I've used Sainsbury's Bank in the past for credit cards and home insurance and found them to be quite good (though the real test of insurance is when you have to make a claim, and I didn't). So I recently decided to apply for a £25,000 loan with them. I intentionally used their eligibility check first, as I didn't want a hard search on my credit file unnecessarily if they were going to reject me (though my credit score is excellent so I wasn't too concerned). I did the eligibility checker and input my income and the loan amount and it said I had a very good chance of being accepted so I submitted my full application online. It was immediately rejected. I complained and the underwriters explained that Sainsbury's Bank would never have approved a £25k loan on my income. So the lesson learned is don't trust Sainsbury's eligibility checkers, had it worked properly I would not have submitted the application. I now have an unnecessary hard search on my credit file. I immediately applied elsewhere and was instantly accepted, with the £25k in my bank account shortly after. Sainsbury's have recently sold off their mortgage books, have tightened their credit card approvals (my sister who also has an excellent score received a woeful credit card offer from Sainsbury's - she would have got a lot better elsewhere) and it's becoming clear that something's amiss with Sainsbury's own credit worthiness. I will be steering clear of them going forward.