We are currently forking out an eye-watering £181 million a day in interest payments alone.

That’s according to a press release I’ve just had from comparison site Thelendingwizard (quite a good one – worth checking out). It must include mortgage interest payments but even so, it’s a phenomenal amount that we are just handing over to banks and other lenders.

Still, though, the number is bound to go up. As the release points out, interest rates for loans are going up, mainly to compensate for the banks’ loss of Payment Protection Insurance (a nice little earner for them) and all the bad debt they’re expecting from a large portion of the unwise loans they’ve handed out in the recent past.

They point out that the best rate they have for a £5,000 loan over five years is 8%. It’s not that long ago that we were promoting 5.6, 5.9% for basic unsecured loans.

A friend of mine managed to get a loan last week (through our loan comparison service as it happens!) at 8.9% which was good. His credit rating isn’t the best either.

Generally, though, it is really hard to get a loan at a decent rate now and that’s not going to improve too much in the next six months at least. Apart from anything else, the banks also need to spend time rebuilding their cash reserves after the beating they’ve had in the last couple of years. Yes they need to lend in order to make money for themselves but they need to shore themselves up before they go on a lending spree.

So what can you do if you really need some cash now.

A few things – depending on your situation and credit-worthiness.

1. Check your credit rating. If it’s bad, find out here how to clean up a dodgy credit history
2. If you want a loan to pay of existing debts see if you can switch your balance to a 0% balance transfer card. Or try a low lifetime balance transfer card.
3. Become a Zopa borrower. Zopa.com will check your credit rating like any other lender so go back to point 1. if yours is bad. However, if it’s all right then the average loan rate you’d be getting on a £5,000 loan over five years now is about 10.2%. Also, you’re borrowing from individuals, not faceless lenders. You might even get a tenner from me! Try it out – you might as well.
4. Make extra cash in your spare time. As you know, if you’re a Moneymagpie regular, we have loads of ways of making money on the side. Check out our Make Money section and find ways that suit your time and abilities. You can even find ways of making quick cash right now in this article.

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