Smile.co.uk is an online bank launched in the first flush of the dotcom boom - hence the mildly daft name. However, don't be fooled, the Smile loan is a competitive product allowing you to borrow any amount between £1,500 - £25,000 over periods of 12 months to seven years.

You don't need to have an account with Smile in order to apply for a Smile Loan. But if you do, and your loan application is agreed, the money would be in your account the next working day if it is going into a Smile account and in four working days if it is going to an external account.

Because your personal loan from Smile will have been arranged over the internet, you won't get paper statements but you will be able to access your Smile loan details online. Your Smile loan statements come electronically instead of by post, and stay online for a whole year so you can check them whenever you want.

All Smile personal loans have no arrangement fees or any other charges, unless you pay off your loan early, in which case there is an early settlement fee equivalent to one month's interest. Smile does not allow lump sum repayments and its personal loan does not offer the option of any payment holidays.

You must be over the age of 21 to apply for a Smile personal loan. You may use a Smile loan for debt consolidation purposes but Smile won't lend to people who have outstanding County Court Judgements.

The Smile loan has two interest rate bands, £1,500 - £4,950 and £5,000 - £25,000. In common with other loan providers, the less you borrow, the higher the APR you are likely to pay. Smile uses credit scoring to assess all of its loan applications - this means you may not be offered the quoted typical APR, depending on your circumstances and the amount you want to borrow.