Get Hitched To The Best Wedding Loan
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Wedding season is in full swing but getting married is an expensive business – upwards of £16,000 according to many industry estimates. So it’s hardly surprising that many couples need to borrow to plug any financial gaps. And one way to do this is with a wedding loan.
What are the best wedding loans?
We carried out some research (July 2022) into which providers are offering the best deals on wedding loans, and have listed the ones we found below. As APRs (annual percentage rates) vary according to loan size, we plumped for between £7,500 and £15,000. As well as representing a realistic wedding budget, this is also the borrowing bracket at which loan rates are at their cheapest.
Bear in mind that the APRs you see listed are representative, which means you could be offered higher depending on your circumstances and credit score.
Best Wedding Loans
*Based on a settlement figure as set out under the Consumer Credit (Early Settlement) Regulations 2004. This states that if you have less than 12 months remaining of your loan, providers can charge up to 28 days’ interest. An extra 30 days’ interest can be added on if there is more than one year of the loan term remaining, taking the total maximum penalty to 58 days’ interest.
How did we rank the loan providers?
We assessed the following criteria to arrive at our star rankings for wedding loan providers:
- Interest rate: as measured by representative APR (these are fixed)
- Term: the repayment terms available on the listed best representative APR
- Flexibility: whether the lender charges a penalty for repaying the loan in full ahead of the agreed term
- Fees: what late or missed payment fees are charged, if any
- Other factors: we considered other differentiating factors such as welcome bonuses or generous payment holidays
What exactly is a wedding loan?
The term wedding loan tends to refer to an unsecured personal loan that enables you to borrow a sum of money over a fixed period of time at a fixed rate of interest.
When you apply for a loan, you’ll probably be asked what you want to use the money for, with ‘wedding’ as one option. That’s because some lenders take the purpose of the loan into consideration when deciding whether to offer it to you or not.
However, the mechanics of the loan itself – the way it works, and how you need to repay it – are the same regardless of what you use the loan for.
With a wedding loan, you can usually borrow between £1,000 and £15,000, although it can be as much as £25,000 with certain lenders. However, of course you’ll need to weigh up whether sums like these are worth spending on what is essentially a one-off event.
You can choose to repay the borrowing over one to five years, although some lenders offer seven-year terms. Just keep in mind that the longer the term, the more interest you’ll pay in total.
Note that this type of loan is described as ‘unsecured’ because it is not secured against an asset such as your home. With a secured loan, your lender has the right to repossess your property if you are unable to keep up with repayments.
What are the advantages?
There are a number of benefits to taking out a wedding loan. Here are some of the main advantages of this type of borrowing:
- Competitive interest rates relative to other forms of debt (such as a credit card or overdraft), particularly if you’re borrowing £7,500 or more
- Choose how long you need to repay the amount borrowed
- Monthly payments are fixed helping you to budget
- Borrowing amounts are typically larger than with a credit card or overdraft
- Once you’ve been accepted for a loan, you can often receive funds by the next day
What are the disadvantages?
Of course, there are also several drawbacks to watch out for:
- If you have a poor credit score, you won’t qualify for the best wedding loan rates, or your application could be turned down completely
- Interest rates are higher for smaller loan amounts, so a wedding loan may not be suitable if you only need to borrow £2,000 to £3,000
- Missing monthly payments will negatively affect your credit score. You may also find it harder to get access to financial products at a later date
- There will probably be an early repayment charge if you want to pay off your loan before the end of the term. This is often the equivalent of one to two months’ interest.
Find more information in our Frequently Asked Questions section, below.
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