I have had a disappointing firsthand experience w/ Apple and RBS. Long story short, I was approved back in June. Then in late July, I made up my mind to purchase w/ the RBS payment plan. So I went through the process and things looked good. Then some technical or system problem happened with my order, and Apple did not get the payment approval from RBS. So I was left having signed a promissory note saying that I have taken out this loan, while Apple and RBS could not figure out how to get this issue resolved. This took place for over 3 weeks. So in the end their solution to me is to reapply for the loan, which would have meant that I would get another credit inquiry hit on my credit history. At that point, I said screw it, I will just purchase the base model from my local Apple store.
BTW, the supervisor at Apple who I was working with promised to send me a free bag, but to this day I have not received it because my original "stuck" order has my bag order in limbo as well
Oh well.