A car, home, holiday to favourite destination – who doesn’t want all that! Few years back it was not so easy to plan all that especially if you did not have the necessary funds. Now it is! Personal loans are making possible for everyone to borrow money for any kind of requirement. Personal loans literally mould themselves to reconcile with the financial needs of any borrower. “Personal loans” is the generic term for loans. Personal loans are in fact a lump sum which is borrowed from a bank or building society or any other lender. Good personal loans are a rare breed. Like all better things in life it comes with tact, patience and consistent effort.Personal loans market is huge and so competitive that everyone can now avail customized personal loans. Personal loans are considered to be both secured and unsecured; however, few lenders translate personal loans as unsecured loans. Major characteristic of unsecured personal loan is no collateral. This ensures that tenants also have an opportunity to apply for loans. However, lack of security or collateral with unsecured personal loans is interpreted as high interest rates in loan borrowing terms. This makes secured personal loans a much viable option for secured loans have comparatively low interest rate. Low interest rates for secured personal loans are due to the fact that a security is being offered for their approval.According to the convenience and requisites of the borrower, he can apply for either of the personal loans. Personal loans that are secured are available for amounts of the likes of £5000-£75,000. The amount offered as personal loans is dependent on the collateral offered. Loan term for personal loans extends from 1-25 years. Unsecured personal loans are provided for amounts ranging from £5000-£25,000 with loan term of 5-10 years. With personal loans that are unsecured the approval time is lesser for no collateral is required to be reviewed.Uses of personal loans in UK are endless. Personal loans can be put to any use and there is no restriction by the lender as to how you would use personal loans. Most commonly personal loans are used for car purchase, home improvement, vacation, wedding etc. Debt consolidation is another way to use personal loans for constructive purposes. Debt consolidation consolidates high interest rate debts into single low interest consolidated loan. Personal loans are much cheaper than other alternatives like credit cards, overdraft etc.Eligibility criteria for personal loans is usually reliant on credit score. Anyone who has ever indulged in loan borrowing has a credit score on how he or she has performed earlier. Credit score is a three digit number with which the creditor decides whether to extend you loan or not. Before applying for personal loans, check your latest credit score. Credit score ranges from 300-850. Credit score lower than 580 is considered to be having credit problems. However, credit score below 550 will be interpreted as bad credit by personal loans lenders.Bad credit score, though considered a liability does not prevent anyone from getting approved for personal loans. Personal loans for bad credit are offered to people with any kind of bad credit problems. Late payments, arrears, defaults, bankrupts, foreclosures etc. are given prompt response when applying for personal loans. Personal loans for bad credit not only provide the finances when needed but give an opportunity to improve credit. This certainly has long term benefits for those who have bad credit.Different personal loans lenders have different criteria. Therefore, different lenders will offer different terms and conditions for personal loans. Borrowers have all the choices for personal loans. Take your time and compare loans in UK. Comparing loans gives you the ability to make better choice. Comparing loans is not that difficult and requires some simple calculations. Many personal loans sites have the provision to compare loans.All this advice comes in handy after you have paid heed to the first basic rule of loan borrowing. While borrowing any kind of personal loans, just think over the fact – is it absolutely necessary to borrow personal loans. Take personal loans only if it is affordable. Eventually personal loans would be required to be paid back. Finances are always tightening their control over us. We are constantly in the struggle to build up funds to provide for something or the other. There are answers around the world for your financial need. However, the one that best suits them is personal loans.
Monthly Archives: February 2023
Secured Loans – How to Get Quickly Accepted For a Secured Loan and Get a Better Rate
When a lender receives a secured loan application form he only has two areas on which to base his decision – you and the property. If he can put a tick in both of these boxes then you will get your loan at a good rate.However, it is possible to still get your loan if either you or the property are not A1.This is one of the good things about secured loans, they allow you to obtain a loan when other sources of finance may not be available.Secured loans – YouUnfortunately, most things in this day and age are broken down and put into boxes and that includes you when you apply for a secured loan.Your boxes will be:o Your employment/ self employment
o How many outstanding loans you have
o Your usable (free) monthly income
o Your credit rating
