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M&S Bank - Marks and Spencer: Personal Loan reviews

Name: Personal Loan
Rating: 2.08 (52 reviews)

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2.01

Based on 52 reviews, last reviewed 6th Mar 2025

No new 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

100% increase in 1 star reviews

in the past 90 days

15%

10%

61%

Latest highest rating:

5

Very clear Took a loan for my car. Very clear pricing and fair rate. Easy to deal with and helpful customer service. Reviewed on: 4th September 2024

Latest lowest rating:

1

A rating of one out of five does not do justice ... I'm also a victim of bait and switch from M&S as the loan rate switched from 9.9% to 14.9% and the loan repayments ballooned. I'm now at a crossroads ... Read more Reviewed on: 6th March 2025

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About this product

M&S Bank - Marks and Spencer personal loan reviews on Smart Money People are honest reviews. If you're trying to determine whether this is the right personal loan for you, reading our M&S Bank - Marks and Spencer personal loan reviews can help you to find out what other people have to say. Smart Money People launched in October 2014 to help people like you to find the best personal loans. If you have used a M&S Bank - Marks and Spencer personal loan, we'd love you to write a quick review too.

M&S Bank - Marks and Spencer Personal Loan reviews (52)

Review of the M&S Bank - Marks and Spencer, Personal Loan:

Very clear

Took a loan for my car. Very clear pricing and fair rate. Easy to deal with and helpful customer service. Reviewed on: 4th September 2024

Avoid. Mis-sell loans and APRs

I was preapproved for a loan at 2.9% which was great so applied for the full loan. This was approved fairly quickly but with a much higher apr. When questioning why this was the case given I have very low debts and an excellent credit score they said I couldn't ever get that rate because I wasn't an existing customer. Even though this was not stated on any of the pre-approval questionnaires or even on the advertising on the loan. All the other loans nectar etc... list the restrictions clearly. Now have to cancel the application and wait for my credit score to clear. Complete waste of time they blatantly mis-sell their products luring people in with unobtainable interest rates. Reviewed on: 1st October 2019

Absolute time wasters

Applied for a loan, had a call to request more additional information such as payslips, tax return(self employed) before application could be processed.Dragged on for 2 weeks then decided to tell me as I had only been self employed for 9 months they couldn’t give me a loan as it is ‘company policy’ to reject loans for people who have been self employed for less than 12 months.Would have happily accepted the explanation had they told me upfront and not strung me along for 2 weeks.Poor customer service.Avoid at all costs Reviewed on: 17th May 2019

Misleading and poor customer service

I wanted a debt consolidation loan for 2 credit cards to reduce the monthly interest I was paying. I did an online search a came across M&S loans who were advertising loans at 2.9%. I applied for a loan (having an Experian credit score of 999), went through the application process and supplied all the required information accurately. The next day I received confirmation that I had been accepted for the loan at 6.9% and just needed to call up to confirm I wanted to proceed. Although this was higher than the advertised interest rate it was still lower than what I was paying on my credit cards so decided to accept. On that call I was asked to provide 2x payslips which I did. They stated they would call me back to confirm the slips were acceptable and confirm the loan was in place. Having waited several hours for a call back which never materialized I called M&S again. On this call I was told that I had been refused the loan because I had a high balance on 2x credit cards! I explained that the whole reason for applying for the loan was to clear the credit card balances and pay less interest (which I also stated on my original application). The woman on the phone would not listen and it got to a point where she was plain rude and told me that the decision was final. Disgusting customer service. Why tell someone they have been accepted for a loan to then pull the rug from under their feet 2 days later? All the information I provided was 100% accurate and I was able to back that up with evidence when it was asked for. I would avoid M&S loans like the plague, with customer service like this it's no wonder they are a struggling brand. Reviewed on: 24th April 2019

