New Horizons Loan Review 2021 – READ THIS BEFORE Applying!

In the event you find yourself in a financial rut, you might need some rescuing. There are lots of lenders to help at such times, and that’s where the problem lies, making a choice.

We have undertaken a comprehensive review of one of the UK’s popular lenders, New Horizons. In this review, we analyze the top features, highlights and downsides of this platform.

At the end of it all, you should be in a position to determine whether it is the right lender for you or not.

Read on to find everything you need to know about New Horizons and make the best choice.

What is New Horizons?

New Horizons is the registered trading name of New Horizons Finance Ltd, an Introducer Appointed Representative of Flux Funding Ltd. The company is registered in Wales and England and is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Flux Funding is not a direct lender; rather, it functions as a credit broker. In simple terms, this means that it offers credit matching services for applicants looking for financing. To achieve this, it makes use of a credit matching service.

But it does not charge customers for the service and instead, gets a commission from its lending partners when a customer takes out a loan using its platform.

 

Pros and Cons of a New Horizons Loan

How does a New Horizons loan work?

As mentioned above, New Horizons is a credit brokerage service. Therefore, when you apply for a loan on the platform, its partner lenders perform a soft credit check. This is an exercise meant to assess your eligibility without affecting your credit score.

New Horizons offers its services online and has no brick and mortar stores. Once you apply for a loan, you should get multiple responses and choose the best rate from a panel of lenders. That explains why the representative APR rate on the platform is relatively low in comparison to competitors.

Interest rates

The representative APR rate refers to the average rate at which at least 51% of borrowers access funding on a given platform. Given the fact that the rate on this platform is 49.9%, it means that most borrowers get better than average rates. It is understandable because the lenders are in a competition.

If there is a lender who finds you eligible based on their requirements, they will give you a loan offer. You have the option of accepting or rejecting offers. When you do accept an offer, they will perform a hard credit check which could impact your credit score.

Generally speaking, once you get approval, you should receive funding within a span of 15 minutes. But this may vary depending on your bank’s procedures and policies.

No obligation quote

One of the highlights of the service is the possibility of getting a 100% no obligation loan quote. All you have to do is specify the period for which you want the loan, select the reason why you need the loan and submit some basic details to get a general idea of the cost of borrowing.

The matching technology that the platform uses matches applicants with over 50 lenders, who are approved by the Financial Conduct Authority. One of the key highlights of this technology is that it offers you a chance to weigh the odds of getting approved for a loan without affecting your score.

By selecting the option of checking eligibility, the platform automatically carries out a soft credit check. It takes approximately 60 seconds and does not leave a footprint on your score. Based on this, you can decide whether or not to take the plunge and actually apply for a loan.

Though this will now involve a hard credit check, it will be worthwhile as you can be sure of approval if the eligibility test was a positive.

Whether you are a first-time lender or are an existing customer, you can access loans ranging from £50 and £5,000. These are accessible for loan terms of between 3 and 36 months.

Repayments

When it comes to repayments, every lender on the platform has their own unique policies. Though New Horizons does not charge any extra fees, some lenders might charge for missed or late payments. They also differ in their methods of collecting outstanding debts.

The key is to assess the loan terms thoroughly before signing on the agreement form. Note that with most lenders, non-payment will result in charges and/or raised interests. For those who do not charge, it may still affect your credit score and is therefore a sensitive matter.

No matter who your lender is, always contact them in advance when you are not able to make a repayment on the set date. Some may offer to renew the loan, which could result in additional charges. Others may opt to make alternative repayment arrangements.

What loan products does New Horizons offer?

By virtue of the fact that New Horizons has a wide range of lenders providing funding options, you can access almost any type of loan. Some of the available options include:

Payday loans – these are the shortest term loans available on the platform as they are typically repayable by the next payday. They usually feature low loan limits and have high interest rates. As such, they are ideal for handling cash emergencies as you wait for payday. But given the fact that they are payable within a short term, the impact of the high interest rate is not as profound.

Short term installment loans – in case you need a slightly higher loan amount payable within a longer time span, a short term installment loan is ideal. This is a loan which offers a repayment option in small installments spread out over a period. They typically last for up to 12 months.

New Horizons Account Creation and Borrowing Process

The account creation and borrowing process on New Horizons is quite simple.

1. Start by visiting the site and selecting the loan amount from £50 to £5,000. Next, click on the “Get your loan quote” tab.

You can leave the amount as it is or adjust it, then set the desired loan term, between 3 months and 36 months.

2. Click “Next” and then stipulate the reason for your loan.

You will get various choices such as short term cash, car loan, pay bills, debt consolidation, home improvement and others. When you select one of these options, you will get to see the number of lenders who can fulfill your request.

3. Next, you need to enter your personal details. These include your name, date of birth, email address, phone numbers – home and mobile, gender, marital status and number of dependents.

Once you have populated these details, you need to provide information about where you live. Enter the postcode and address, then input your homeownership status, time at the address and then proceed to the next step.

4. After that, you will need to enter your employment status and then specify how you get paid.

The options here include electronically, cash and other.

5. Next, enter your monthly financial expenditure including rent, bills, food, transport, other loans and any other payments.

6. Finally, you need to submit your bank information to show where the funds should be sent.

These include the bank card type, account number and sort code.

These are all the information you need to get a loan quote. Remember that at this point, the lenders will only perform soft checks. They will only carry out the hard check once you accept an offer.

Eligibility Criteria for New Horizons Loan

Information Borrowers Need to Provide to Get New Horizons Loan

What are New Horizons loan borrowing costs?

New Horizons offers a wide range of options for borrowers. Take a look at some of the rates:

• APR – rates between 9.3% and 1,294%
• Representative APR – 49.9%

Representative example:

• Borrowed amount – £1,200
• Loan term – 18 months
• Total amount repayable – £1,628.28
• Monthly installments – £90.46
• Total interest – £428.28
• Interest rate – 49.9%

New Horizons Customer Support

There isn’t much information online about the New Horizons support team online. But such information does not matter much as they are not direct lenders.

It might be more important to consider the customer reviews on the lender who services your request. Take a moment to do this before signing up for the loan so as to avoid disappointment.

Is it safe to borrow from New Horizons?

New Horizons makes use of standard encryption techniques for all the data on its site. It is also an authorized and regulated entity under the FCA. As such, there is a measure of safety when borrowing from the platform.

However, you need to keep in mind that they have to share your information with third-party lenders as they are a brokerage service.

Additionally, as with any other online platform, you need to exercise some common sense caution when uploading your information. For instance, the use of a public computer poses a greater risk of hacking. So it might be best to use a private PC to reduce the level of risk.

New Horizons Review Verdict

Based on its key features, New Horizons is a great choice of platform for short term borrowers. It offers remarkable flexibility and versatility in terms of its loan limits and terms. This is by virtue of the fact that it works with numerous lenders.

But therein lies its major disadvantages too. As a broker service, they have to share your data with third parties, which poses a security and privacy risk. Additionally, they do not have any level of control over the rates and policies of these third parties.

Thus, though it might be a great platform, you will be dealing with a third party and the outcome might be unsatisfactory.

All in all, the competitive aspect of the site which results in its low representative APR can be a major advantage. If you are comfortable with the idea of dealing with a lending service broker and want flexibility and versatility, it might be a reliable choice.

Glossary of loaning terms

FAQ