Either for unexpected expenses or due to lack of proper budgeting, many people run out of cash and find themselves unable to make ends meet. Obviously, the best thing to do would be to count with a savings account to cope with such situations but for the majority of people who don’t, a personal loan is a much better source of finance than using a credit card.
Credit and Debt experts call running out of cash a liquidity problem. Unless of course the problem is recursive in which case, you would be facing an income problem. There are plenty of ways to solve such difficulties but each one has different costs and advisors suggest personal loans as the best solution for sudden lack of cash difficulties.
Problems With Credit Card Financing
The usual solution people find for these situations is to make use of their credit cards. With luck, the problem is solved in the short term. However, other problems will arise if you always resort to credit cards when running out of cash. Credit card debt accumulates easily and generates certain dependency that may trigger additional problems.
Since credit cards offer the option not to pay the balance in full and even pay only the minimum payment which is usually consistent only of interests, the capital keeps rising and so the interests. Besides, the interest rate charged for credit cards is rather high compared to other finance options such as personal loans.
All the above gives the user, the idea that he can keep on spending and prevents him from concentrating on the sources of his lack of cash problems. The lack of budgeting will sooner than later lead to debt problems. Many Americans are today finding out this fact the hard way. Defaults and bankruptcy are at the highest peak in decades.
What Benefits Do Personal Loans Provide?
As opposed to credit cards, the debt you incur when you apply and get approved for a personal loan is fixed. Moreover, unless you close a deal with a variable interest rate, the monthly payments are also fixed. Thus, you don’t run the risk of debt accumulation as long as you meet the monthly payments on time.
This fact also contributes to making things a lot easier at the time of budgeting. The loans monthly payments can easily be included in a monthly budget as a fixed amount even if the rate is variable. Besides, all variations are highly predictable and any differences can be included by stating a possible range of the amount of the monthly installments.
Also the fixed nature of this loans aids avoiding the temptation of incurring in further spending thus contributing to solve the problem that caused you to resort to financing due to a sudden lack of cash.
But most importantly, the interest rate charged for personal loans is a lot lower than the rates charged for credit card financing. The rates of unsecured personal loans are usually around two thirds to a half the rate of credit card financing and secured personal loans are even lower.
Credit cards can include a financing interest rate of up to 18% or even more and secured personal loans won’t exceed an 8% APR.