Martin Lewis has explained how you can slash the cost of your loans in four simple steps.
People struggling with their bills as a result of coronavirus are allowed to take payment holidays on loans, cards, mortgages and more at the moment.
But even people who have taken one out can still save.
"Payment holidays don't stop interest. If you've an expensive loan, it's worth checking to see if you can do a loan switch to cut costs," Martin wrote in the weekly MoneySavingExpert.com email.
And people have saved thousands by doing it.
Martin highlighted an email from reader David, saying he knocked "over £5,000" from the cost of a loan he took out in 2018 - working out at £40 a month.
Although Martin pointed out not everyone can benefit.
"This is both a good and bad time to try," he wrote.
"Good because rates are super-cheap, bad because loans are tougher to get.
"Still it's worth a check. Yet as there can be early repayment charges if you repay a loan early, it's not just about comparing APRs."
Here's his step-by-step guide to seeing if you could save too.
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Step 1 - Check if it's likely you can get a cheaper loan. The MoneySavingExpert.com Loans Eligibility Calculator shows your odds of acceptance for many cheap loans. If you've little chance, don't carry on. If cheaper loans are likely, keep checking.
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Step 2 - Ask your current lender for a settlement figure. Ie, how much it'll cost to clear your current loan including any early repayment costs (which tells you how big a new loan you'll need to get).
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Step 3 - Calculate how much it'll cost you to stay with your current lender. Multiply your monthly repayments by how many months you have left (ask it if you don't know).
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Step 4 - Find out which is cheaper. Use the MSE Loan Switching Calc to see whether you should stick or not. See our Cut existing loan costs guide for more help.
Martin also gave people an example of the cheapest deals at the moment:
- Under £3,000, check out 0% money transfer loans
- £3,000 - £5,000 - Hitachi at 8.4% APR
- £5,000 - £7,500 - Tesco Bank at 3.4% APR
- £7,500 - £15,000 - Cahoot at 2.8% APR.
He has a warning though.
"All these are 'representative APR' though, meaning sadly only 51% of accepted customers need get the advertised rate," Martin wrote.
