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How important is payment protection for a secured loan?
Your home is one of your dearest and most treasured possessions. So, taking loans against your home is definitely to some extent putting your home at risk. But, at times, when you need money to fund major concerns, you may require hefty amounts at low rates of interest. In such cases, only a secured loan can get you what you need and that too with flexibility in repayment terms.
So, how do you ensure that any future event won’t risk your house? You may decide to be regular with your monthly loan instalments, but can you guarantee what happens in the future? Definitely not! Future is unpredictable and so; one should not take any chances, especially when it comes to your home. So, why not take a payment protection scheme on your secured loan and protect your collateral.
All secured loan lenders provide the PPI that stands for Payment Protection Insurance. To define, PPI is the credit insurance that provides life insurance that pays a lump sum towards a loan upon the death, sickness, job loss, that makes the borrower incapable of paying the loan further. Thus, PPI helps the borrower in the following ways:
A secured loan is pledged against the borrower’s home and so, he should always opt for a PPI scheme. So that in case his is unable to keep up with the payments in future, the insurer will pay the outstanding debt to the creditor. The instalments you pay regularly to the insurer will be returned to you after the maturity of the loan. In case you decide to take the insurance cover from the same lender from whom you are availing your secured loan, there is a possibility that you may be able to get a refund back of your PPI at the end of the loan tenure in case its not been used.
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.