Although the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee has cut the base rate of interest three times already this year, the average rates for unsecured personal loans continues to increase.

Such is the suggestion of new research from price comparison service MoneyExpert, which has shown that the average rate for an unsecured loan of between 5,000 and 7,500 pounds has increased one per cent in the past six months despite the cuts. While the gap between typical rates for the two sums had fallen, the group asserted that it was still cheaper to borrow more, although it suggested that more people may find it difficult to obtain lending.

A loan of 5,000 pounds is likely to have an attached rate of 10.16 per cent, compared with 9.44 in November 2007. Meanwhile, the average rate for a 7,500 pound loan was said to currently stand at 6.9 per cent, up from 6.4 per cent in November. The group urged that while cheap loans are still available, a growing number of people are finding them increasingly hard to come by. A recent YouGov poll cited by the firm suggests that as many as 1.38 million people were refused a loan in the past six months, with lenders looking to distance themselves from those considered to be less reliable borrowers. Tough new application criteria is leaving many without backing, the firm suggests.

For those who are having difficulty obtaining a loan because of a poor credit history, taking out a bad credit loan may be of assistance. In taking out this type of loan, consumers may find that they have sufficient funds available each month to begin making regular payments on items of expenditure such as mortgages, credit card bills or existing loan repayment obligations.

Sean Gardner, founder of MoneyExpert, said: “The Bank of England has a battle on its hands to restore confidence in the credit markets when lenders react to three rate cuts totalling 0.75 per cent by actually increasing rates. The personal loans market is almost mirroring the mortgage market where the issue is not so much rates but availability - whether or not lenders will let you have the cash. However it remains the case that creditworthy customers can still access competitive deals and borrowers should research the market carefully before making an application. And you will pay lower rates on average if you borrow more.”

Mr Gardner concluded by suggesting that money lenders typically view those borrowing more money as being a reduced risk than those looking for smaller sums and commonly offer more favourable deals to those applying for larger sums as a result.

The group released the results following an internal review of its own statistics on the average rates people were being offered by loan providers.

Last month, MoneyExpert advised consumers that the need to reduce credit card debts could become ever more pressing in the coming months as access to lending becomes more difficult to come by. The group revealed that about 18,000 card applications have been refused every day for the past six months.

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