Really bad customer service

Applied for loan, met all their criteria. Received initial email that said I would have a decision within 5 days. Then nothing, no request for information. On the last day as it was getting close to them closing so I called to see if the application was being dealt with, I waited ages to get through to be told that there was a request sat on the system for more information and that no-one had picked it up in order to send an email out to me. They said they would send the email out immediately and if I got the information to them I could call back in 15 minutes for a decision. I was told at this stage that my high credit rate had secured their lowest lending rate 2.9% and that I just had to send proof of self employment and bank statements. Received email and it clearly stated that I needed to send proof of self employment by means of SA302 form or business bank statement showing name and address. Also asked to send 3 months bank statements. I sent this through within half an hour. I left it an hour and called them back and had to wait in a queue again to eventually get through to someone and then get passed (holding again)through to the underwriting team who said I had been sent the wrong email and that I needed to send my entire tax return i.e. 30 odd pages that you would submit online or that your accountant would do on your behalf. The woman's manner was just simply rude and very abrupt when I asked if it was the actual entire tax return and not just the SA302 tax calculation that you get from HMRC. I stated that if it was proof of income that they were after I could send SA302 that is a calculation from the tax office confirming income that you are taxed on. She said no we need the entire tax return. Very odd as the tax return is something you do yourself / your accountant does. The SA302 is the document that is used by mortgage companies to confirm income for self employed. I'm not sure if she was confused with what the SA302 or was just having a bad day (It was Friday evening) but I ended up cancelling my application and went to my bank instead, higher rate but far less hassle. It has been a complete waste of time. The worst thing has been the lack of communication from them. If I hadn't rang the application would of just sat there pending waiting for goodness how long until someone decided to contact me to request the information. Maybe they don't like self employed people but they should state that in their initial criteria if that is the case. I met everything on their checklist. Bad service avoid. Reviewed on: 12th April 2019

REFUSED LOAN BUT TOLD TO RE APPLY IN A YEAR

I am retired and with a very good pension. Their criteria was earn over £10,000 and have a good credit score. I chose M&S because they consider people in retirement. The letter they sent refused my application even though I earn double what was required, have a very good score but they said that I had a late payment on a credit card - which I disagree with. I have a maxed overdraft but never go over and they told me to load Experian which I did and it gave me an excellent score - not good enough for M&S although they said feel free to apply again in a year. Why bother if they say No now they will say No in a year. Can't really work out how and why I did not get it. They did however say they are not ageist - sorry but don't believe that at all. Reviewed on: 12th November 2018

Why was I speaking to someone in Manilla who couldn't understand me!!

I have a loan with M & S and phoned to confirm that the last payment would be taken on a date in this month (October) After pressing 1 for this 2 for that etc.etc. and waiting ages I apparently got through to the wrong department. I was told I would be put through direct to the loans department. This did not happen had to start pressing 1 for this 2 for that etc. When I did get through I asked where the person I was talking to was - apparently Manilla! I asked when the final payment would be taken and was told the last payment was taken on a date in September. I asked the same question again and was told the next payment would be taken on a date in October. Slightly exasperated I explained that the loan was for 2 years and M & S had specified the last payment date but the person I spoke to said I had to cancel the d.d. with my bank or the payment would carry on being drawn by them! Presumably it is cheaper to outsource customer telephone queries to Manilla and to people who don't seem to understand a simple question asked by someone with an excellent English accent. There are many people here in the UK who are desperate for jobs. Reviewed on: 4th October 2018

Inept!!!!!!

After 3 days of waiting for my loan to be approved, I decided to phone to enquire on its progress. I was promised a fast track decision to be with me be lunchtime the following day. I ring up later afternoon the following day, application now doesn't exist. A complete shambles - Avoid...………………. Reviewed on: 2nd August 2018

Good rates and service

Good rates and service . I’ve had no issues with this Company Reviewed on: 8th June 2018

Dont bother

Applied for a £10k loan at 2.8%. Received email confirming acceptance and would receive agreement in 3 working days. Called call centre as wanted to ensure funds were available for me to purchase the new car and was advised to go into a branch and they could print the forms for me to sign. The call centre advised that they were unable to email me the forms form me to sign as they weren't up to that technologhy yet... really in 2018?? Anyway, went to branch gave them the reference nimber but the woman insisted in going through the whole application again and then deceided to congratulate me on getting the loan at 5.8%!!! I advised that this was not what I had applied for, it was for the 2.8 % to which she replied that it was 5.8 or nothing. I politely pointed out that their website an application process was a load of crap an that they should confirm in the email confirmation when you are accepted that it isnt for the rate that you have applied for. An hour an half of my like I wont get back! Went home and logged onto my lloyds bank account, apploed for a loan and within 10 minutes it was all done and the money in my bank. Moral of the story is, for the sales of saving a few pounx on a monthly payment dont bother with M&s Reviewed on: 23rd April 2018

Personal loan application

Applied for a personal loan that was pre approved after I applied and type in my details the application was refused even after snicking to my great credit score rubbish lenders Reviewed on: 16th March 2018

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