Secured and unsecured personal loan

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.

The question is too general. The loan amount you can count on depends on a mass of various factors. To list just the most obvious ones, they include the purpose of the loan, the type of the loan, your credit history, maximum interest rate and repayment period you are ready to, and whether the loan is secured or unsecured.

Predatory lending is the practice of issuing loans with extremely high interest rates. Predatory lending methods include direct deception of borrowers, aggressive sales techniques, taking advantage of borrowers' financial unawareness, confusing contractual terms, and so on. In some countries, predatory lending is illegal.

Although the range of interest rates offered by U.S. lending institutions in 2021 varies from 3% to 36%, the average interest rate for personal loans has remained about the same for the past 2-3 years, namely 11-12%. Of course, this figure is purely theoretical, because in practice everything depends on a variety of factors and criteria.

It is important to understand that the Department of Veterans Affairs does not issue loans directly and does not specify a minimum credit score anywhere, but only guarantees certain loan terms for veterans. However, most sources state that lending agencies require a minimum credit score ranging from 580 to 620 in order to approve a VA loan. However, it should be noted that there are precedents in which people managed to get a VA loan even with a credit score of 500.

You can check the status of the loan using specific tools offered by the financial institution you choose. As a rule, the most common tools to check the loan status are a call to the hotline, SMS request, request via messengers (Viber, Whatsapp, Telegram) or logging into a personal account on the website.

A finance charge on a loan is the sum of all interest and other charges and costs, including one-time charges, that the borrower will pay over the life of the loan agreement, that is, from the time the loan is signed until the last payment is made and the loan is closed. Thus, a finance charge on a loan includes not only the interest rate, but also origination fees and insurance.

The main difference is that with a conventional loan the borrower is required to pay mortgage insurance only if the down payment is less than 20%, and with FHA (Federal Housing Administration) mortgage insurance is paid regardless of the size of the down payment. There is also a difference in the maximum loan amount.

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 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.

In lending industry, subprime loan means lending to individuals who have difficulties with meeting repayment schedules or other key terms of the loan agreement. Borrowers with a FICO score below 600 are usually considered subprime, although this threshold changes over time and other criteria are added to it.

A loan origination fee is a one-time payment, usually ranging from 0.5% to 1% of the total loan amount, charged by the lender to compensate the costs for processing the loan application. In general, loan origination fees are not required by all loan originating agencies. In fact, they can be even negotiated before you sign a contract. In most cases, however, the absence of a loan origination fee as a separate payment simply increases the interest rate correspondingly.

A HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit) is a loan with an agreed repayment period, in which the borrower's real estate or his share in the real estate is pledged as collateral. In this case, the borrower does not receive the entire amount, as in a conventional loan, but gets access to a credit line, which may be then used at his or her own discretion and in any amount.