Have you ever been driving down the road and seen that check engine light come on? Or have you ever had that unexpected call that a relative has passed away and you need to take an emergency trip to go to the funeral? All of these situations can happen very unexpectedly and sometimes you’re in a situation where you don’t have the money available to be able to pay for expenses involved in these situations. Not knowing how to pay for necessary expenses can be very stressful, but there is an answer to help pay for them if you’re able to meet certain financial responsibility requirements. The answer is through online installment loans, and there are several reasons you should consider using them.
You Can Get Your Money Quick
If there’s one thing that matters when you’re applying for a loan, it’s the speed of getting it. Emergencies and personal situations where you need your money the same day or one day later are not likely to be addressed by a bank. All too often you need an account with the bank to get a loan, and you can’t usually get a personal loan for less than $10,000 aside from getting a credit card. But even if you did qualify for a personal loan from the bank, it’s unlikely you’re going to get your money quickly. An installment loan is great for paying for expenses of $1,000 or less because when you apply for one online, you’ll usually be able to complete the application quickly, get approved quickly and get your money as soon as the next business day.
You Don’t Need Collateral
There are some loans you cannot get if you don’t have something to pawn or offer as collateral. If you offer something as collateral like at the pawn shop, you either give it to the lender to keep at their physical store, or you grant them to right to take possession of it if you don’t pay back their loan. But with an online installment loan, you do not need to offer any items as collateral, although usually you do need to grant the lender the right to initiate a fund withdrawal from a checking account that you own. Usually the lender will just need to run a quick verification check to make sure there’s no freeze on your checking account.
You Don’t Have To Repay Your Loan All At Once
One of the problems with many quick short-term personal loans is that you usually have to not only pay them off quickly, but pay them off entirely with both the amount you borrowed and all interest and finance charges included. For a payday loan, another kind of short-term small dollar loan, this usually means you must pay everything off in just one or two weeks. For auto title loans, you might get a little more time such as a month, but there again it must be paid in full. In some cases you can either pay the interest due or refinance the loan to get more time; but this is usually not wise because it means you’ll accrue even more fees and interest. With installment loans online, it will be broken up into many smaller payments that you make over the course of months or maybe up to one year.
Many loans actually are repaid this way. Auto loans for example, are usually started with a down payment, and then you have a set amount you pay each month until you’ve finished paying for the vehicle in these installments. The difference being that online personal installment loans don’t require a down payment; and unlike auto loans which could penalize you if you pay them off early, there are no penalties for paying personal installment loans off early.
Lower Credit Scores Will Not Disqualify You from Getting One
With an unsecured loan like an installment loan, you are normally approved based on your credit score and history. Whenever you use a credit card, a student loan, an auto loan or any other traditional loan or line of credit, you will have a credit profile which is like a financial resume. Maybe you’ve had some difficulties in the past paying off those kinds of debts, or maybe you’ve never really had debt or credit to your name before. Usually this is problematic because many lenders will want to check with the credit bureaus who keep a record of your credit and debts to see if you’re generally able to make your payments. They usually use a scoring system to rate how well you do this.
Installment loans work a little differently
Now contrary to what a few unscrupulous lenders might say, they usually do come with credit checks, but they work a little differently. Instead of looking at your credit score alone, or diving into debt history from 5 or 10 years ago, they will usually do other checks of your current situation that mat include looking at where you have made payments on time. Plus, if you show proof that your current income is high enough that you can make your payments easily enough, usually an installment loan lender will be willing to approve you.
The bottom line is online installment loans are usually easy to understand and don’t have too many catches apart from seeing your payment schedule. Usually you can get a quote for one online and apply in about 15 minutes or less. You should always read every bit of fine print and read your state’s laws before you apply just to make sure you’re dealing with a legitimate loan application.