Santander is offering personal loans at knock-down rates as low as 4.5% until 18th December.
The bank has temporarily slashed the cost of its unsecured personal loans across most lending tiers to hit table-topping heights ahead of Christmas.
It follows a recent eight-day flash-sale on loans which saw rates plunge to record-low levels.
Santander’s latest December offer sees loans between £7,500 and £8,999 fall to 4.7% APR, while those between £9,000 and £15,000 fall to a market-leading 4.5% - down from 6.5% and 5.9% respectively.
The deal uncuts HSBC’s new personal loan rates of 4.8% for loans between £7,500 and £15,000, while peer-to-peer lender Zopa also offers the same competitive headline rate.
Santander has also slashed rates on smaller loans, which are traditionally more expensive, by up to half. 123 current account customers can access loans between £5,000 and £7,499 at just 6.0%, compared to 11.9% previously.
But Santander’s new loan offers are not here to stay. Loans are only available until 18th December, though the bank is promising swift decisions on all lending applications.
This may be advantageous to Sainsbury’s Bank customers with a Nectar card, who could qualify for an even cheaper deal through the supermarket bank if they can present an offer from Santander.
Sainsbury’s Loan Price Promises pledges to undercut offers on loans by 0.1% if it is beaten by another provider.
Customers may have to weigh up the value of the saving against the risk to their credit footprint that will be generated by the additional loan application within a short period.
Santander's personal loans are available for between one- and five-year periods, though customers will be charged up to 58 days interest on the remainder of their loan if they choose to repay their loan over a year before the original term is up.
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