Loading...
Loading...
🇬🇧 United Kingdom / Loans
UK personal loan, car finance HP vs PCP, and debt consolidation calculators. FCA-regulated rates, real APR comparisons, and affordability checks.
8 calculators
Calculate the Annual Percentage Rate on any UK loan or credit card. Compare true borrowing costs across lenders using the standardised APR figure required by FCA regulations.
Calculate monthly payments for HP, PCP, and personal loan car finance in the UK. Compare total cost of ownership across finance types before visiting a dealership.
Calculate how long it takes to pay off a UK credit card balance and the total interest charged. Find the monthly payment needed to clear debt within any target timeframe.
Compare consolidating multiple UK debts into a single loan. See whether you save money on interest and how long it takes to become debt-free with a lower monthly payment.
Compare Hire Purchase and Personal Contract Purchase side by side. Calculate total costs, monthly payments, and final balloon payment to choose the right UK car finance option.
Check how much you can afford to borrow based on income and existing outgoings. Find the maximum loan amount UK lenders are likely to approve at current interest rates.
Compare the true cost of two or more UK personal loans side by side. Evaluate total interest, monthly payment, and APR across different loan amounts and terms.
Calculate monthly repayments and total interest on a UK personal loan. Enter loan amount, term, and interest rate to get a full repayment schedule from any UK lender.
The UK consumer credit market is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and subsequent regulations. Personal loan rates for borrowers with good credit (Experian/Equifax score above 880) typically range from 6–10% APR, while borrowers with average credit may see 12–20% APR. According to Bank of England data, the effective interest rate on new personal loans averaged approximately 8.9% in mid-2024. Total outstanding UK consumer credit (excluding mortgages) stood at approximately £245 billion at end-2024, with credit cards accounting for roughly £70 billion of that. FCA affordability rules require lenders to verify income and expenditure before approving credit, and stress-test repayments against potential interest rate rises for variable-rate products.
Car finance in the UK is dominated by two structures: Hire Purchase (HP) and Personal Contract Purchase (PCP). Under HP, the borrower pays a deposit (typically 10%), makes fixed monthly payments over 1–5 years, and owns the vehicle outright at the end with no further payment due. PCP differs fundamentally: a portion of the purchase price (the Guaranteed Minimum Future Value, or GMFV) is deferred to the end of the term as a balloon payment. Monthly PCP payments are lower than HP because you're only financing the depreciation portion, but you must either pay the balloon, hand the car back, or use any equity as a deposit on a new deal. Most PCP customers (around 70%) choose to roll into a new PCP deal, which amounts to a perpetual rental. The FCA's 2021 motor finance investigation found widespread discretionary commission arrangements that inflated costs for consumers.
Debt consolidation loans can reduce total monthly payments and simplify multiple debts into one, but extending a repayment term increases total interest paid. Rolling £15,000 of credit card debt (at 20% APR) into a 5-year personal loan at 8% APR saves approximately £5,200 in interest, but a 7-year loan at 8% saves only £3,100 more on monthly payments while adding £700 in total interest compared to the 5-year option. Consolidation also affects credit file: closing multiple revolving accounts can reduce average account age and temporarily lower credit scores.
UK loan regulation under the FCA is more prescriptive than many markets, requiring lenders to conduct creditworthiness assessments using open banking data or bank statements, going beyond simple credit score checks. The Consumer Duty (2023) introduced a higher standard, requiring lenders to demonstrate that products deliver 'good outcomes' for retail customers. This differs from the US, where CFPB oversight is regulatory rather than outcomes-based, and from Australia, where ASIC's responsible lending obligations were weakened by 2021 reforms. Additionally, the UK's county court judgment (CCJ) system, which publicly records unpaid debts, has a more significant and faster credit file impact than equivalent mechanisms in other markets.