Compare personal loan interest rates

A bridge loan is a type of short-term lending in which a loan is granted for a fairly short period of up to 1 year at a high interest rate to pay the current obligations of the borrower.

A micro lender is a type of lending institution that specializes in providing small ammounts of money. Since micro-lending is not accompanied by collaterals, the risks for the lender increase exponentially. Because of this, the interest rate on microloans is usually very high. In addition, the activity of micro lenders is strictly controlled by state authorities, especially in terms of collecting outstanding loans.

A bridge loan is an interim or auxiliary loan issued by a bank for a period of up to 1 year at a fairly high interest rate to cover the borrower's current obligations. Usually such a loan is a temporary measure until funds are available from the main source of financing. Such a loan can be taken out by both individuals and legal entities. It is especially widespread in the field of venture capital financing, which is an investment in a business in order to receive a percentage of the total profits in the future.

The minimum amount of down payment for a conventional loan is 3% of the loan amount. However, as a rule, this figure is higher, because credit history and other factors are taken into account, which increase the risks for the lender and require appropriate compensation.

The interest rate is the portion of the principal amount of the loan that the borrower must overpay to the bank for using its money. The interest rate can be calculated according to an annuity or a differential scheme. In the first case, the total amount of the loan is divided into several months or years in equal installments. With the second, the rate is charged on the balance of the loan and decreases with each month. Rarely a bullet scheme is utilized where the interest and the principal amount of the loan are repaid separately (first the principal and then the interest, or vice versa). If the rate changes at contractually specified periods, it is considered floating. If newly accrued interest is added to the interest calculated for the previous period (interest-on-interest scheme), it is considered capitalized.

Because FHA (Federal Housing Administration) loans are designed to help low- and moderate-income consumers, they have a lower down payment compared to other types of loans. More specifically, the down payment is as low as 3.5% of the loan amount.

A hard money loan is a specialized type of asset-based lending by which a borrower obtains funds secured by real estate. Hard money loans are usually issued by private investors or companies. As with any other secured loan, the interest rate on such a loan is lower than usual due to the presence of a collateral.

A subprime loan is a loan that is accompanied by a high level of risk for the lender. Most often the cause of high risk is the status of the borrower (poor credit history, low income, etc.) or the terms of the loan (no collateral for a high loan amount, poor quality of collateral).

A loan assumption is a procedure whereby the person who took out a loan to purchase real estate is willing to sell the property to a new buyer, while ceding his or her role in the loan agreement. Thus, the new buyer of real estate actually takes the place of the previous borrower in the eyes of the lender.

A Parent PLUS Loan is a federal loan program administered by The Federal Student Aid. Under this program, parents can take out loans to pay for their children's education. What makes these loans special is that they are unsubsidized and involve an origination fee.

Although the term has a rather wide range of meanings, in general, discount points are additional fees charged by the lender when issuing a loan. Through this fee in favor of the lender, the borrower is entitled to expect an appropriate reduction in the interest rate on the loan. In each case, the borrower should carefully evaluate whether it is advantageous to pay more as an upfront fee but receive a lower interest rate for the entire term of the loan, or to choose a higher interest rate with a lower down payment.

Gradual repayment of the loan through regular payments of principal and accrued interest is the amortization of the debt. Specific repayment terms are determined according to the concluded loan agreement and are fixed in the payment schedule. The payments are broken down for the entire term of the loan agreement and consist of the 'principal' (original amount of the loan) and interest. The amount of the amortization charges in this case shows the total amount of repayment at the moment.

A payday lender is a lending institution that specializes in reviewing applications and issuing payday loans. As a rule, we are talking about microfinance organizations that offer unsecured short-term loans at high interest rates.