A Brief Look At Loans
"Innovative financial packaging" is how it is sometime known. Essentially what this means is that financial institutions look for more and more ways to lend to their customers - after all, charging interest on a debt is the main way that they make their money. But, with more and more loans now available, it can sometimes be difficult to know exactly which loan to apply for. The following explanations try to clear this issue up a little for you:
Personal Loan
Probably the mainstay of financial institutions is the personal loan. As the name suggests, personal loans are money borrowed from a financial institution for personal use. In nearly all cases, a personal loan is going to be unsecured, which means you'll likely be paying a premium on interest. Once the personal loan is given, you repay it by making monthly repayments to the lender. In effect, this is the multi-purpose loan.
Auto Loans
Auto loans are where you borrow money from a financial institution in order to buy a car or vehicle. In most cases auto loans are done by the car dealer, but there is no reason why you cannot make arrangements with your bank before buying the car to borrow the money from them. As with a personal loan, most auto loans need to be repaid by monthly installments. Sometimes, although not always, the financial institution will secure your loan with the vehicle, which means if you cannot repay the loan they'll repossess your car. One additional expense with an auto loan is that most lenders insist that you take out fully comprehensive insurance during the period that the auto loan is outstanding.
Home Improvement Loans
As the name suggests, home improvement loans are where you ask a lender to lend you money so you can improve your home. In most cases a home improvement loan is granted on the condition that you give the lender a second rank mortgage on your home. As such, the loan amount can rarely exceed the valuation price of your home - including the increased value after the improvements have been made. Again, home improvement loans usually need to be paid by monthly installments; however, balloon (or bullet as they're also know), one-off, payments are also sometimes accepted.
Education Loans
Education loans are where you borrow money to further your studies. One big difference between an education loan and any other type of loan is that most education loans, although given by a financial institution, are underwritten by the government. Consequently, the interest rate on education loans (also known as "student loans") is usually very low.
Holiday Loans
These days it is even possible to go to your bank and ask them to borrow money so that you can go away on holiday! As you'll be using the money to go on holiday, this type of loan is unsecured. Consequently, interest rates are high. Not really a recommended way of paying for your holiday, but nice to know it's out there if you need it!
Debt Consolidation Loans
Unfortunately debt consolidation loans are becoming more and more popular these days. A debt consolidation loan is where you have too much debt on store cards and credit cards and you need to borrow money to pay these all off and consolidate them into one big debt. The advantages of doing this are two-fold: (i) hopefully you'll lower the borrowing interest rate; and (ii) you only have to deal with one creditor.
Having decided upon the type of loan you want, all you need to do now is to ask your financial institution to approve the loan - Good Luck!