Monday, October 27, 2008

Obtaining A Personal Loan As An Alternative To Debt Consolidation

By Chris Channing

Personal loans are any type of loan that is unsecured, or does not require collateral. Collateral is the act of signing over a valuable bit of property as back up in case you cannot pay the full portion of the loan. Personal loans serve many purposes such as, paying off small debts, debt consolidation, or simply to pay a bill.

If you have poor credit, you may be dubbed as high risk by a lending company. This doesn't mean you have no chance of getting a personal loan, but it does mean that it may be more difficult to get one. Before finalizing a loan, make sure it is absolutely what you want and what you need to do to get rid of your debts. Personal loans work great as a debt consolidation method.

When using personal loans as debt consolidation you can pay off your high interest debts, and then work on only paying back the bank that you borrowed from. These payments are generally smaller, and carry low interest. Personal loans can be taken out at any bank in the world, and other companies offer them too. It is always best to use a bank or company that you are familiar with.

With a personal loan, it is always a good idea to be prepared. Pay off the debts that you do have, immediately. Then save the remainder of the loan, or use the remainder to actually pay back parts of what you now owe. Personal loans are meant to be paid off in less than two years. Anymore, and you could be incurring higher interest, and end up in the same situation as you were previously.

You can use your personal loan for any purpose you choose to use it for. Many people use it as debt consolidation, but you are not limited to that category. Debt consolidation is usually secured, while personal loans can be either or. Since you have less at risk, it makes more sense to get a personal loan to pay off debts or other things that you may owe.

Even if you are cursed with less than credit, you can still get a personal loan. Interest for "high risk" individuals is usually higher, but it may still be lower than paying off your debts individually through the other companies. Your credit will improve with the loan, however, and by the time you pay the personal loan off you will be in a much better situation financially.

Closing Comments

Personal loans are an overall user friendly type of loan. Almost anyone can get one, and they have moderate interest rates. - 15485

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