Don’t Pay Over the Odds For Your Loan
May 6, 2008
Whether you’re shopping for a new computer, a new car or a new piece of furniture and you want to finance it through the company from which you are buying it, you have to make sure you’re getting a fair deal.
This is because what may seem like a great deal on the surface has finance charges that end up making it more expensive than other dealers.
Many of the dealers that do their own financing or finance companies that will give you a loan for the purchase charge high rates of interest.
The first mistake people often make is to act in haste. They want something so badly that once they see what they want they buy it without any thoughts to the final cost
Your monthly payment, especially in the early days of paying back the loan consists mainly of interest with very little going on the principal. This means that it will take you a very long time to pay off the loan.
So what steps can you take to make sure you do not pay more than the odds? Spend some time researching the average prices on what it is you want to buy.
This is especially true of buying a motor vehicle. Prices fluctuate during the year and some dealers offer great deals when their sales are slow. You may see deals advertised offering no or a low –interest rate. This is what you should look for.
Another aspect of this is that you will only get these deals in the finance charges when you buy a new vehicle. Buying a second-hand vehicle usually carries a higher rate of interest so the bottom line is that your monthly payment could be higher on a used vehicle than it is on a new one.
When you want to take out a personal loan for whatever reason, you should spend some time researching the costs. With so many lenders having an online presence, you can easily find out what rates they charge for loans and compare them online. You don’t have to apply for a loan in order to find this information as they have it posted directly on their sites.
Most financial lenders also have a loan calculator on the site where you can enter the amount of money you want to borrow and the term in which you want to pay it off and then calculate how much your monthly payment will be.
You can play around with this calculator by entering varying amounts and varying terms as well, as different repayment plans. You can cut down the length of time in which you will repay the loan and how much interest you pay by making a payment every two weeks instead of monthly.
It is important that you don’t apply for any loans just to see what the final cost will be. This is because applying to several loans within a short period of time will negatively affect your credit rating.
Then when you do come across a good deal in the odds for a personal loan, you may be turned down because of your lowered credit rating.
At the same time, there are online lenders from whom you can request a free quote and this will not affect you at all. If you take advantage of this, you can have the quotes sent to your email and then you can sit back and take the time you need to compare them all top see which one is best for you.
The rate you see advertised in an attractive commercial may not be the rate you receive when you apply for a loan. This is the lowest possible rate they will offer, but very few customers will qualify for this.
The rate you receive on your loan will depend on your credit rating. If you have no or bad credit, you will have a substantially higher rate than a borrower with an excellent credit score.
Make sure you read the small print because it is here that there is information about hidden fees or rates that go up after an initial period of time. There may be fees involved if you come into money and are able to pay off the loan before the term is up of if you decide you want to make more than the monthly payment. Look at all the different types of loans you can get.
If you own your own home, for example, and have equity built up, you may be better off with a home equity loan. A secured loan, for which you have collateral, comes with a lower rate of interest than an unsecured loan. Taking out a line of credit is another way of getting the money you need at a lower interest rate.
When you do your research online, you will find information about the different ways of borrowing and are better able to make a wise decision.









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