Many borrowers who are in hurry pay little attention to the interest rate. No doubt, interest rate is one of the main concerns for any borrower, but it surely takes secondary importance when it competes with urgent financial requirement. This explains why people are ready to pay very high interest rates in case of payday loans. The fact is that special needs are to be taken care of in priority, and the rate of interest is only secondary to your urgent financial requirements.

In the UK financial markets, there are end numbers of lenders. High street banks are called prime lenders while those financial institutions that take care of bad credit borrowers are known as sub-prime lenders. Apart from this broad classification, there are online lenders, building societies and other financial institutions engaged in a competitive lending market.

Unsecured loans may require you to pay a little higher interest rate than that applicable in case of a loan taken against security, but these loans are by and large very popular and expedient to the purpose at hand. These loans are ideal for short-term and urgent borrowing. Since, lenders offer these loans for not more than 8-10 years; you cannot expect a very low rate of interest close to the base rate of interest prevailing in the UK. Usually, there is a difference of 3-4% in case of base rate of interest and the interest rate charged by the lenders who are providing unsecured loans.

The gap between base rate of interest and market rate of interest increases further in case of bad credit unsecured loans. These loans are meant for people who are facing bad credit rating and are not able to get loans from prime lenders. These people apply to sub-prime lenders, agreeing to pay a little more interest rate because of their bad credit rating. Bad credit unsecured loans are available with all sub-prime lenders in the UK.

The recent credit squeeze in the UK financial markets has, however, brought in a lot of changes in this market. Now, the lenders have become over-cautious and they do not offer bad credit loans to every borrower. The loan conditions have been tightened by the lenders and people are facing difficulties in getting bad credit unsecured loans. This is, however, a passing phase resulting out of the effect of the U.S. sub-prime collapse. If you try hard and are able to convince the lender, such a loan is very much on the cards.