It may sound strange to request a personal loan to pay for Christmas expenses, but it is often a very good idea that should not be left aside.
It may sound strange to request a personal loan to pay for Christmas expenses. Truth is that while resorting to other forms of payment like credit cards or account overdrafts may solve your lack of cash problem and cover for your expenses, they are not the cheapest source of finance and they imply dangers to your finances.
Both the use of credit cards, and account overdrafts add up to your short term debt. That is, debt you’ll have to repay within a small time period. If you fail to meet payment, you’ll incur in penalty fees and other costs that will add up to your debt turning your Christmas finance more expensive than it already was.
During Christmas time and due to presents, arrangements, price rises, need for transportation, etc. the amount of money you usually spend on a monthly basis increases considerably. That increment is not always covered by Christmas bonus and if your income doesn’t level up to the expenses or even stays the same you won’t have enough money to afford everything you need to pay for. Thus the need of finance appears.
Benefits of Personal Loans
The interest rate charged for personal loans is much lower than the interest rate charged for financing you credit card unpaid balances and your account overdrafts. While the interest rate of credit cards and account overdrafts can reach up to 25% APR, the interest rate charged for personal loans tends to stay under 10% APR even for people with Bad Credit.
If you are lucky enough to be able to provide some sort of collateral (i.e. a house, car, etc.) you can even get a much lower interest rate by requesting a secured personal loan. Moreover, you’ll also be able to get larger loan amounts this way along with longer repayment programs to keep your monthly installments affordable enough.
The fixed monthly payments that come with personal loans are perfect for those who cannot avoid the temptation of paying the minimum amount on their credit card in order to keep spending on other things. This could easily end up in accumulating debt till the minimum payments won’t be affordable anymore. Fixed installments solve the problem since you cannot choose the amount to pay each month and this combined with the low rates turn personal loans cheaper and safer than credit cards.
Finding a Lender and Selecting a Loan
If you’ve made up your mind and you’re convinced that the best source of finance to pay for Christmas Spending is a Personal Loan, you may wonder where to find the right lender and which loan is best for you. In order to make things easier for you, you can search the net for online personal loan lenders and request loan quotes.
You’ll receive many different loan offers. When comparing them, pay special attention to the APR as this rate includes almost all of the loan interest rates, fees and costs. But be also aware of other loan terms and be especially careful with hidden fees that some lenders conceal within the loan contract’s fine print. Provided you do that, you’ll sure find the lender and loan that best suit your needs fast and without hassles.
