Unsecured versus Secured Loans

July 5, 2009

When you begin looking into personal financing options you’ll quickly learn that there are different ways to borrow cash for all sorts of things that you need money for. The two general types of loans are often known as “secured” and “unsecured” loans.

Unsecured loans are good for smaller purchases which you can pay off quickly. Unsecured loans are loans which are given to you based on your credit rating and not based on any single thing you offer up for collateral. Your credit rating is really a measure of your expected ability to pay off debts. If you have always paid your bills on time then you probably have a pretty good credit rating. Most credit cards are really considered to be an unsecured loan.

When you finance a car or buy a home with a mortgage (which is a kind of secured loan) the bank technically owns what you bought until you’ve paid off the debt amount with interest. Secured loans are a type of loan in which the lending institution has some sort of collateral or item which you own to hold until you pay off the debt. If you default on your loan then the bank can take your collateral and sell it in an effort to regain some of the money you borrowed.

There is often more paperwork associated with secured loans because they are so much larger than most unsecured loans. Typical secured loans include house mortgages, new car loans and most home improvement financing options. Secured financing such as mortgages generally have a lower interest rate, which makes paying them off less expensive over the life of the loan. Depending on your tax situation you may even be able to reduce the yearly tax that you owe.

No matter what type of loan you consider remember that you do have to pay the money back and you will be paying interest on the amount that is owed. Be careful and make sure you can really afford the regular payments before you apply for your loan. Many costly projects are changed when people finally begin to consider how various financing options work.

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