I've found myself stuck in a quandary. I put a deposit down on a car and I'm trying to obtain a personal loan based on this. The problem is that I'm finding that despite passing all initial checks with several loan companies, I'm either being offered a loan at a considerably higher interest rate than the one that was advertised, or else I'm just refused.

My issue is that I don't really understand why this is happening. I checked my credit score with Xperian and it's perfect (999). The only way as far as I can tell if I'm going to be offered a loan at the rate advertised is by actually applying, and this then adds a loan search to my credit rating. So I'm wary of applying for too many loans at once.

This is being compounded by the fact that it's taking a couple of days to actually get an answer from the banks.

How do I shop around to get the best interest rate possible without this shopping around making it more difficult to get a loan?

A good example of this problem is one loan I applied for; the headline rate was 4.5%. After I'd done all the form filling and given my consent for a credit check to be performed, it came back with an interest rate of 10.5%!

I then tried again, with the same company but for a lower amount over a shorter period of time (planning on using savings to fund the shortfall) after completing the same process again and (again) giving my consent for a credit score to be obtained. I was then told that they would contact me with a rate in 48 hours! That was 3 days ago. I had a phone call yesterday asking which loan I wanted. I said the shorter one, but they have yet to get back to me. I've subsequently read that only about 51% of people get offered the headline rate. So how do I know if I'm in the 51% or the 49%?

I applied with 2 other companies. One refused me, and one said they would get back to me in 72 hours. they've since come back stating:

Thank you for your application. We’ve referred your application to our underwriters who will contact you with a decision, by e-mail within 3-5 working days.

There are other lenders offering good rates—including a bank I bank with—but I don't know if I should apply for these, or wait?

BTW I've read this question. But it doesn't seem to relate to me, and I also don't think the FICO score (whatever that is) is relevant in my country.