o How you have treated your current (and previous if less than 12/ 24 mths) mortgage companySecured loans – how to improve “you” in the eyes of the secured loan lenderMost applications for secured loans are made through a broker as most lenders do not like to gather all the information needed to process a secured loan. There is also a lot of overhead in this process which they prefer the broker to pay for.Secured loans – rule 1Make sure you find yourself a good secured loan broker. The secured loan lenders are not going to like me saying this but all brokers are not equal in the eyes of the lender. The better ones earn more money per application and get more secured loans paid out, as a percentage, than others.These both directly effect you as the more the lender pays the broker the less of a fee he will need to charge you and the other reason is that you are more likely to get you loan paid out (and at possibly a lower rate) by using a well established secured loan broker.Secured loans – rule 2Work with you broker – not against him. I know it is a pain to keep having to produce paperwork but the more you have, the less pain you will receive when your full loan application reaches the secured loan lender.Secured loans – rule 3Go through your available income with your broker and get him to explain how the lender, he is putting you with, is working out your available income calculation. You might find you get a better rate if you do a bit of debt consolidation.If you are self employed but have regular contractual work that you can prove goes back a few years, then you may be able to argue for a better rate. Self employed applicants for secured loans are usually penalised with the rate as they are considered a high risk.Secured loans – rule 4Your credit rating is nowhere near as important for secured loans as it is for personal loans (unsecured). However, it is still important if you want a good rate. Lenders of Secured loans (like most lenders) don’t like to see arrears on a credit report. A credit report will show the lender how you have paid your credit cards and loans over the last 12 months. It will also show any defaults or county court judgements.Most secured loan lenders will ignore one months arrears on most loans as this can be argued that it is just a late payment. When you start to get to two months or more then you need a good (preferably provable) explanation or your rate will start to go north.One thing secured loan lenders hate is current arrears when you apply to them for a secured loan. So, if you can, make sure your current commitments are up to date when you apply and this will keep your rate down.Secured loans – rule 5How you have paid your mortgage is sometimes more important than your credit report as the secured loans lenders see themselves as an extension of your mortgage and the best way they can see if you are going to pay them is to see how you have paid your current mortgage.So, if you can, make sure your mortgage is up to date when you apply and if you have had any arrears then you will need a good explanation to keep your rate down.To speed up you application you could get proof of your last 12 months payments from you mortgage lender and proof of the outstanding balance.Secured loans – your propertyYour property is the security that the secured loan lender has. If all goes wrong and you stop paying and communicating with the secured loan lender then eventually he will reposes your property (although he will not want to as it is creates another set of problems for them).So, putting the above cautionary note aside, you are putting up your property as security for the loan. You are only doing this because it benefits you and you probably fall into one of the following categories:o A lower rate than other unsecured loans offer
o A larger loan than is available through other financial sources
o You want a loan but your employment is questionable or you are self employed
o You have missed a few payments on some credit and the loan rates you are being offered from other sources are unpalatable
o Your credit is poor and you need to put up security to get a loanIt only makes sense that if you are putting your property up as security for your secured loan then you may as well maximize its value and get a lower rate.The secured loan LTV (loan to value) is one of the major calculations that will effect the rate you are offered. It is simple to work out: you take your current outstanding mortgage, add to that the secured loan you are applying for and divide it by the current value of your property. The lower the percentage the better rate you should get.So, if you want a lower rate then maximizing the properties value is one of the best ways to go about it. It might take a little bit of time but you could be paying for the secured loan for anything from 5 years to 25 years so the extra bit of effort could save you a lot of money in the long term.Secured loans – property rule 1You will almost certainly have a valuer come round to have a look at your property towards the end of your secured loan application.Valuing property is not a science but an opinion and in this case the the persons whose opinion counts is the valuers that you have coming round. You don’t know if he has spent most of the day sitting in a traffic jam, had an argument with his children or forgotten his anniversary and what is more you can’t do a thing about it.What you can do is be friendly and offer him a cup of coffee and make sure you have allocated time for him. Go round the property and point out any improvements you have made and are going to make.Valuers like to be told that the property is going to be improved as it lessens their risk of getting sued by the secured loan lender in case they value the property wrongly.Secured loans – property rule 2Before the valuer gets to your property make sure it is looking its best. A small bit of effort will add thousands to your valuation if the property looks well kept rather than run down.First impressions count so make sure the front and entrance hall is spotless, try and put any junk away to make the rooms look bigger and also try to finish those jobs that were half started and never quite completed.Secured loans – property rule 3As previously stated, the property value is an opinion so you need to make sure that the valuers opinion is the correct one. All valuers will contact local estate agents to see what is selling in the market near your property.It would be to your benefit if you contacted the estate agents and got comparable properties that are on the market and recent sales. You can then decide which of your collection you wish to give the valuer (or you can send them on to your broker but this is not quite as good as giving them to the valuer).Human nature being what it is, your comparables will probably end up in the valuers file and he will take these into account when valuing your property.
