Frequently asked questions

There could be several reasons why a loan application is declined. Unfortunately, we are unable to disclose the exact reasons.

We make our decision based on the information you have provided together with information from other third-party sources including the credit reference agencies, TransUnion and Experian.

Being declined for a loan from Plata will not affect your credit file as we only run a hard search on you once your application has been approved and you have e-signed the loan agreement.

If you would like to have a look at your credit report, you can request a copy from TransUnion or Experian. If you spot any inaccuracies, you can request them to update it.

Once you’ve submitted your loan application, you may be asked to provide certain documents to support the information you’ve provided.

The exact documents we might ask for vary from application to application. You can find a list of what documents we might ask for and what formats are acceptable on our Supporting Documents webpage.

A valid UK debit card is needed as loan repayments are collected from the card using a Continuous Payment Authority (CPA). This could be either a Visa Debit, Visa Electron or Debit MasterCard. We do not accept prepaid debit cards.

A CPA is when you authorise a company to take recurring payments from your debit card. As opposed to a standing order or direct debit, which is set up with your bank, a CPA is a contract with the company you are making payments to.

However, similar to direct debits, you do have the right to cancel a CPA at any time by sending a request to the company taking the payment or by contacting your bank.

If you have not e-signed your loan agreement and would like to cancel your application, please contact our Originations team on 0330 165 5121 or send an SMS to 07782 621113 with the text ‘WITHDRAW’.

When you submit your loan application, we only run a soft search on you. This does not affect your credit score.

Once your application has been approved and you have e-signed your loan agreement, only then will we record a ‘hard search’ on your credit file which will be visible to other lenders and may affect your credit score.

If you want to see your credit report, you can contact any of the below credit reference agencies for a copy of your credit file:

• TransUnion Website: www.transunion.co.uk
• Experian Website: www.experian.co.uk
• Equifax Website: www.equifax.co.uk

In order to comply with money laundering regulations and to protect against fraud and identity theft, we may at any time conduct checks against various industry databases to verify your details.

If your card is not being accepted, here are a few reasons why:

• You need to have at least £1 of credit available on your card or be within an authorised overdraft.
• The card you are adding must be either; a Debit Visa, Debit MasterCard, Visa Electron or MasterCard Electron
• Unfortunately, we cannot accept prepaid or credit cards.
• The address on your application should match the address registered to your card.

Your pre-approved offer will expire 7 days after receiving your quote. If your pre-approved offer has expired, we can still process your application however, we may need to run some additional checks and there is a chance that your application could be declined.

Once approved and e-signed, the earliest you can get your money is the same day or the following business day.

For some applications, it might take longer. Please note, Plata reserves the right to, on occasion, to delay the paying out of a loan on the same day.    

Once your contract is ready to be e-signed, you will receive it via email.

To e-sign, you can click the link in the email itself which will take you to your application. 

Please read your loan agreement carefully and note the amount, term, interest rate and monthly repayment instalments. You should only proceed if you are satisfied you can afford to repay the loan instalments throughout the term of the loan.

Once you’ve read the loan agreement you will be asked to select a monthly instalment payment date and read our scam warning message.

To e-sign your credit agreement, you will need to enter your full name. Whatever you enter will count as your signature. You do not need to manually print off the document and sign it. At e-sign you will also be asked to create a password for your Plata online account.

We want to ensure our application process is accessible for everyone. If you need a little extra support, please refer to our Accessibility support page for more information on how we can help you.