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Instalment loans stand out more so than anything for the high volume of competing brands. There are collectively now almost 40 loan options available to UK residents in this featured 3 month niche. The boom in supply ramped up significantly in early 2015 when price capping pushed many payday firms on to this side. We’d assign instalment lenders as being any company that offers an online loan between the period of 2 and 11 months. The most popular micro-niches for instalments are 3 month loans and 6 month loans. There is often a heavy cross-over with firms offering each of these options. We’ll however be comparing each niches individually, starting with the smaller option here today.

The history of 3 month loan products is tied to QuickQuid (now closed) who had offered a 3rd monthly pay option for a long time. WizzCash appears to have been one of the first specialised firms. They launched in 2012. Historically, payday lenders would just offer rollover extensions. Rollovers do have a bad rep and the FCA has enforced a ruling that limits the number of rollovers to just 2. Quantity-wise, there are more brands offering 3 months, but this niche isn’t quite as competitive, since Lending Stream and the now closed Sunny have competed aggressively for 6. Satsuma is generally considered as the largest instalment provider. They’ve however paused lending (pandemic) that has allowed rival Dot Dot to muscle in.

About: Niche

One of the major problems with payday products is that any money borrowed + interest will need to be repaid fully on the next pay date. This could be a sizeable debt of several hundred pounds and so this can be tricky to pay off over such a short period, especially if the borrower is taking out other loans or racking up a large credit card debt. It is understandable that some people do run into issues and end up missing payments and in some cases lose their account to debt collectors. With a 3 month loan you are at least eradicating that requirement to pay a lump sum in one go.

It’s not only the case that the balance is spread out, but you’ll also be paying less interest since the rate is taken from a reducing balance. Given the choice of course, if a lender does offer a wider range of terms then it may make sense to spread the repayments out even further for greater affordability. Do remember that early settlements are widely available that you should be able to do quickly via your account login. If you were to borrow £300 over 90 days then in general the total charge would typically float around £150. Good competitive value would be seen by those charging less than £100 and there are several companies offering such deals.

Notes…

Alexa.com: Comparison listings are sorted by global traffic rankings. Those unranked are sorted alphabetically.

Amounts: Borrowing amounts displayed are complete ranges (across every term available).

Closures: Credio, In-Sync Credit Services, MPP Money, NextCredit, Pixie Loans, Pogo Loans, Pounds Till Payday, Quidie, Tiger Loans Company, Track Loans, WageDayAdvance, Wonga & Zippa Loans. More recent: MyJar, Peachy, PiggyBank, Quick Loans Express, QuickQuid, Satsuma Loans, SkyQuid, Swift Sterling & WizzCash.

Examples: £300 costs have been sampled. The exceptions are Quick Loan Shop where £600 is shown since instalments require £400+ alongside Payday Loans Net who allow £500+. The Money Platform’s sums rise in £250 increments and so £250 is displayed and finally £100 was added for Care Finance and Loans since they only extend to £150.

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5) MoneyBoat: £136.30

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3) Smart-Pig: 96% (1680+)

Prime: Drafty

Auden have recently revamped to deliver the cheapest 3 month loan available at £38.57 per £300. There is unfortunately now just a 3m term option there. Drafty still deliver excellent value at £48.60 and as a line of credit their term flexibility is as good as it gets with 24/7 access to your determined limit. This limit would usually be a sizeable one at £3000 (new customers) and £5000 (future potential). A further positive with Drafty is that their service has attracted great reviews across multiple portals. Drafty’s Alexa rank shows that they are also coming along well that isn’t surprising as this project comes from the Lending Stream owners.

Subprime: Dot Dot Loans

The bulk of page listings are subprime specialised. There are many great options available to choose from, but overall we’d just edge it to Dot Dot at this time. Their charges aren’t market leading, but they are highly flexible in their amounts and terms. They impressively also fund reloans hourly 24/7. They have progressed more so than any rival over the past year and have managed to even become the 2nd most visited. Just SafetyNet comes ahead who are more pricey at this term. It appears that Dot’s future looks more promising through the recent closure of Satsuma. In the doorstep sector both Groups have of course been fierce rivals through the Morses-Provident rivalry.

Last Update: June 16th, 2021