to expand...


Can people who are self employed apply for this product
 
steph1 said:
Can people who are self employed apply for this product
Click to expand...

Yes. Obviously you will need to be able to provide proof of income.

Re changing the repayment amount from 2% up to 4% you can do this online once your Credit Account has been set up. You can also change your repayment date, draw down funds from your credit limit, request a top up on your limit all online.
 
Flax said:
RaboDirect:


Could you tell me please, what is the procedure for paying off more then 2% - 4% per month?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Apologies, I misread your OP. To pay off more than the regular 2%-4% you need to contact Friends First Finance and they can arrange lump sum repayments for you.
 
I was disappointed to see that you have to have €1,000 paid off before you can draw down an extra "chunk" of your pre approved amount. I was approved for 6k drew down 5k at the beginning knowing i would need an extra 1k within about 3 months. obviously i must not have read the t&c's or whatever but it was frustrating that when i thought i could draw it down i couldn't as i didn't have 1k paid off (that would take me a while paying the min 2% on the 6k loan taking into account interest charges). Not as flexible as you would think.

However, there was no problem with me applying for a higher limit and then drawing down the whole amount. i requested the increased amount (extra €1k i think) but was told i needed to provide bank statements and payslips etc so i didn't bother with the hassle of it.
 
Hi,

I have a quick question on the drawdown.

Say you are approved for €20K and drawdown €10k. If you have paid back €5k.

What is available to drawdown? €10k or €15k.

Thanks,

Van
 
Van Occupant said:
Hi,

I have a quick question on the drawdown.

Say you are approved for €20K and drawdown €10k. If you have paid back €5k.

What is available to drawdown? €10k or €15k.

Thanks,

Van
Click to expand...

The available drawdown amount would be 15k. The interest rate that would apply would be the 20k rate, currently 8.15% variable.
 
Last edited:
daveccork said:
you have to have €1,000 paid off before you can draw down an extra "chunk" of your pre approved amount.
Click to expand...

Is this point true? I'm considering opening a rabodirect credit account purely with the intention of drawing down at least 1000 Euro within short periods of time. Does this not defeat the purpose of this account??
 
Hi,

If I apply for a credit account with a 20,000euro limit and draw down only 5,000euro, will this be registered with the Irish Credit Bureau as me having a loan of 20,000euro or 5,000euro?
 
I have a Rabo Credit Account and a Savings account. There have been two reductions in interest rate on the savings A/c after the recent ECB rate reductions. However there has been no reduction in rate on the Credit Account, the rate in fact increased earlier in the year (8.45% to 8.99%) when the ECB were upping rates. I'm a bit miffed about this.

I had plans for the savings, hence the reason I didn't just pay off a lump sum on the Credit Account. However the savings account is now so uncompetitive and with the change in economic situation I think I'll go ahead and pay off the Credit Account and not spend the money.
 
As someone with present experience of this product I would like to advise people that despite Rabodirect advertising their credit account as similar to a credit card with a revolving line of credit (as per their above post) "that you only draw down as you need and you can top it up within your limit as it suits" this is not actually what happens in reality. I tried to draw down an additional amount within my approved Rabodorect credit limit and was declined despite my perfect ICB profile, small mortgage, minimal borrowing and good salary. The theory that this is a revolving credit limit seems to me to be a ploy sell their product, in reality it is no different to a personal loan and since their interest rate is not as competitive as others than anyone considering this product would be better off going elsewhere.
 
Could someone help me with this question please?

I wish to apply for this product and use it to consolidate 2 other loans and cc. When i go to fill in the app box it asks for existing outgoings etc so obviously if i put in my current outgoings it says i am not eligible... If i leave the repayments out of the form obviously i am then eligible but am afraid this would be seen as being untruthful (which i am not)

If i applied for and got this deal i would save 600+ a month on repayments so obviously i am very interested.

I tired contacting rabobank by email etc but no reply...
 
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