Personal Finance

What Should I use Personal loans for?

By admin

Personal loans are general purpose loans and therefore the lender will not specify what they need to be spent on. This means that you can choose anything to buy with them. However, this does not mean that you should use them for everything. It is worth thinking about what you are using them for.

Some items that have specific loans

There are some loans which are designed for buying specific items. These are things like student loans to pay for university fees and mortgages to pay for homes. These loans are set up specifically for buying these things. You can buy them using other types of loans but it is best to use the right sort of loan for them. This is because you may not be able to borrow enough money with other types of loan and you may not get such favourable terms with other types of loans either. For example, if you are buying a home you will usually need over £100,000 and this is not available with other types of loans. You will also get a much longer repayment period as you borrow so much. A student loan will be set up to pay out money each term so the payments are staggered making it easier for students to manage their money and the fees are paid directly to the university. They are also set up so that repayments do not have to be made until the student gets a job earning over a certain amount of money, which means that they should always be able to afford the repayments. It is therefore wise to make sure that there are not specific loans set up for the purpose of borrowing for what you want.

Items that are luxuries

Borrowing money for luxuries is not always wise. This is because borrowing always costs money and has some risk attached. To have a loan you will have to pay fees and interest if you want to get money now. This means that you will always repay more than you borrow and in some cases this can be a significant amount of money. This means that if you are buying things that you do not really need then it may seem silly to borrow the money and then pay out even more for the item than you would have done had your waited to save up.

Loans should really be used either for emergency payments or to buy things that will help you to better yourself. For example, buying a car so that you can get a job in a place you cannot use public transport to get to will mean that you will have an income. If that income is more than you could earn doing a job that does not require a car then it would seem to make sense to borrow the money. However, borrowing money to buy new home furnishings to replace ones that look good but are just old fashioned, could be considered to be less justified.

Amounts you cannot repay

The most important thing to consider when getting out a loan is whether you can afford to repay it. You will need to think hard about whether the repayments will be manageable both now and in the future. Make sure that you find out how much those repayments will be to start with. Then do not just guess whether or not you will be able to afford them but actually work it out. Look back over bank statements and see whether you would normally be able to afford these repayments. If you usually have money left over each month which will be enough to cover the loan repayments then you can be more confident that you will be able to repay it than if you would not normally have enough. It might be that you will be able to see places where you can change your spending though, so that you will be able to afford the repayments. You will need to consider the future as well though, if the loan goes on for a while. You will need to think about whether you think the repayments might go up, whether you think your income will change or the items that you buy each month. It can be hard to predict but try to give it some thought as it could be really important to think about whether you will always be able to afford the loan repayments.

So, once you are confident that you will be able to afford the present and future repayments, that the item you are buying is justified and that a personal loan is the right type of loan, then you will be a step further towards borrowing. However, deciding on the fact that you will be getting a personal loan, is just the first step. You will then be in the position where you will need to think about what you are looking for in a lender and this will enable you to choose the right loan that will offer you the best value for money. Remember to calculate the full cost of the loan so that you can compare them easily.

Online Loans

Are Online Loans Good Value for Money?

By admin

There are many different loans available and it is well worth thinking about which might be the best value for money. If you are picking between them, then you want to make sure that you are choosing ones that will be good for you and your needs then you will want to consider this. Many people do not really know what it means for a loan to be good value for money, so it is worth considering what this means first and then how this might apply to a loan.

What is good value for money?

If something is good value for money, many people will think that means that it is cheap. They will assume that something that is good value will be the cheapest of its kind. However, this is not correct. Good value for money means that you are getting the best quality for the price. It is easy to assume that the more you pay, the better the quality, but this is also not always the case. Also, we may all have different opinions on what good quality means. Therefore, we need to think as individuals what we might mean by good value for money and this should help us to apply it to a loan. It might even be worth coming up with a list of things that we are looking for in a loan and then we will be able to compare loans to our criteria to see how well it matches up.

What might a loan that is good value for money be like?

So to work out if a loan is good value for money you will first need to work out how much it will cost. This is the only way you will be able to compare them properly with regards to this measure. Many people may just assume you can compare interest rates, but these often do not include other costs such as admin fees. The cost will also depend on how long you have the loan for as the interest tends to be charged daily, so the longer you have the loan for the more expensive it will be. So, calculating the full cost of the loan is the best way to do this. Then think about what you are getting for the money. A lender should be able to do this for you if you do not feel that you will be able to do it yourself.

Loans may seem similar, but they may differ in a selection of ways and it is these differences that you will need to look at in order to work out whether you feel that a loan will offer you good value for money. There are many things that might be important factors for you. These can include things like the repayment schedule and how much the repayments are, as you will want one that you will be able to afford but that will not make the loan last longer than necessary as it will then be more expensive than it needs to be. You might want to choose a lender that you have used before because you will feel happier that you will trust them. Alternatively, you might want a lender that comes recommended, is a well-known name or something like that. You might also want to borrow a specific amount for a specific period of time and that might determine which loan you think will be the best.

Are online loans better or worse value for money?

It is very hard to say whether online loans will be better or worse value for money. If you like a local branch to go into, then it is likely that any online loan will not be something that you are interested in. However, many people are more than happy to bank online and therefore this will not be an issue for them. Without a branch, it could mean that online banking is cheaper as no high street rent and rates have to be paid and therefore the online loan could provide better value in that respect.

It really will come down to what you are looking for in a loan and whether an online loan can provide that for you at a competitive cost. It is very likely that it will be good value for money because of the reduced costs but this is a very personal decision and it will depend on whether the loan will be able to provide you with what you want. With there being lots of online loans, it is likely that you will be able to find at least one that will give you good value for money though and it is only when you compare that to offline loans using your personal criteria will you be able to work out whether you think that it will provide you with good value for money or not.