To understand the big picture when choosing a loan offer, it is very useful to calculate the actual annual percentage rate (APR) on the loan. It includes not only the interest rate, but also all the additional fees and costs explicitly or implicitly included in the loan agreement. In principle, APR can be calculated manually using the formula, but there have long been special and very handy calculators for this purpose on the Internet.

First of all, you need to know under what scheme you have to pay the loan: annuity or differential. Each of the schemes has its own formula, which can be found in a couple of seconds on the Internet. The repayment scheme is spelled out in the contract. You also need to know the basic terms of the loan, including the interest rate, and any additional payments.

Obviously, an interest rate, as well as other conditions of personal loan may differ significantly depending on a number of factors, including the amount of the loan, a borrower's credit history, annual income, etc. If you examine the range of values, the interest rate on a personal loan can vary from 2% to 40%. However, on average we can talk about the range of 10% to 20%.

A non recourse loan is a secured loan (in which the collateral is most often real estate) which has a very important feature. If the borrower fails to fulfill his obligations under the loan agreement, he is liable to the lender only to the extent of the collateral, even if its value is less than the amount of the borrower's obligations to the lender.

A loan disclosure is a document or set of documents in which the lender is required to set out all of the terms and conditions of the loan you applied of (including any additional fees, charges, insurances, etc.) in a completely transparent manner and describe all details of the handling and use of funds and data.

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.

A signature loan is a type of unsecured loan for which the lender requires only an official source of income and credit history, and yhe borrower's signature on the loan agreement. The latter actually gave the name to this type of loan.

A secured loan is a loan that is secured by some assets. The asset is actually the security for the loan. Security is necessary because the amount in the case of a secured loan is usually high. The security helps the creditor to remain secured in the process of repaying the money owed. And that is why it is called a secured loan. Because of the fact that the creditor is secured, he or she may rest assured about the funds, even if the amount is huge. As a result, an interest rate for secured loans is much lower than for unsecured ones.

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.

The repayment period is one of the key issues when choosing an offer. Without going into detail, it depends entirely on the type of loan, the terms and conditions specified in the agreement, as well as on how regularly you will repay the loan. In addition, some loans can be repaid before the maturity date, while in others prescheduled repayment is strictly punishable by creditors.