What is required for a personal loan

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.

There are several classifications of loans, so let's consider the most common one. According to it, there are three loan categories: bank, commercial and state. In its turn, bank loans are divided into personal, mortgage, loan on overdraft, factoring, forfeiting and intrabank loans. Commercial loans may be of the following types: signature, trade and advance. Finally, the state category is subdivided into state loan, subventions, grants, transfers and state tax loan.

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.

Loan default is a default on a loan agreement, i.e. failure to timely pay interest or principal on a debt obligation or under the terms of a bond issue agreement. Consequently, a person who defaults on a loan is considered a loan defaulter. Penalties for loan defaults are applied according to the type of loan and the specific terms of the contract.

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 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.

Personal loan is a loan granted directly to individuals for the purchase of consumer goods. Such loans are taken not only for long-term purchases of expensive goods (cars, furniture), but also for everyday products, such as cell home appliances or even food. It comes in the form of either the sale of goods with deferred payment or a bank loan for consumer purposes, including through credit cards. It charges a fairly high interest rate. Usually, personal loans are accompanied by additional fees and charges, which increase the real cost of credit and form the so-called hidden interest rate. This is why choosing a loan from one bank or another based on the advertised interest rate on the loan may not always be the best choice. In this case you should be guided by the calculation of the full cost of credit.

Collateral is a guarantee for the lender to get all the funds due under the loan agreement. In case the borrower does not fulfill his/her obligations or does not fulfill them to the full extent, the corresponding debt is to be repaid at the expense of the collateral. Collateral can be represented by residential and non-residential real estate, motor vehicles, precious metals, securities, etc. However, in fact, banks determine the list of property taken as collateral when granting loans. The property pledged as collateral under the loan must be necessarily evaluated.

First of all, it all depends on what type of credit you are interested in and for which exact amount you are expecting. The requirements will vary depending on the particular loan provider, as well as the specifics of state or national lending laws. In general, though, it's usually a set of documents proving your identity and source of income, as well as your ownership of the collateral.

A recourse loan or debt entails personal liability of the borrower. A non-recourse loan does not allow the lender to claim anything other than collateral. For example, if someone fails to repay a non-recourse mortgage loan, athe lender may only foreclose on the real estate that was the collateral.

Before taking out a consumer loan, it is worth calculating all the interest and overpayments in advance, so that you understand the acceptability of the loan offer before applying. This way you will know in advance how much you will need to pay each month to repay the loan. Loan payments are most often calculated using two payment schemes: annuity and differential. Which of them is applied in a particular proposal is specified in the loan agreement. Knowing the formula of a particular scheme, you can calculate the amount of the monthly payment and know in advance its full amount with all the overpayments. In rare cases, a bank offers to choose the scheme.

Broadly speaking, a lender or a creditor is a loan provider, that is a person or legal entity giving funds to a borrower on the condition that they will be returned within a certain period of time and in a certain amount. The basis on which the borrower must satisfy the creditor is the contract, which specifies all the conditions under which the creditor provides the funds to the borrower. The lender has the option of assigning a loan to another person. In such a case, however, he or she must notify the borrower.

In the case of FHA (Federal Housing Administration) loans the minimum acceptable credit score is directly related to the amount of the down payment. If we are talking about a minimum down payment of 3.5% of the property value, your credit score must be 580 or higher. However, if you can make a 10% down payment, the credit score requirement goes down to 500.