Cash Train Review

The first thing to point out about Cash Train – The UK’s latest payday lender to show up on our TV’s – is that they are a broker rather than an actual lender. You apply to them and then they submit your application form to up to 20 actual payday lenders on your behalf.

One of the downsides to using a broker is that the advertised rates are not going to be available to each and every borrower who applies. To advertise an interest rate to the public it only has to be offered to 51% of its customers, the other 49% can be offered a different rate entirely and they aren’t breaking any advertising regulations.

The Cash Train TV ad and web site says their charges are £25 per £100 borrowed which is an APR of 1940.5% and a fixed annual interest rate of 300%. The actual rate you will be offered through Cash Train though will be dependent on the actual lender they choose for you, your earnings, the amount you wish to borrow, your credit history and current credit rating.

According to the Cash Train web site you have a ‘good’ chance of being accepted by one of their lenders even if you have CCJ’s, defaults or a poor credit rating as long as you are being paid regularly but according to the Consumer Finance Association (CFA) – the association that represents payday lenders – as many as 9 out of 10 online payday loan applications are turned down after a credit check has been carried out.

Given the CFA’s own figures then it seems that the Cash Train business model is to throw as many borrowers at the various lenders as possible and see what sticks. As a broker of course, this makes sound financial sense but as a consumer having as many as 20 credit checks carried out on your file all in one day is going to make your credit rating worse and further lower your chances of being accepted for any type of loan in the near future.

The second point to mention about Cash Train is that the charges are fixed. This means that the charges are the same whether your pay day is at the end of the week or in 4 weeks.

The good news is that they appear to work with lenders that pay the money directly into your bank the same day and free of charge. The bad news is we couldn’t check this for sure because you don’t get to see the terms and conditions until AFTER you have applied and been offered a loan as they have no idea which, if any, of the lenders they work with will be offering you a loan. We suspect some may well charge for same day transfers though so you will want to check the terms carefully.

Cash Train Application Requirements

All applicants must be in employment and earning more than £500 a month, aged 18 or over, be a UK resident and must have their salary paid directly into a bank account that has a debit card attached.

Because Cash Train automatically charge the debit card on your pay day to settle the debt it is in your own interest to ensure that their will sufficient funds to cover the repayment.

The application form on the Cash Train website is pretty much industry standard – Your personal, contact, employment and bank account details. Once completed they then submit your application to the 20 lenders they work with and then see what comes back.

Assuming one of those says yes you will then be asked to visit that lenders web site and confirm the details you submitted to Cash Train and to digitally sign the online loan agreement. Presumably at some point you will also be asked to review the terms and conditions of the loan. Once done your money should be paid into your account that day although this, together with the amount of charges will be dependent on which lender you end up with.

As already mentioned, the loan is automatically settled on your next pay day via your debit card.

Our Cash Train Review

The downside to using a broker such as Cash Train is that unless you have a better than average credit rating and/or are wanting to borrow less than 30% of your salary you will generally not get the advertised rate – assuming you are actually offered a loan.

If you are wanting to borrow less than 30% of your salary – even with a less than good credit rating – your chances of getting a payday loan are extremely good so you might as well shop around for a better deal rather than use a broker who is more likely to offer you the loan that makes them the most money rather than the loan that costs you the least.

Another point is that if you do have a good credit rating then going directly to a lender rather than through a broker may well get you a discount rate. Quick Quid for instance will charge £29.50 for people with an average rating but reward consumers with a good rating by lowering it to £25 and then £20 for excellent rated or repeat customers of good standing.

Couple that with the 25% promo code for new clients regardless of credit rating offered by Quick Quid here and suddenly you are paying just £15 per £100 just because you have a very good credit score.

If you want the convenience of not having to shop around and are aware that you probably won’t get the rate advertised then using a broker like Cash Train may be for you but if you aren’t we suggest you shop around and deal with the lenders directly.

You can visit the Cash Train website by clicking here.