Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Some Pointers On Getting Cheap Loans Online

By Jim O' Reilly

The following are simple ideas on applying for secured and unsecured loan offers online:

- Providers consider a variety of things when working out how much you can borrow, like your income, employment status, outgoings and credit history. Different lending agents use different rules but most of them follow these guidelines. Top providers are subsidiaries of the clearing banks and they can arrange competitive rates to guarantee you a loan that suits your cash needs, with repayments that are affordable.

- Debt consolidation can be employed to hoover up any number of smaller loans, like credit-card or other debts; these can be put together into a single loan, normally with a slimmed down monthly repayment. This is more effective if you apply for the consolidation loan yourself i.e. get a cheaper loan to pay off more expensive debts which have higher interest rates.

- It's important to comprehend every word of your finance application before you sign, including terms and conditions, because a loan deal may become too dear by adding APR and other fees.

- Start with banks and famous credit-unions and building societies. Start with your current banker. These are large lending agents with solid reputations, so rip-offs should not be an issue. Although you may not get the best rate with a large financier, the security you obtain can often be worth it.

- As with so a lot of other purchases in life, there's a price point below which you'll not be getting a good quality loan. See for yourself: get a few quotations from different companies. Some can shave a half-percent here or there, but you may repay it back with fees, insurance or potential penalties later. Watch the fine print.

- Do a budget. Ensure you use realistic figures. Keep an account of all of the money that you lay out in a month. Use this to help you create the initial draft. Review and update it regularly. An accurate budget allows you to get the most out of your money without living like a hermit, while zeroing in on wasteful spending.

- A loan is a contract between a client and a lender. When you are researching loan deals, you must first determine what kind you are looking for: a personal, car, debt consolidation, adverse credit or a bridging loan. Amongst the variety of loans 'on sale' there are two basic kinds: unsecured and secured. Secured loan deals are those whereby you set some property against your finance deal as security for the lender. Unsecured loan deals do not require any property to be set against them but they accrue higher interest rates and it's necessary to have a good credit record to obtain a finance deal of this type. Personal loans are useful when you need to cover certain disbursals or you need to make important purchases.

- The total cost of your finance will depend on the annual percentage rate and associated fees. The _annualised_ percentage rate (APR) takes into account the whole interest amount _and_ associated fees. The lower the APR figure the less finance costs will be. Interest on finance deals is charged in one of two ways, as either a fixed or variable rate. A fixed interest rate is guaranteed for the whole term of the loan and it will not be subject to market fluctuations. The variable interest rate is usually lower than fixed interest rates in the beginning; however they do not offer the security of a fixed interest rate. Once you make a final decision on a loan, make sure that you are aware of the total costs involved, including any other fees attached to early repayment. You need to be sure you can afford them.

I hope these few simple pointers will be of some use to you in getting a worthwhile internet loan deal.

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