Are Bad Credit Loans Worth Considering?
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George

There are lots of different loans available and it is always good to have an idea as to how they differ and what might suit you the best so that you can pick the best loan for you, when it comes time for you to need to borrow money. Some people will always ignore loans that they do not know much about, but this is not good because it could mean that you are ignoring a loan that is suitable for you. Therefore, knowing lots about the different types of loans and who they are for can be really helpful and you will be able to make the right choice when it comes to a time that you need to borrow money.

With bad credit loans, we might feel that they are a bit scary as they have had a negative press. However, it is good to understand how they work so they can decide whether they will be something that you might like to use or not.

Types of bad credit loans
There are quite a few different types of bad credit loans and they vary quite a bit in the way that they work,

  • Payday loans are probably the most well known. They are designed to help people out in emergencies and money will be leant until the person get paid next and will have to be repaid in full. They are for small amounts of money up to £1,000 and can be arranged very quickly, sometimes within a few hours, so the money is there really quickly to help out.
  • Instalment loans are essential the same as payday loan but they do not have to repaid in a lump sum. This means that can be easier to repay as the payments are smaller, but they will last longer and that will make them more expensive.
  • Guarantor loans will allow you to borrow larger sums of money, normally between 31,00 and £10,000 but you will need to find a guarantor who will cover the repayments if you fail to. You will be repaying monthly, but if the money is not there then it will be taken from the guarantor instead.
  • Log book loans will give you some money based on equity that you hold in your vehicle. So the lender will value the vehicle take off any other car loans and then lend a proportion of what is left, If you do not keep up repayments they will repossess the vehicle, sell it and pay off their loan and give you what is left so you can pay back the rest of the money you owe on it.

Who They are for?

So bad credit loans are specifically designed for people that do not have a good credit record but still need to borrow money. Often, a traditional lender will not lend money to anyone that has a poor credit record and so these loans help out instead. They can also be arranged quickly and this can be useful for anyone that needs money in a hurry even if they have a good credit record as they may not be able to get money from elsewhere. Like all loans, it is wise to find out how much it will cost and think about whether it will offer good value for money. Also think about whether you can afford to repay it and whether you really need the money that much. Compare the loans with other types and make sure that you compare lenders so that you can be sure that you are getting a the very best loan, that will suit your needs the best.

How Can I Choose the Best Bank?
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George

If you are looking for a new bank or wonder whether your bank is the best, then you may be thinking about what features you should be looking out for with regards to finding the best bank. It can be tricky because it is not something that we generally do that often or talk about with other people. However, there are several things that you can try which could help you.

Consider What you Want

It is wise to start by thinking about what it is that you are looking for in a bank. If you are with a bank already then you can think about what you like and dislike about them. This will enable you to start putting together a list of features that you want. You may feel that there is no way you will get everything you want, but get it all written down and then you will be able to find the bank that is closest to your needs.

Look at the Differences Between Banks

It is a good idea to think about the ways that banks differ and you will be able to use these to compare them and then it will help you to decide which is the best. This can link in to the list of requirements that you have but it may also open you up to new ideas about what you should be looking for in a bank.

  • Costs – banks offer different services and they charge for most of them and therefore it is worth investigating their charges and how they compare. Obviously, you will not be using all of their services and so you need to compare the ones you will be using. Think about overdrafts rates, credit card charges and things like this as those are things you are likely to be using with the bank. The loans and mortgages might be relevant as well, but most people do always use their bank for these but shop around so that they get the best possible deals.
  • Interest – it is also good to look at savings interest. Many people have an instant access savings account with their bank so that they can keep some money available to transfer quickly into their current account if they are getting low on funds. If you do something like this, then note the interest rates on the savings accounts. Rates are low everywhere on interest access accounts but you may find there are some that are better than others and so it is worth investigating this.
  • Products – there might be certain products that you are specifically interested in and if this is the case then you will need to make sure that the bank that you are with will provide what you need.
  • Branch/phone/online – also think about how you would like to bank. Some people like to use a branch, some like to do telephone banking and others like to bank online. It is important to make sure that you will be able to bank in the way that suits you the best and therefore you need to check this out. Do not assume that you will be able to use a specific method, you may find that certain accounts can only be managed in a very precise way. For example, even if you have a local branch, you may find that there are some accounts which have to be managed online, so do check this out.
  • Reputation – it is important to find out a bit about the bank and what they are like. Asking a few people what they think of them and look at a few reviews so you have an idea of this.
Should I be Concerned About the Security of Telephone Banking?
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George

There are some people that do worry a lot about bank security. They may rather deal in a branch face to face as they worry that any other form of banking may not be secure. However, as local branches are closing and more accounts are moving to only being able to be dealt with online or over the telephone then there are many of us that will have to change even if we do not want to. It is good to have some concern about security with regards to these methods but it is also good to realise that there are things that you can do which will mean that you will be more protected so the security of what you are doing will be better. So if you are telephone banking be aware of the following:

Only Call a Number you are Sure is Your Bank

It is a shame, but there are people out there who try to con us and pretend to be our bank that are not and they get our bank details so that they can steal our money. This can put a lot of people off telephone banking but there are lots of things that you can do to protect yourself from this sort of thing. The first is to make sure that when you are phoning your bank that you are completely sure it is them. If you get the number from their website, make sure that it really is their website. Type in the web address yourself rather than going through a link in a search engine which could be incorrect. Otherwise get a number off a leaflet or letter that you have from the bank and then you can be totally sure that you are going through to the right place.

