Your options
The options below could help you manage your finances over the coming months. You can:
- extend your payment holiday/deferral (this won’t reduce future monthly payments)
- replace your existing debts with a restructured loan
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Restructuring your unsecured lending
Payment holiday extension
If you’ve deferred your loan repayments, or taken a credit card payment holiday, you may be able to extend this for a further 3 months.
New or restructured Personal Loan
If you’re going to struggle to make repayments, we may be able to offer you a new, or restructured, Personal Loan. This could help make your debt more manageable and affordable.
You should only consider this option if you’ve already completed an Income and expenditure form and received a communication from us.
How would restructuring a Personal Loan work
- You apply to replace your existing first direct unsecured debts – including credit cards, loans or overdrafts – with a Personal Loan
- If this is approved, you’re offered an interest rate based on your personal circumstances, the loan amount and term (representative 3.3% APR for loans between £7,000 and £15,000)
- You begin making set monthly repayments.
What you need to consider
If you’re applying to use a loan to replace your other debts, it’s important to consider not just the interest rate and monthly repayments, but also the term of the new loan compared to the remaining term of your existing debts.
Spreading your repayments over a longer term could mean you end up paying more overall, even if the interest rate on the new loan is lower than the rate(s) on your current debt.
If you’d like to see an example of what your payments could be, use our calculator:
What would happen to your current debt?
If you’re offered a new loan to replace your current first direct debt and decide to proceed, the amount you owe will be transferred to the new loan. Here’s what it would mean if you’re transferring a debt:
- from a first direct credit card: we’ll temporarily suspend your card while we send your new loan agreement for you to sign and return. When the funds from the new loan arrive in your account, your credit card balance will be repaid and we’ll reduce the credit limit on the credit card to £500
- from a first direct Overdraft: your overdraft balance will be repaid and we’ll reduce your arranged overdraft limit to £50 as soon as the funds from the new loan arrive in your account
- ·from an existing first direct Personal Loan: we’ll close this account once the balance has been repaid by your new loan.
How to apply
Please call us on 03 456 100 100 and we can discuss this with you.
Looking for another option?
If the above options aren’t right for you, but you’re still concerned about making payments, our Credit Services team may be able to help. Please call us on 03 456 100 188 (Lines are open Mon to Fri 8am to 6pm and Sat 8am to 4pm).
If we don’t hear from you, your usual monthly credit card payments, or loan repayments, will resume once your payment holiday, or repayment deferral ends.