REPRESENTATIVE APR
489.4% APR
Representative Example: On an assumed loan amount of £750 over 12 months. Rate of interest 191.2% (fixed). Total repayment amount £1726.68 and total interest is £976.68. 12 monthly payments of £143.89. My Financial Broker is a broker, not a lender*.
* As a broker, we are unable to ascertain exactly how many customers take out a loan or the lender’s rate of interest particular to that customer, therefore our calculation is based on the mean APR of our panel of lenders.
Some people get concerned that applying for a payday loan will mean the lender will contact their employer, but this rarely happens, and they won’t discuss the loan. Generally a call is only made to confirm your place of employment.
Payday lenders will not contact your employer and disclose the fact that you’ve applied for a loan. Your finances can often be a personal matter, thus lenders aim to only speak with the borrower where possible. So you can be rest assured that they will not call up your boss and say “Hi, I am calling from XYZ Loans about a loan application, and I need to speak to…” – this could be seen to be going against data protection guidelines.
However, during the application stage, some lenders (not all) may call your workplace in order to confirm that you are currently employed there. The lender may ask to speak to you and that is all. If the number you provided matches, this is a good indication that you work at that company and are therefore receiving a regular income. This in turn, gives the lender confidence that you will be able to keep up repayments and repay your loan on time.
Lenders are aware that applying for payday loans is a sensitive issue and they should not state to anyone else where they are calling from.
Sometimes contacting you at work is unavoidable, but as mentioned above, no personal details or information about the loan will be discussed. Most lenders won’t need to call you at work at all, and will only do so if they can’t reach you on the other numbers you’ve provided. We’ve listed some of the reasons a lender might call your workplace below.
When Will a Lender Call My Workplace?
- To confirm your employment
- To confirm information
- Follow up on a missed repayment
To Confirm Your Employment
The lender may ask to speak to you in order to confirm your employment, cross referencing the number you have provided is a real place of work. They may also confirm some basic information about your loan e.g how much you wish to borrow and how long for.
To Confirm Your Information
Lenders want to be able to process your loan as fast as possible, and no doubt you will want to receive it quickly too. So if they cannot get hold of you by mobile or email, they may quickly call you at work and confirm some final details. This could be questions such as do you have any other loans open, are you working with a debt management company or can you send a copy of a recent utility bill. It is noted that your workplace will never be the first port of call.
Follow Up On a Missed Repayment
In the event that your loan falls into arrears and the lender has not heard from you in some time and you have not responded to any emails or phone calls, the lender may call your workplace as a last resort. If you face financial difficulty, it is best to speak to the lender sooner rather than later to avoid any risk of calling your workplace or misunderstandings.
What Other Checks Are Carried Out?
Rather than calling your workplace, some lenders may just request a recent copy of a bank statement or payslip which demonstrates your income being paid into your account. The invoice must be recent though and not from several months ago.
As a requirement of the FCA, short term lenders will routinely run a credit check on your application to see if you have any recent defaults or payments outstanding. Affordability measures are carried out to assess your income and expenses, and lenders will calculate this to find the right amount you are able to borrow.