Even when a lender does not own property there are different levels of reliability involved when it comes to expectations of repayment without default. The borrower may have a secure job with a good income, have been resident at the same dwelling for several years and be listed on the Full Electoral Register. Everything else being equal such a person is statistically less likely to default than a person who moves from one rented dwelling to another, has no job or one that offers no long-term stability and is difficult to trace by reference to public records.

It is worth remembering that a defaulter is not always fraudulent or dishonest. Quite often a borrower may take out a loan with every good intention of making full and punctual repayments. Then he or she is made redundant, or the tenancy is terminated and replaced from necessity by one that is substantially more costly, or that is out of the area resulting in a change of work or even unemployment. A lender can pass the file over to a debt collector but, as the saying has it, one cannot get blood from a stone.

Obtaining very low APR loans is thus about being able to add as many “ticks” to one’s application as possible. In other words offering the lender as much reassurance as one can that the terms of the loan will be honoured. Secure work, secure residential status, good credit history, traceable occupancy and, if at all possible, the provision of security all combine to give you negotiating power when it comes to tying down the most attractive deal.