With many personal loans being advertised using 'typical rates', customers may find that they cannot get credit at as good a value as they thought.

According to Guardian journalist Liz Philips, 80 per cent of personal loan providers use typical rates to describe the level of interest, but consumers will be subject to credit checks and only squeaky-clean ones will be able to take advantage of low rates .

Writing in the newspaper, Ms Philips said credit limit and the number of personal loans a customer has taken out in the past will affect their chances of getting the lowest rates.

She claimed: Too much available credit, even if you pay off your bills in full each month, and you could be turned down, offered a higher interest rate than the one advertised, or a smaller loan than you wanted.

University of East Anglia's Economic and Social Research Council recently found that those taking out a cheap personal loan in the current climate may be losing out because of high payment protection insurance costs.