A new personal loan offer by a major high-street lender is another sign that the loan market may be getting more competitive.

The new unsecured loan offer by Nationwide means that for existing current account customers a loan of between £5000 and £14,999 will now be charged at 7.7% interest. 

This deal makes it currently the cheapest offer on the market, beating other low offers by the supermarket lenders Sainsbury’s and Tesco.

A spokesman for Nationwide said that this drop in rates for existing customers was the first of a number of deals that they will be offering to customers in the coming months. The new interest rates on Nationwide loans go into effect immediately.

Chris Rhodes, a spokesperson for Nationwide, said: "Nationwide continues to be competitive in the personal loan market with the introduction of this market leading headline rate of 7.7% typical APR, beating what's being offered by supermarkets and high street banks."