A personal loan is a credit with the purpose of using money for personal purposes that are not related to entrepreneurial activity. For example, it can be a loan to purchase cell phones, furniture, household appliances, cars. It is also possible to take out a personal loan in order to pay for various services (medical, educational, tourist). A cash loan can be provided for the borrower to use at his or her own discretion. The lender can be either a trade organization or a credit organization. The borrower is an individual (person).

A pay day loan is a type of short-term personal credit without collateral. The service got its name due to very popular need among the population to urgently get a small amount of money until the next paycheck. Pay day loans are mostly issued by microfinance organizations, but large banks do not refuse this segment of the credit market either.

In general, one of the key features of personal loans is that lenders rarely require collateral, because usually it is not a very large amount of money. This, in fact, explains such a high popularity of this type of credit. However, if collateral is still required, it can be any movable or immovable property of the borrower, as well as monetary assets in bank accounts.

A conventional loan is a type of mortgage, the peculiarity of which is the absence of state guarantees. On the one hand, it can be considered a certain disadvantage, but on the other hand, the non-participation of the state makes the terms of the loan much more flexible.

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.

A loan recast is the payment of a fixed amount during the term of the loan agreement aimed to cover the principal of the loan so as to reduce subsequent monthly payments for the remainder of the term of the agreement. Generally, a loan recast is used in mortgage lending by people who suddenly received a large sum of money (e.g., an inheritance).

Loan security is a mechanism for guaranteeing the repayment of a loan, which protects the rights of the creditor. A borrower can leave some tangible assets (such as a car or real estate) as security for a loan, which then becomes a secured debt to the creditor who issues the loan. Thus, the loan is secured, and if the borrower defaults, the creditor takes possession of the asset used as its security.

A loan to value (LTV) ratio shows how much of the value of the property a borrower acquires a creditor is ready to lend him or her. Since this is usually a mortgage loan, the LTV essentially shows how much of the value of the property you already own and how much you are able to pay as a down payment. This will directly affect the interest rate and terms of the loan. Moving to specific numbers, a good LTV ratio would be 80% for conventional loans and 95% for FHA loans.

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 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 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.