popular Yes Loans questions answered

[Andrew Copeland]

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We've had loads of questions from affiliates about the Yes Loans program on the network so I thought I'd put up a post answering all of the common one's so the info is available to all.

The most common questions asked so far are:

What qualifies as a valid lead and when do I get paid the commission?

It's pretty simple really...a valid lead is anyone who fulfills the following minimum criteria.

UK resident
works minimum of 15 hours a week (so yes students do qualify )
they have completed the enquiry form themselves
they can be contacted within 7 days of Yes Loans receiving their enquiry

If an enquiry conforms to the above criteria, the lead will be approved asap (maximum amount of time is 14 days) and paid out in the next appropriate payment run. The program is setup on prepayment so all commissions are paid out as soon as they are approved.

How does the program convert?

While its still early days, so far we've seen some very healthy stats on the program. CTR's are upwards of 20%. And EPC's as high as £1.10 (with the average being about £0.85).

What products do Yes Loans offer?

I think the program description sums it up best (so there's a little copy/paste below):

"Yes Loans arranges unsecured loans for both homeowners and tenants, whatever their credit history. We even arrange loans for students and people living with their parents. We specialise in helping those that have been refused by high street lenders and those suffering with credit difficulties such as CCJs, defaults or mortgage arrears"

I thought loans were more popular after Christmas? Why should I promote them now?

Ah!! The million dollar question...

Yup, its true loans are very popular after Christmas. BUT...unsecured loans are also exceptionally popular in the run up to the big day.

This is because October and November see the start of the Christmas shopping season. Christmas is a very expensive time of year and borrowing sky rockets during the shopping season to cover the extra expenditure which is sure to come.

With the UK borrowing stats increasing year on year, and there are still busy periods at specific times of the year, there isn't a 'finance season' like there used to be.

Promoting Yes Loans now will not only have them established on your sites come January but will also allow you to capitalise on customers looking to borrow for the sake of spending in the Christmas shopping season.


Obviously there are loads of other questions we've received (sorry if I've left any important ones out).

If you've been thinking of joining the program, any other info should be available from our signup page
Alternatively, please visit the Yes Loans site for info about the company.

If there are any questions you'd like an answer to...please feel free to give me a shout.

[teabags]

There is no reason in the history of man, why Yes loans charge a fee.

BBC - Wales - Yes Loans

Yes Loans - Blagger.com - The place to leave feedback and comments about companies you have used

YES Loans Personal Loans Reviews at Review Centre

Moneysupermarket.com - yes loans

Moneysupermarket.com - Yes loans

These threads will reveal all, there are many more like them.

Teabags

[tuna-fish]

What's also annoying from an affiliates point of view is that the banners don't click straight through to the application form. They land on the homepage. What's to the left on the homepage? 'Contact us'. Click on that and low and behold there's a telephone number. I know people will ignore the 'apply here' links and go straight to contact us and get on the phone. I know this as fact.

[magenta]

What's also annoying from an affiliates point of view is that the banners don't click straight through to the application form. They land on the homepage. What's to the left on the homepage? 'Contact us'. Click on that and low and behold there's a telephone number. I know people will ignore the 'apply here' links and go straight to contact us and get on the phone. I know this as fact.

thats bad.. its the sort of thing the network should have taken care of, how hard can it be to create a separate landing page?

[Basko]

thats bad.. its the sort of thing the network should have taken care of, how hard can it be to create a separate landing page?

Come on, that's like, impossible! It's only 21st century, wait another 50 years till that becomes possible
LOL

[Andrew Copeland]

Thanks very much for the responses.

I've changed the click destination on the links to now link directly through to the application form. The original homepage destination was in place to ensure potential customers are fully informed before continuing with the application process.

If anyone still wants to link directly to the homepage, please feel free to give me a shout.

Regarding the 'contact us' page, unfortunately this is something which has to remain in place as Yes Loans are licensed under the Consumer Credit act. In order to comply, contact details for the company must be available to customers at all times. While this does not explicitly include telephone numbers, it is recommended as good practice by the OFT.

Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help.

[teabags]

Hi Andrew

The most insulting comment on your reply is “While this does not explicitly include telephone numbers, it is recommended as good practice by the OFT” At what point has charging fees been recommended good practice by the OFT? All over their web-sites they advise consumers never to pay up-front fees.

It is a networks job to bring to affiliates, merchants who have a good solid standing in their field and who are able to pay a fair price per lead and pay on time.

Knowing the facts about this company, and how they have been exposed for bad practices, which has have left a wake of dissatisfied applicants behind, why would a network allow this to happen? In my eyes it is aiding and abetting.

Webgains may feel that it is justified for some reason, to allow Yes to prey on the most vulnerable members of our society. Their business model is geared up to charge as many applicants as possible a £49.95 fee. They promise the applicant they have been accepted as a client of Yes loans, which means nothing.

All that this practice does is leave behind, very angry clients who miss-trust the industry we all work in, as they believe they have been scammed.

Teabags

[rossyesloans]

Firstly thanks Andrew for clearing up the landing page issue.

Hi Teabags,

Fortunately for my keyboard I have posted my views on ‘fee charging’ in a previous thread http://www.affiliates4u.com/forums/f...e-program.html please feel free to view.

