Smile Small Loans

Good:
Easy website to use and very simple application form with a decision within 24 hours

Bad:
If you do not hold a Smile account, it can take up to 4 days to organise your loan and get paid out

Verdict:
Completely online bank - application is really easy but if you struggle they are known for their great customer service, be aware that their loans are quite inflexible and once you choose the terms, it's difficult to change them

Smile is an online bank that lend between £2,000 and £7,450. They do however have call centres where you can speak to someone if you are having problems. Smile offer a fixed rate APR for the life of your loan so there would never be an increase in your monthly repayments.

You can apply online. After completing the application, you are given a PIN number that will let you log in and track the progress of your loan online. They will call you back within 24 hours to advise the success of the application (you will also receive an email). Once approved, you will go through relevant details on the phone before paperwork is sent out to you via post. When you receive this, read through it carefully, ensure you are happy with the APR and provide any other documents they may request. Once they receive it back, if you have a Smile bank account, the funds will be in there the following working day. If you bank with someone else, it will take 3 - 5 working days.

The general consensus of opinion by previous customers is that Smile offer a good service. The interest is not as low as some other loan companies out there. They are not the most flexible in terms of repayments as these cannot be increased or decreased and settling the loan early will cost you a fee on top of the interest you would have paid. They do however also offer quite a wide range of loan terms, allowing the customer to choose between 1-7 years whichever suits them best. Smile only offer loans to people over 21. You will be credit checked so its only worth applying if you have good credit (i.e. you don't have any late payments, CCJs, defaults on your credit file). Once again it does seem to be recommended by a lot of its customers so if you are looking for these sort of amounts of money, this could be quite a viable option.