A Beginner's Guide to Finding a Loan
Finding a loan can be a hassle sometimes... though there may be
a large variety of options available, it can be difficult to
determine which of the choices available to you will best suit
your needs.
One of the best ways to find a good loan that will meet your
needs is to shop around, comparing loan rates from different
lenders and seeing whether a traditional lender such as a bank
or finance company is best for you, or if you would do better
with a low-interest loan from an online lender.
If you're new to lending as a whole, however, you might become
even more confused by some of the options that are available to
you... to help ease your confusion, here are some of the most
common options that you might encounter.
Secured and Unsecured
Most any loan that you get is either going to be secured or
unsecured. What this means is that you may be required to use
some form of property that has value to guarantee repayment of
the loan known as collateral.
A secured loan is one that requires collateral, whereas an
unsecured loan does not. The security provided by collateral
also tends to bring lower interest rates as well.
Financing and Mortgage
Mortgages and other financing are a special type of loan... they
are secured, but the item that they are used to purchase serves
as the collateral. Financing is usually used when purchasing
items that have a high value, such as automobiles and some
electronics; a mortgage is a specific type of financing, and is
used when purchasing a house or other real estate.
Interest rates and repayment terms can vary depending upon the
amount of money that was paid as a down payment, the total
amount borrowed, and the amount of time that the financing
covers which may be for as little as one to five years, or as
high as thirty.
Homeowner Options
If you already own a home or other piece of real estate or have
at least repaid a significant portion of the mortgage that was
used to purchase it, you may also have the option available for
a homeowner loan.
This type of loan uses the value of your home equity (which is
the percentage of the home that has been paid for, in comparison
to the total value of the home) to offer lower interest lending
options to individuals who have either good or poor credit.
Many lenders will offer these as a lending option, though online
lenders may do so as a way to offer individuals with bad credit
interest rates that are competitive with those that many banks
reserve for customers with higher credit scores.
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