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Need To Fund Your Training?The Walk-Through Of Your Options
The Current Situation With Lenders
We won’t lie to you, finding a training school offering to finance your training is incredibly difficult. We don’t know of a single training school in the UK that is currently offering any kind of finance solutions - it’s that dire.
Schools Pointing You Towards Lenders
Most schools will offer to point you in the direction of lenders, but even this is becoming a less available fix. The number of direct lenders willing to offer credit products to cover training is now less than 2, that’s for the whole of the UK, and we’ve heard that these two have cut back dramatically on lending.
Do Not Count On Financing
Our honest opinion is that potential drivers should not count on being able to obtain finance to cover the costs of training, it just isn’t there at the moment. For those who would be able to pass all of the credit checks for the current criteria, they would be able to get an unsecured loan cheaper from the bank.
Using a Credit Card
We do understand that one of the only options available to some drivers will be to use Credit Cards. If we say that the average training package was around £4,000, on a typical credit card charging 30% APR, that’s going to be around £220 a month in interest. That’s around £2500 extra in interest if you are unable to repay the balance and instead pay only the interest.
Credit Cards will be one of the more expensive ways to fund training over the long term. Most drivers will justify the extra costs because they believe that they can make the money back when they pass the courses, but that’s a big gamble. The course isn’t easy and a sizeable percentage of people fail it more than once. There is also the problem of employers not wanting to take a risk on drivers who have recently passed their tests, the insurance for them is a factor.
Think about your financial situation if you don’t pass and if you can’t get employment straight away. How would you make the repayments to the Credit Card Company?
Unsecured Loans
Almost certainly going to be the best option, quickest and normally the second cheapest method of lending. For the majority of drivers, the significant problem is going to be passing the credit checks. As of September 2023, unsecured loans from banks cost circa 10-12%. Still expensive but cheaper than Credit Cards.
Most unsecured loans can be credit checked and paid out within the hour, making for a viable solution to those that want to start training immediately.
When we talk about unsecured Loans, we are talking "Unsecured Bank Loans", not from independent lenders who could be significantly more expensive and in some cases worse than Credit Cards.
Secured Loans
The slowest method of obtaining funding, but usually the cheapest. Open to individuals who own their own property and have a modest amount of equity available. Interest rates are fluctuating a fair bit at the moment, but typical interest rates for a secured loan would be 3% above the Bank of England’s base interest rates.
Lenders will look at credit history, but are more relaxed if the loan is secured against a property, it virtually guarantees that they will get their money back at some point.
There are several secured lenders on the internet, we don’t recommend one particular brand over another.
As always, do your research and get financial advice before making any financial decision.
Pay As You Go
The majority of new drivers will struggle to pull together £4000+ for their Class 1 and Class 2 training. There is nothing wrong in that, if drivers were in jobs where they could hand over £4000 cash at the drop of the hat, they may consider staying in that field of employment as it seems to be doing very well for them.
The reality is that most drivers can't, and most drivers will struggle to get credit.
The final option is asking for a price from the Training School to break down the training into an hourly rate and pay per lesson. Rather than a big sum upfront, drivers could book their lessons as and when they had the spare cash. Not all training schools will offer their services this way, but it is worth asking.
Being upfront with the school is key, don't put yourself under any more pressure than you already are. There is no point turning up to lessons stressed because you've no money to eat after you've paid £4,000 in one go for your course.
Before You Apply - You Will Need
01
Apply Online
Apply online and we'll call you back for a quick chat.
02
The Call Back
We need to go through some small details with you. Nothing major, will take about 10 minutes.
03
Get A Decision
We'll normally be able to get you a decision within 30 minutes.
04
Start Training
Start your training, the money will be paid directly to the training school. Just turn up and pass.
Third Parties Offering Credit Products
Third parties will make offers of credit. HGV Sites Ltd will act as an intermediary for those wanting to enquire about financing options but will not actively broker the agreement, nor take a fee from the borrower or lender.
Can I choose any training school I want?
Unfortunately not, the finance providers will only work with training schools on their network of preferred training schools.
Lenders have agreements with these training schools that should the driver stop training, the money for the rest of the course will be returned to the finance provider.
Some lenders will only pay the training school after the driver has completed each lesson.
When the call back is arranged, we will discuss the training schools approved for finance in your area.
What are the interest rates?
Will everyone qualify for finance?