I am not going to make excuses for the information contained in the links posted by teabags as people will always believe what they want to believe and interpret things in the way they see fit. I just ask that when reading these articles you look into the credibility of the person writing them and think about the reason behind it.

You might even agree that a majority of the ‘bad press’ we receive is mainly from previous applicants that have been declined a loan or miss interpreted our terms and conditions etc. It is unfortunate that the bearer of bad news is often the outlet for people’s anger and frustration and in the sub prime finance sector this seems to be common practice.

Please bear in mind that we are the largest sub-prime unsecured loan company in the UK and as a result we process around 60,000 loan applications per month. We have to accept that we will get some disgruntled clients and as we are all aware the internet is the most common place to voice an opinion. We are thankful that out of the 60,000 applications we take each month there are only a handful of clients who are disappointed with our services and feel the need to take action such as this rather than resolving any issues with our customer service department.

As always I appreciate your views and if you have any questions feel free to ask.

Many thanks

Ross Orchard

[teabags]

Hi Ross

Yes, I have looked at the credibility of the person behind the articles; they are the most desperate members of our society, and the reason they write the articles is because they want to warn others not to make the same mistakes they did.

Miss interpreted your terms and conditions or declined a loan is the reason why, they gave you “bad press” No; they gave you bad press, because you led them to believe they had been accepted for a loan, when they were only accepted as a Yes loans client. If you would have been upfront with the client in the first place, and told them, at the point of application, they have not been accepted for the loan; very few would pay your fee.

You are no where near the largest sub-prime unsecured loan company in the UK, there are a number who complete more loans than you; you are only the biggest collector of fees in the UK. Where is the “bad press” on the other companies who offer the same service than you? There isn’t any, because they do not charge a silly upfront fee. Believe me when I say this, if you think that only a handful of people have expressed concern over your practices, then think again.

If you cant make your business pay without charging fees, then set up a Garage/MOT testing station, and see if you can charge people for just looking at their repairs.

Teabags

[rossyesloans]

Hi Teabags,

I do value your opinions on this matter but I have to point out that they are only opinions and cannot be used as fact.

So far this year we have written in excess of £120 million in unsecured loans with our leading lender, and in the process we have helped tens of thousands of Yes Loans clients obtain a loan. A fact which does not appear on any of the negative blogger sites you have quoted above.

As in any business we have procedures in place to ensure that our clients are well informed of our process. All our agents are scripted to explain we are a credit broker. Our terms, sent to every applicant, explain that fact and that we cannot guarantee a loan – the decision on who to lend to and on what terms is always for the lender. We have changed our scripts and our letters to be clearer about what we do so that the unfortunate experiences some of the bloggers had should not be repeated.

I would like to point out that we are fully compliant with the OFT and the Consumer Credit Act. As a broker we know each of our lenders acceptance criteria and we choose the most appropriate lender for an individuals personal circumstances. To do this we rely on the accuracy of the information provided by the individual during the application process to make a decision on whether we can help them or not. For us accepting someone as a client is not about requesting a fee, we accept an applicant as a client so that we can provide what we consider is a valuable service. If we know an applicant will be declined by our entire panel of lenders we will not accept them as a client.

We are well within our rights to charge an upfront brokerage fee, and we comply with CCA and OFT regulations while doing so, please follow this link for further information:

The Office of Fair Trading: Brokerage fees

I am not looking to argue my point with you Teabags. I appreciate being asked questions relating to our affiliate program, after all that’s what we are on this forum for, but I am not looking to get involved in school yard type arguments. I would suggest to you that if you are not interested in signing up to our program please ignore our posts and give other affiliates the chance to ask genuine questions rather than waiting for the next round of the fight.

Many thanks

Ross Orchard

[teabags]

OK I will ask some genuine questions.

1) Your company takes 60,000 applications each month?
2) What percentage of these applications are charged a fee?
3) You complete with one lender £10,000,000 of business each month?
4) What is the average conversion rate for the sub-prime unsecured loan industry, on the whole?
5) What is the average loan amount on conversions?
6) You don’t charge fees to people outside your lenders criteria?
7) If a client of yours is refused a loan from your panel, what is the valuable service your company can offer, and how do you see it as beneficial to your clients?
8) You state that you charge a fee to make sure the clients does “not get stung by having expensive broker fees added on to the value of the loan” can you expand why your panel of lenders charge these and how you have negotiated that they don’t charge a doc fee?
9) If a client of yours is refused a loan from your panel, do you refund the fee as a matter of course “even after 6 months” and not wait for the request. As the OFT class it as bad business practice if you don’t?
10) The OFT is so concerned over this type of fee based charging, they are considering to regulate it by the way of “contract law”. As you have the choice to refund the clients under both acts, have you considered using contract law?
11) The typical example that you send the clients on application, why does that not show the 48% APR.
12) On that paper work, why is it set out like a loan agreement, rather than a letter explaining your service?
13) Why do you take applications and charge fees to students and part time workers, when they have a very low success rate?
14) Is the £49.95 represented in the final regulated loan agreement with the lender, and if not, why not, as it is part of the final charge for credit?
15) Oh, and what part of my previous posts are not fact?

I do have the answers to most of the questions, but it would be very helpful to affiliates to understand your business fully.

Teabags