An Post launch loan to rival market rates

A NEW low-rate personal loan from An Post aims to undercut the main banks’ offerings by several percentage points. One Direct, the profitable financial wing of An Post is introducing a new personal loan with an annualised percentage rate (APR) of 7.75%.

One Direct also released details of a survey yesterday which found Irish borrowers primarily borrow for pleasure with home improvements, car purchases and holidays the main benefits reaped by loans.

The low-rate loan applies to borrowings of between 1,000 and 20,000 over one to five years. The next cheapest loans on the market come from PermanentTSB which charges 7.9% APR for a 15,000 loan over five years or 8.9% over three years. Bank of Ireland charges between 9.9% and 12.3% APR on loans of the same amount while NIB’s personal loans incur between 8.1% and 13.6% APR.