Tag Archives: decision
Personal Secured Loans – What to watch out for
Obtaining a secured loan on your home can indeed save you a lot of money by helping you consolidate debt or paying off your credit card debt. Before jumping and signing loan documents, be sure to watch out for personal loan ripoffs that can lead to more expensive loans or even losing your property. Below are things you should consider before signing loan documents
Personal Loan Interest Rates: The Interest rate determines how much money in installment payments you are going to pay, and the total cost of the loan. Few percentage points increase in interest rate can lead to thousands in additional payments. Before settling on a secured loan, consider interest rate shopping to see if you can getter a better deal. Consider inquiring from about three to five lenders to see if you can save.
Before signing loan documents, READ the fine print. Sometimes we ignore those 20-30 pages but some lenders like to slip some terms and conditions in there. Most common is Early payment fees. Some lenders will penalize you for paying off the loan early. This can be frustrating.
Look out for PPI – Personal Payment Insurance: PPI is one way to make sure that your loan does not turn into a financial burden. Its optional and you may substitute disability insurance if you have any. This is however not calculated into the total cost of the loan. Thus your monthly payments may be more than listed on loan agreement. PPI is great but the cost can be extremely high. Sometimes lenders will bundle Personal Payment Insurance into the cost of the loan without informing consumers about it. If you absolutely need PPI,research other sources to find out if you can get the insurance at a cheaper rate. Do not feel obligated to take out PMI with the lender, you can get insurance from somewhere else.
Monthly payments are not the only factor to consider when calculating your loan. Additional costs such as PPI, loan closing fees and ledger fees should be added to the total cost of the loan.
Introductory rates can also be deceiving. We have seen reduced interest rates for 6 months! What happens after that? Do the payments increase in an attempt to bring the loan to term? Reduced interest payments may end up accumulating interest which in turn bears more interest.
Watch out for unsolicited offers. Research such companies and brokers. Some loan officers will get paid more if they sign you onto a high interest loan. Door to door marketers should also be avoided. A loan officer should not pressure you for an immediate decision. If he does, that raises a red flag. You should take time to discuss the loan documents with a qualified person. You should not at any time be forced to make an immediate decision. Most of the time a hurried decision leads to mistakes that can lead to hundreds in payment costs.Any company or broker that asks for a deposit/security is obviously a fraud.
Student Loan Consolidation
Student debt consolidation is the process of consolidating several types of loans into one debt. This results in reduced monthly payments- which results in a lot of saved money in the long run. Consolidation loans will have fixed rates- giving you an added benefit on saving to recover your debt.
Such services can be obtained by American Education Services consolidation- or AES for short. You can save up to 50% on your bill with this service- a very good value indeed. ACS consolidation is also available- and is much like AES in terms of how it works. Federal consolidation and Network consolidation also work in nearly the same way- giving you many choices. Not only can you save a good deal of money on your bill- but you get the added benefit of having just one bill a month- not several. This can reduce stress and let you route your energy to other problems, instead of worrying about which bills you should pay.
You can generally choose debts that will last 10- 30 years generally. You may get lower payments, but the total amount to be paid will be higher in the long run. It has been debated as to whether the government should allow such consolidation among the Federal consolidation service only. This would put some banks and companies at a loss, such as the AES consolidation or ACS consolidation, but may be better for students in the long run. Federal consolidation has a very good rate- and is often better than banks or other companies can do. You will also not encounter hidden fees or tricks- making Federal consolidation an easy choice. This isnt always the best way to go- as some companies actually do have lower rates. But make sure you get a second opinion before you decide on anything for certain.
With such consolidation, you can lower you monthly payments. However, you will want to debate the decision, as you will end up with 10- 30 years worth of debt to be paid. The consolidated debt into one bill can be less stressful, but often this is a small benefit when considering long term effects. You may wish to pay separate bills and have the freedom of paying off your student debts as fast as you can- certainly much faster than 10-30 years worth of debt.
If you are looking into student loan consolidation- make sure you look at your options first. Rushing into student loan consolidation can put you into a huge debt that will take you many years to recover from. If you are on the verge of bankruptcy, or desperately need the money, consolidation is the best choice for you- but keep in mind you will be paying your decision off for many years to come. If you are looking to simplify paying your bills, this is probably a bad choice- and this decision shouldnt be taken lightly. You should talk to a consolidation broker, or ask help with your bank for more information to see if this is right for you.