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In the past, whenever you needed a loan to buy that new kitchen, conservatory or perhaps to change the car, your local bank would often be your first port of call.
However since the credit crunch and the Government bailout of some of the biggest financial names on the high street, more and more people trust the banks far less than they once did.
The good news is that there is an alternative option if you're looking to borrow money, and no I'm not talking about using a doorstep lender or a loan shark who will undoubtedly charge you an exorbitant rate of interest.
No, I'm talking about a fast growing and highly respected company called Zopa where people deposit money for others to borrow, so bypassing the banks completely.
Zopa has been around for a few years now and offers loans at a very competitive interest rate - I checked their website this morning and found that you could borrow £5,000 at a typical rate of 8.1% APR, a deal that only a handful of high street lenders can beat.
So if you're thinking of taking out a loan shortly, check out the Zopa website for yourself, you can complete the simple online application in less than 15 minutes. The real beauty is that there's no paperwork or a sales hungry customer advisor waiting to pounce on you to sell you life insurance or a pension that you don't need.
You can borrow between £1,000 and £15,000 over a period of 36 months or 60 months and unlike other high street lenders you can repay early or make lump sum payments to your loan without having to pay a penalty.
When you apply for the loan you can even specify on which day of the month you wish to make your repayments, so it suits you best.
If you feel that Zopa's not for you, then that's fine, here at Moneynet we still give you the opportunity to check out the best personal loan rates from all lenders right here where you can find out the cost of the monthly payments there and then.
Whatever your borrowing requirements, we've got it covered.
Great new easy access savings accounts - but watch out for short term bonuses
It's good to see some better interest rates starting to appear on instant access savings accounts.
A couple of months ago it was a struggle to find an account paying much over 2%, however over the last couple of weeks, sentiment has started to change, and we're now seeing new accounts with rates as high as 3.25%.
Alliance & Leicester is paying 3.15% for the first 12 months and you only need £1 to open the account, however you must bear in mind that the rate includes a bonus of 2.65% which is only there for the first 12 months.
Similarly Leeds Building Society is paying 3.05% but includes a 1% bonus for the first year. The best thing to do if you open one of these accounts is to make a note in your diary, on the calendar or wherever you keep your reminders, just to check the rate again in 12 months time. If the rate isn't looking very competitive when the bonus drops off, you can find a new account here on the moneynet savings search.
The highest instant access rate of 3.25% is available for savers aged over 50 and comes from the Coventry Building Society. There is no bonus included in this figure, however the rate is only fixed at this level for 12 months, so you'll need to keep an eye on it this time next year to make sure it's still giving you a top return.
The savings market has seen plenty of good deals being launched in the last few weeks, so whether you're on the lookout for an ISA, a fixed rate bond or an easy access account, you can search for the best of the best right here.
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