your credit rating first. Lenders are only required to offer their advertised 'typical' APRs to two-thirds of applicants. Therefore, if your credit rating is not in good shape, you may be offered a more expensive deal than the low rate loan you originally applied for. 6. Consider a credit card Before you apply for a personal loan, consider other forms of credit. You might find a credit card is cheaper and a card with a 0 per cent introductory offer on purchases will enable you to spread the cost of big purchase interest-free. The longest 0 per cent deal currently is 16 months from Tesco Bank. However, if you don't think you will be able to repay your debt within the 0 per cent offer period, you may be better off with a long term, low rate deal. Right now, the Sainsbury's Bank Low Rate Credit Card offers a rate of 6.9 per cent APR on purchases. 7. Check out peer-to-peer lending If you're anti-banks you might want to borrow from a peer-to-peer lender such as Zopa. The site, "a marketplace for social lending", links borrowers and lenders. Applicants are credit scored and you need a decent score to be accepted. Rates vary but Moneyfacts lists a rate of 6.2 per cent on a 7,500 loan over three years. 8. Borrow more In general, the larger the loan the lower the interest rate. Due to the way some providers price their loans, there are occasions where you can actually save