Never Give Details to Someone that Calls You

A bank should never call you and ask you to give your bank details over the phone. If they need to get in touch with you, they should leave you a message and ask you to call them. So, if anyone calls, hang up and call the bank back to see if it was them and use a number, as above, that you are sure will work. Never give any details unless you have called them, even if you think it is the bank, because you can never be totally sure.

Only Make a Call When you are not Being Overheard

It is important to also make sure that no one overhears you when you are making a call to a bank. You will find that you will be asked to give details such as your security passwords etc, although this be done differently by different by different banks. Make sure that you are not overheard by anyone when you do this. It is better to do it from home, rather than when you are out and about as someone could easily listen to your conversation and then get your bank details.

Keep Your passwords Really Safe

It can be really hard to remember all of the passwords that we use for the different things and therefore many people will write them down. While this can be handy, we do need to be extremely careful about what we do with them. The best thing to do is to keep them locked in a safe or drawer somewhere so that only you can access them. Never keep them in the same place as your bank cards or statements so that your account details are not with them, as you normally have to provide both bits of information over the phone.

How to Repay my Credit Cards
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George

If you have one or more credit cards which you would like to repay, then you may wonder how to go about it. It can make sense to repay the cards as you will otherwise be being charged interest on them and this is costing you unnecessary money. However, you may wonder how you can repay them. It can feel difficult, especially if the amount you owe feels large, but there are things that you can do to help.

Stop Using the Card

It is a good idea to stop using the card as much as you can. This will mean that you will not be able to accumulate more debt on it and it will be easier to repay it. There might be situations when you really want or need to use the card, such as when buying things online so that it can be more secure but try not to just use it out of habit but only when consider there to be no alternative.

Make Sure you Repay the Minimum or More

It is really important to make sure that you repay the minimum each month on the card. Set up a direct debit to pay it so that you will not forget. This will be a relatively small amount of money but if you do not pay it there will be more fees and you want to avoid these if you can. Many people do not realise that you can actually pay a bit more than this if you want to. It sometimes feels, form the way that the statements are phrased, that we should either repay everything we owe or the minimum, but you can pay any amount that you wish at any time. Therefore, it can be a good idea to pay a bit more than the minimum so that you repay a bit extra each month and then you will get it repaid more quickly.

Find Chunks of Money to Repay it

It can be a good idea to see whether you can raise extra money to repay the card. This could be done in many different ways and it is a good idea to have a think about what will work well for you. It might be that you will be able to pay less for some of the items that you normally buy and use the money that you would normally have spent to put towards paying off the card. You could cut back and buy less things and spend less that way. It might be that you will be able to find some ways to earn more money as well. You might be able to sell some things that you own and no longer need as well and that could raise some money that you could use. You might also need to think about earning more money. You may be able to find some additional work such as freelance work or temping or earn some money online that you will be able to use to help you. It might sound difficult but it can be very rewarding and knowing that you are getting closer to repaying the card can be very motivating as well. It is worth remembering that every bit that you put towards it makes you one step closer to repaying it. Even just putting the money that is left in your current account at the end of the month towards repaying the card will help you to be able to pay it back more quickly. If you keep focussing on what you need to achieve with regards to repaying the card it will help to motivate you to be more careful with your spending and to grasp every earning opportunity so that it can be repaid as quickly as possible.

Should I Repay my Mortgage Early?
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George

There are often people who will say that you should repay your loans early. This is something that you might therefore be thinking about with regards to your mortgage. You may wonder whether it will be worthwhile repaying it early. There are advantages to doing this in some cases, but you need to consider any problems that you may have as well.

Early Redemption Fee

There are some mortgages which comes with an early redemption fee. This is a specific charge that will be made if you repay the mortgage early. The charge can vary a lot between lenders though. Sometime sit will just be a small amount to cover the admin costs of you repaying the mortgage. However, sometimes it can be a significant sum of money. This tends to be there to cover lost interest that the lender would have got had you kept borrowing from them and often it is there to discourage you from changing lenders. It is really important to take a look at how much this is and then you will be able to calculate whether it will be cheaper for you to repay the mortgage or not. Calculate how much interest you will save by repaying it early and compare that with the fee and then you will be able to look at which will be the best option for you. You might find this tricky to calculate but you might be able to get some help from your lender. Ask them to do a calculation of how much interest you will have to pay for the loan and how much you will have to pay if you repay it early. It isn’t an exact science though as interest rates could vary and so you cannot calculate exactly how much you will need to pay for interest, but you can make a decent estimate.

Saving Interest

Mortgages have interest charged on them and this has to be paid for monthly. Although the interest rate on mortgages can be small compared with some other types of borrowing, you will have to pay it for a long time. Normally a mortgage will last for twenty five years and so if you add up the cost of the interest that you have paid across all of those years, then you will find that it is a significant amount of money. It used to be the case, when interest rates were a lot higher that you paid for your home 2.5 times by the time you completed your mortgage. These days interest rates are significantly lower which means that we do end up paying less than this, but we will still save money if we pay it off earlier.

Stress

There are two possibilities with regards to stress in this situation. It might be that you do not like owing money and therefore repaying early will really help you and reduce your stress levels. Obviously, if you owe a lot, then it will not be repaid overnight but it can still help you to know that you are doing more towards repaying the mortgage. However, some people may find it stressful thinking about how they will manage to afford to repay more. They might find it hard to give up spending on non essentials so that they can afford to repay more off the mortgage. It is therefore worth bearing this in mind as well because we are all under a lot of stress at the moment and it is not a good idea to add to it as we could just make ourselves ill as well as unhappy. Therefore, think hard about what will be the best solution for you.