How a Personal Loan Works and How to Repay One
If you need a personal loan for home renovations or a new car, you should know exactly how it works. It is also important to know how to properly repay a personal loan so that you don’t put yourself in a bad financial situation down the road. In this article you will learn all about personal loans and how to approach getting one. Even a smaller loan can do a lot of damage to your finances if you aren’t careful.
The Basics of Personal Loans
A personal loan can be obtained from a bank, credit union, or private online-based lenders. Unsecured loans do not require any collateral, so they are fairly low-risk. A secured personal loan would be a car loan or mortgage, where the lender can seize the property if you can’t pay back the money you owe. You should keep these differences in mind when deciding which kind of personal loan to get.
What can a Personal Loan be used for?
You can take out a personal loan for just about anything, but you should only borrow money if you really need to. A lot of people take out these loans to finance home repairs or improvements, consolidating debts, paying for a wedding, or various emergency expenses. It’s always a good idea to ask yourself whether or not you really need the money before taking out a loan of any kind.
Terms
When you are looking to get a personal loan, you need to know about the different terms. A fixed-term loan means that there is a solid due date that you need to have the debt paid off by. Your loan term can be anywhere from six months to five years, depending on the amount you borrow. You shouldn’t have to worry about paying any fees for repaying the loan early, which is always nice.
Interest Rates
There are two different kinds of interest rates on personal loans—fixed and variable. A fixed interest rate remains the same for the entire length of the loan. Many people prefer this option because the rate is not subject to change at any point.
There is also a variable interest rate, which can change over time. These changes can work in your favour or against you, depending on a number of factors. A fixed interest rate is by far the safest choice when getting a personal loan.
The best way to ensure that you get the best interest rate is just doing your research and shopping around. You need to find out what kind of rate each lender can give you before deciding to borrow from a certain person or financial institution. Credit unions typically give out the best deals on loans. If you are not a member of a credit union, you should consider joining one for this reason alone.
Eligibility
You will quickly discover that there are many different factors that can determine your eligibility for a personal loan.
Some of these factors include:
- Your credit score: A good credit score usually means a lower interest rate. You may be able to get a personal loan with bad credit, but your rate will be higher. If you have very bad credit, you might want to go through a private lender.
- Job history: All lenders will look at your job history to see just how reliable of a borrower you are. If you have maintained the same jobs for long periods of time, you will be looked upon favourably.
- Income: The amount of money that you make is something else that lender take into consideration before making a decision. If they determine that you don’t make enough toi pay your loan back on time, your application will get denied.
Repaying Your Personal Loan
Before you decide on a certain lender to borrow from, you need to make sure that you won’t be penalized for paying back your loan early. Some lenders do charge an additional fee for this, but it’s only a small percentage of private online-based lenders.
It is a good idea to set up automatic repayment through your checking account. This will reduce the chances of accidentally missing payments. It will also reduce temptation to spend money that you should be saving for repayment.
If you think that you might not be able to repay your personal loan on time, contact the lender immediately. Chances are you can work something out with them.
Final Thoughts
Getting a personal loan can be a very good idea, but you shouldn’t do it before educating yourself thoroughly. As long as you take all of this information into consideration, you should be able to get the money you need without any negative consequences. You should also remember to find a legitimate lender that is reasonable and fair.