Cheers for the info, ben.
Good points made by tom.
As I understand it, HSBC used to loan upto £50K unsecured around 2 years ago. That has now dropped to £15K- £20K. tom is spot on about selling yourself - you have to convince the manager, it will be a very subjective assessment.
A lot of the info on the threads we have all read is outdated. I haven't heard any recent stories of people getting more than £20K unsecured.
I have PM'd all of the people who boasted £45K-£50K unsecured loans from HSBC and not a single one replied.
The only recent (Dec 2003) case I am aware of is a guy I met on an open day at OAT. He got £56K (wow!), but mentioned his parents had to 'help him out' i.e. they staked their house for their son. Personally, I'm against this, so that rules out loans at the higher end of the scale for me. I'm glad in a way because as tom pointed out, no matter how great your first job is, repayments on a £50K loan are going to stretch you - oh and interest rates are set to increase, so bad news for all borrowers
ben, make sure you eat/drink before your interview - I've heard of some people getting grilled for 8 hours!
Cheers,
Nik
