I am actually a loan officer for the worlds Largest Credit Union.
I would recommend if you are not a member of a credit union, you should become one. Credit Unions are “member only” and offer the lowest rates.
NEVER go somewhere where the officers work off commision. It’s unfair to you and you will probably not get accurate information.
For the best interest rate, it’s as simple as shopping around. but also depends ALOT on your credit history and score. In almost every case, the interest rate you get is based soley on your credit score.
Where I work, if you are tier 1 wich is 750+ the rate would be the lowest.
For each teir you go down, the rate increases significantly.
Only borrow what you need. And don’t apply to several places for the best rate, each time you do this, your credit is ran and could drop your score.
most credit unions also offer free budgetary counsling as a benifit of being a member.
Personal loan rates are not low, and at all costs, please avoid a “quick payday loan”. I would say anything over 14% Do not take it.
I would also like to add, if you need to make the term longer, with intentions of low payments so you can double up if you need to to save interest.. Make sure there is no early payoff penilty. Alot of banks are not upfront when it comes to signing the promisary note because these would be FOR profit organizations. Credit unions are not-for-profit.
Early payoff penalty could be as much as 3 months worth of loan payments, wich in generalization, could be quite a bit.
Best interest rates Summary:
-Do not use payday/ cash advance places.
-Do not apply everywhere to look for the best rate
-Do your homework, most rates of banks/credit unions can be found online
-Personal rates are higher than Auto loans, so if it’s doable- refi your existing auto loan with additional cash to stay at a “safe” interest rate.
-If you have enough money in a savings account or money market account, you can take out a share pledge loan, wich places the funds on hold, and you should only pay 2% of interest.
-If you don’t have enough income for the amount your applying for (debt to income) you can use a cosigner, but the rate and terms of a loan are based soley on the applier, a cosigner just helps with financial upping of the loan. A cosigner should also be aware and sign the part of the promisary note stating if borrower is unable to pay debt, the cosigner becomes responsible.