Posts tagged: interest rates

Personal Loan Rates

Loans can be used for a varied amount of purposes and it’s important to do your homework when choosing a loan. As you probably know, you’ll have to meet certain conditions and work out certain terms when you apply for most any type of loan. And when you take out a personal loan, it’s no different.

With almost every loan, interest rate is the main concern. Personal loan rates can vary depending on many factors. By getting a lower interest rate it means your monthly payments will be smaller which can be less of a burden for you. It’s important to be aware that low personal loan rates are offered to those who have an excellent or good credit history because those that have good credit pose a lower risk to the lenders. Your credit score is also referred to as your FICO credit score. One thing you can do is to get a copy of your credit report and ensure that it has mentioned your past payments correctly. If your score is lower then you want and lower then lenders want to see there is something you can do. You can make some more timely payments towards any debts in your name and wait for a few months to apply for the loan with your improved rating.

Usually, personal loan rates are lower when you borrow the finances against one of your valued assets like your home or vehicle. It’s advised to borrow less money then the value of the property that you pledged as collateral. If you don’t have anything to offer as collateral, then you can go the route of an unsecured loan that you can get without pledging anything in return. The only downside to this type of loan is that that loan interest rate is generally higher for obvious reasons. However, a borrower who has a perfect credit history can have access to an unsecured personal loan rates that are at a comparatively lower rate.

Apply for rate quotes of the lenders who claim to have the lowest personal loan rates. Compare as many such offer that you can in order to find out which offer has one of the lowest personal loan rates and has the best terms for you in your individual circumstance.

How To Raise The Limits Of Your Credit Cards

You have a credit card that you’ve paid off regularly, and you have maintained your debt pretty well ever since you got it. Your credit score is pretty good, and you do not want to do anything to make it go down. You’re thinking you could handle your debt just as well if you had a higher credit limit. But how do you go about raising your credit limit without damaging your credit score? Is a higher limit worth the decrease in your credit rating? Here are a few options you could consider when asking for a higher limit on your credit card.

Just don’t do it

One opinion is that you could avoid a limit increase altogether. Lenders periodically increase your limits for you anyway, if you have a good credit history and are making your payments on time. Why would you need a higher limit anyway when you are not sure you could keep up to the debt you might incur with such high spending possibilities? Really, if you do not absolutely need to have your limits raised, you probably shouldn’t even ask. That way your credit score won’t suffer and you run less of a risk of missing a payment and building up your debt. Increasing your credit limit is risky business…from the first time you apply for student credit cards until you finally have a financial awakening, you’re most likely building up high interest balances that will haunt you for years.

Take it on the chin

Some would think it best to just ask for the credit limit increase anyway, and take whatever consequences come your direction. This may not be too bad of a solution if you have a great credit score. But overall, if you have a good credit score, wouldn’t you want to keep it that way? There has to be another way to do this and not get penalized.

Ask for an account review

This form of inquiry is sort of like asking indirectly for higher credit limits. Lenders do account reviews periodically whether you request it or not. They check the accounts on your credit reports to basically check up on you. They look to see what kind of changes they should make to your account concerning things like interest rates and credit limits. So if you ask for an account review from your lender regarding your credit limit, it sort of pushes them along in raising your limits, if you’re worthy of an increase. This way, there is less of an effect on your credit score, and you get the larger range in which you wanted to spend.

Signature Loans Vs. Credit Cards

complete

Signature loans are generally pretty easy to get. It is easiest when you have a good credit history, but not impossible to get when you have bad credit. These type of loans are founded upon a single signature. You do not have to put up any collateral up to get a signature loan. This is one way in which it differs from most loans, including the usage of credit cards.

Which is better?

There are pros and cons to both signature loans and credit cards. Which one is right for you is dependent upon your financial situation and the kind of spending you want to do on credit.

Credit cards

The good thing about credit cards is that you almost ultimately control how much you get to spend on credit. If you have a good credit history, you can qualify for a very large amount of credit. You can choose, within that amount, what your credit limit will be. With signature loans, often times the maximum amount you can borrow is ten thousand dollars. Of course, in some cases, having a smaller limit on how much you can borrow might not be such a bad idea. It all depends on your spending habits and your ability to pay the money back.

The payments you make on your credit card depend on how much you spend. The larger the balance on your credit card, the more you pay monthly. With signature loans, you pay a set amount every month, or even every two weeks. This depends on how much money you took out on loan, but it does not vary depending on how much of that money you spend or what you use it for.

Signature loans

When you apply for a signature loan, there is no requirement of collateral. The thing that they lenders look for is a good credit rating. This assessment alone will determine whether or not you qualify for a signature loan. Once you qualify, all they need is your signature, and you have the loan. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that it is STILL borrowed money, that you must pay back.

Interest rates on signature loans are based also upon the applicants credit rating. It is not impossible to get a signature loan if you have bad credit, but you will better chances and lower interest rates on your loan if you have good credit. With credit cards, a larger variety of people can qualify for credit cards with low interest rates, even if they don’t have great credit ratings. The problem with credit cards is that, usually, if the person has a bad credit rating, they probably will not be able to pay back the money they would owe on a new credit card. Still, credit cards are offered to many people regardless of their financial abilities.
Whether a signature loan or a credit card is best for you depends on how much you want to spend, how well you can control your spending habits, and how well you can make your set payments.