Owed money???

[ItsTony]

To cut a long story short, I'm owed money by a friend who I helped out a few years back. I've not really needed the money until now so haven't really pushed for it until now. In the past year he's also been made redundant from his job but he's been offered a new teaching/mentoring job so he's waiting for everything to be finalised. For this job he will be signing a four year contract and will be paid a standard salary.

The only realistic way I'm going to get the money quickly is if he gets a loan. Can anyone advise on how quick and how easy it is to get a loan at a decent rate, based on the circumstances. Is the contract for the job enough for him to get a loan, especially considering he doesn't have much of a credit rating.

Thanx

(Also, is the best place just to look on Moneysupermarket type websites etc.)