Finance news from Loans Park

London (loans-park) May 05, 2006: The UK's biggest high street banks are failing to deliver better personal loan rates. This is despite intense competition among lending firms in the UK.

The study conducted by the online price comparison firm reveals that the number of loan providers offering rates below 6% APR has increased four times compared to a year ago, but bigger banks are yet to follow the trend.

It gave the example of HSBC, which still has a typical online rate of 11.9% that is double the rates of other available online deals.

Nick White, head of personal finance at the company, said, "It still surprises me that the high street banks retain such a large share of the market when they continue to offer some really uncompetitive deals,"

"In today's market, it makes far more sense for borrowers to check out what is available online before they head to the high street for a low-rate loan," he further added.

Mr. White said that it was a good time to utilise low rates of interest provided by online lenders for people who were planning to avail loans for the purposes of buying a car, home improvement, debt consolidation etc.