The Market is Excited, But Challenges Still Loom For Small Businesses
There is a disconnect between the market rally indicating the economy may soon recover and small businesses who continue to face a challenging environment. First, you must keep the market rally in historical perspective and you must interpret the market’s rally. The market rally has caused some excitement due to being one of the strongest market rallies in history. However the 50% rise between March and July 2009 should be compared to other historical benchmarks. According to Barron’s Market Week (August 3, 2009), in July 1997 the S&P ended at 954 and the S&P ended July 2009 at 987. The return during a 12 year period was only 3% (total return, almost no return on an annualized basis). Additionally, the July 2009 S&P level is well below the October 2007 all time high of around 1,580 (over 37% lower according to Yahoo! Finance). The current market rally is indicating that for large and publicly traded companies times are beginning to stabilize. Perhaps not improving, but less bad news is good news in the current environment. Smaller businesses, however, face more challenging times ahead.The financial lending institutions need to flow monies form Wall Street to Main Street. The credit markets are thawing and larger companies can once again qualify for loans. Qualifying for loans will allow the larger companies to calm their cash flow nerves. However, small businesses are facing increased scrutiny when applying for and renewing loans. Even with a high credit score and a large portion of collateral small business owners are having loans not being accepted or renewed. If the loan is not renewed the small business may not be able to raise equity and to take advantage of their local market conditions. Then loans are not renewed, small business owners are forced into repayment. A lot of small businesses and small business owners do not have the assets to repay the called loans. The cash outflow to repay the loan (if available) can potentially lead to a financial hardship for the small business by crushing liquidity, working capital needs and accelerate the cash burn rate. All of which make it more difficult to qualify for a loan from other lenders. These obstacles place more pressure on small businesses (even in a recovery). In additional small businesses will be forced into tougher lending standards which could potentially increase the number of small business failures at the same time the economy recovers for larger companies. Understanding this situation is important for small business owner because they can (immediately) begin to review their operations and focus attention on their financial position in order to take steps to strengthen their overall position before they request a loan or apply for a loan renewal from a financial institution.Second, financial lending institutions currently are trying to figure out the new lending standards. The new standards are tougher than small business owners want them to be. Small businesses enjoyed the NINJA times (No Income No Job or Assets – no problem). Now small businesses feel they are being hassled at the time of the renewal since they have to provide accurate financial information and they understand the renewal is no longer guaranteed. The small business’s “hassle” is the increase of time involved and higher financing costs, including hiring a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) to issue financial statements and attend loan workout meetings. Financial lending institutions, however, have been faced with higher loan failures and are currently finding out the personal guarantees they had signed by the small business owners are semi-worthless. The small business owner protected themselves by transferring all of there assets to their spouse who did not sign the personal guarantee. This leaves the bank with a bad loan and a worthless personal guarantee. Banks may have both spouses sign the personal guarantee in the future for more protection. A troubling sign is a lot of small businesses and owners are not well capitalized (i.e. they do not have many assets, but do have debts and a good life style). As larger companies have built assets over time and made drastic cost cuts and lay offs of the work forces smaller companies have minimal assets and minimal liquidity and did not cut costs and work forces as quickly or dramatically as larger businesses.Wall Street and the U.S. Government are lending to and bailing out Wall Street Companies, but Wall Street and the U.S. Government is not lending to or bailing out Main Street Companies. As larger companies are beginning to receive financing from financial institutions and bail out monies form the U.S. Government; small business lenders, such as CIT, have received little or no attention from Uncle Sam. CIT is one of the more important lending institutions for small businesses (The CIT Threat By Donna Childs). Small business lenders and regions banks seem to be hurting the most out of all of the financial institutions at the moment. In order for these institutions to lend monies to small businesses in the future they will have to increase their lending standards. For Main Street companies to qualify for loans in the future small businesses need to make major adjustments to their business model including building assets and overall strengthening the financial position of the business and owner (just as their larger counterparts have done).Third, the economy is still in recession and growth will not be the glory days of the past. David Rosenberg, chief economist at Gluskin Sheff, stated “What matters is the contour of the recovery” (The Best Five-Month Run Since 1938 By Kopin Tan and Andrew Bary) meaning that the economy still has a long way to improve. The markets might have “improved” 50% between March and July 2009, however the business environment has not improved or not improved that considerably. Continued pressure on the economic recovery and growth over the next several years includes unemployment around 10% and increasing, the US savings rate has increased over the past 12 months, corporate America continues to de-leverage and the U.S. Government is too involved in private markets.Unemployment of 10% and rising as well as an increase in the US savings rate places pressure on consumer spending due to uncertainty of future employment and income. Consumer spending at the local level directly affects small business performance. A reduction of consumer spending pressures the survival of small businesses. According to “The Recession is Over Now What We Need Is A New Kind Of Recovery” by Daniel Gross (Newsweek August 3, 2009) 5 million jobs are anticipated to be created by 2011, however the economy has lost 6.5 million jobs since December 2007. Consumer spending due to uncertain employment over the next several years can financially pressure local small businesses. As corporate America continues to de-leverage itself it repays debt instead of making purchases and instead of increasing its workforce. The reduction of purchases does trickle down to small businesses and less procurement can affect small business revenues. The U.S. Government involvement in large corporations should be more troubling than the news reports. Our pride as a market based economy and being a Democracy has been turned into the U.S. being Socialist without any major opposition. Yes, we are Socialists since the government owns private enterprise. As taxpayers complain that the government cannot do anything right or efficient at least. Now we are using more of taxpayer resources for Wall Street companies and not Main Street companies will have significant effect on Main Street’s future. Mr. Gross states it costs the U.S. government $92,000 in government spending or $145,000 in government tax breaks to create one job. The average job in the U.S. pays less 1/3 to ½ than this amount. The jobs created will first affect larger businesses, with hope that it will trickle down to small business. At least Main Street will still have its pride (even if it is forced into bankruptcy). Small businesses must be aware of this environment and understand the recovery has many challenges over the next several years to come.In conclusion, small businesses have several challenges in the years ahead. Immediate action is necessary to continue to evolve their business model and strengthen their financial position. Business owners should expect to sacrifice more and potentially raise equity (diluting their ownership) in order to survive the rest of the recession and to try to stay alive through the recovery. Small businesses should continue to stay vigilant during the potential economic recovery in order to continue operations.