by: John Mussi
As an individual looking for low cost loans, you might find yourself confronted with a variety of different offers that make you wonder which one is best for your needs.
There are a variety of things that can influence the amount that you pay for low cost loans, however… your credit history and the collateral that you use are major factors in determining the interest that you pay, and interest is the main cost that must be considered when looking for low cost loans.
We shall examine each of these factors in more detail so as to give you a better understanding of what to look for in order to get the best low cost loans.
Credit History
Your credit history is a major determining factor in the amount that you'll pay for low cost loans… after all, if you've had credit problems in the past then there are a lot of lenders who might not trust you to repay the loan that they give you in decent time.
Of course, your credit history is what it is… and just because you've made mistakes before doesn't mean that you should have to pay for them for the rest of your life. There are lenders who are more than willing to offer low cost loans to individuals who have bad credit, provided that the individual is willing to provide sufficient security to guarantee repayment of the loan.
That's the role that collateral plays in loans… it provides the security that lenders need so that borrowers can get the loans that they want.
Collateral
Collateral is some piece of property that has value, which is used as a guarantee for repayment of a loan. The type of collateral that you use to guarantee a loan can have a large effect on the amount that you pay… if you're looking for low cost loans, you'd be best served to use the items with the highest value and the most easily accessible market as collateral so as to hopefully counteract any negative effects of poor credit.
Certain types of lenders, such as online lenders, tend to use specific types of collateral (such as home equity) so as to be able to offer lower rates, while others allow more types of collateral to be used for various interest rates.
Interest Rates
The interest rate that you pay is the additional amount that must be paid with a loan to pay for the service of the lender. Low cost loans obviously have low interest rates, and the interest rate can be greatly affected by both the collateral that is used to secure the loan and the credit history of the loan applicant.
By using high-value collateral that can be easily valued by the lender, it's possible to reduce interest rates significantly so as to greatly reduce the overall cost of the loan.
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