After applying for the loan, I received a call from their call centre, they got me through some security and then told me the loan was approved and I had to go online to complete the application. I went online there was a PDF agreement that you could download and submit to the branch with my signature or there was a the option to click two boxes and hit submit, the first box was to agree to the terms and conditions of the loans and the second box was your electronic signature. I clicked both boxes with a tick and hit submit.  The message appeared ‘your application is complete , your funds have been deposited in your account’, wow this was very efficient. I immediately paid of the balance of the Credit Card. I will have to wait 48 hours before the credit card balance shows zero. Now the important part is to make sure I don’t use the credit card, well I have not used it for more than a year now, fingers crossed, I will not need to.

The interest on the loan was 21% Apr, it was still worth it as it works out to less than 21% as the total amount payable in 12 months was about 11% more than the actual loan.  Only yesterday I realised that Apr on a personal debt consolidation loan was calculated on a sliding scale, I felt that was very fair.

Banks were known before to not want to give you loans to clear your own debts with the bank as this normally meant they would make less money.

Also I noticed my new debit card that just arrived does not have Meps or Maestro on it but just Visa, this is going to be far more convenient especially if you travel alot abroad where maestro and mebs debit cards are not accepted over the counter but only on certain cash machines. What I am not too sure is whether, the  £1.75 charge on the old debit card will have a similar charge on the Visa card, also will there be interest charged when as per using a credit card when abroad.