What is an Installment Loan and How Exactly Do They Work?

When you need to make a large purchase, such as a house or a car, you often take out an installment loan to do it. Student loans also are installment loans, as are personal loans. Here is a rundown of what an installment loan is and how it works.

Specific Amount

One of the hallmarks of an installment loan is that you borrow a specific amount one time. This can be $200,000 for a house, $20,000 for a car or $2,000 for personal use. 

Installment loan amounts can vary greatly, but they all have one thing in common: Once you have agreed on an amount and signed the papers with your lender, the amount is set, and the only way to change it is to take out a new loan.

Set Payment Schedule

Perhaps the thing that defines installment loans more than any other factor is the set payment schedule. With an installment loan, you pay a set amount each month for a predetermined amount of time. 

If you have a mortgage, your term is often 15 or 30 years. With a car loan, it might be five years. Personal loans may be only one or two years. 

Secured VS Unsecured

Installment loans can be either secured or unsecured. A secured loan is a loan in which the asset for which the loan was issued acts as collateral, meaning it can be foreclosed on and repossessed if you don't make the payments. 

Home and car loans are examples of secured installment loans. An unsecured loan is a loan with no collateral backing it, meaning the only recourse the lender has for nonpayment of the loan is to sue the borrower. 

Some companies, like Las Vegas Finance, know that personal loans and student loans are examples of unsecured installment loans.

Amortization

Most installment loans are amortized, meaning that while you make the same payment every month, the portion of the payment going to principal and interest changes. 

With most installment loans, most of your early payments go toward paying the interest on the loan and very little goes toward the principal. In the latter stages of the loan, that ratio flips. 

If your installment loan allows you to make extra payments or pay off the loan in full early, you can save money on interest costs by doing so.

It's likely you will take out an installment loan at some point in your life. Knowing what they are and how they work will help you make better decisions regarding the loans.

What Exactly is an Installment Loan?

Installment loans are one of the most common types of loans and there is every chance that you already had one, but you just didn’t know what it was called.

To put it simply, an installment loan is a loan where you borrow a certain amount of money and you agree to pay back the loan, plus the interest, in a series of regular payments.

The main difference between an installment loan and a revolving finance agreement, such as a credit card, is that, with an installment loan, you can’t borrow more money against that line of credit and the repayment amounts are defined in advance by the direct lenders of installment loans.

The different types of installment loans

When you sign an installment loan agreement, it means that you and the lender have agreed on the amount of the loan, what the interest rate will be, the repayment amounts, and how long the loan will be for. Some typical uses for installment loans are as follows:

• Motor vehicle loans
• Home equity loans.
• Home mortgages and other home loans
• Student loans
• General-purpose personal loans

How do you qualify for an installment loan?

Before you are accepted for an installment loan, lenders will usually check your credit score to make sure that you are eligible for a loan. Certain types of loans may also require more extensive background checks as well.

To apply for a typical auto loan, you may only need your current address and brief recent employment history, whereas a home loan may require details of your assets, copies of your bank statements, and full details of your employment history. 

You want to make sure you have good credit when dealing with auto loans otherwise you may get stuck dealing with junkyards.

If you were applying for a student loan, you are likely to need the details of the school or college you will be attending and details of your parent’s financial situation may be required as well.

You can usually expect to have an installment loan application accepted if you have good credit, are in employment and you have a good financial status.

Often, adding a co-signer to an installment loan will increase the chances of an application being accepted and it will reduce the interest rates as well.

As a general rule, loan eligibility and interest rates improve with lower debt-to-income ratios (DTI), higher annual incomes, and better credit ratings.

Lenders use credit scores to determine risk and they use DTI to determine how much a potential borrower can responsibly borrow.

What you need to know before you apply for an installment loan 

Find out what your credit score is before you apply for an installment loan, because, if you know what your credit score is, it could help you secure the best loan for you.

If you check your credit score before you apply for a loan, you will have the chance to correct any errors that may be on your credit file and that may give you more choice of lenders and it may reduce the interest rate that you are charged.

Similarly, you might also find that you are only a few points away from having an excellent credit score, in which case it might be better to wait for few months before you apply for a loan




It is also important that you understand what all your borrowing options are. When you are buying a car, for example, a car dealer is quite likely to offer you a loan through their own financing department, but you would probably get a much better deal by taking out an installment loan from another independent source.

How to improve your chances of qualifying for an installment loan

To improve your eligibility for a loan, you will need to take a look at your current financial situation. The first things look at are your credit score and at what you currently have outstanding in borrowings.

You could raise your credit score by repaying some of your debts and by having any errors that you might find on your credit file corrected.

To lower your debt-to-income ratio, you could pay off some of your existing debts. A co-signer on an installment loan will also improve your eligibility and reduce the interest rate that you will be charged.

It would also increase the amount that a lender would be willing to lend to you.

Installment loans are an extremely good way to buy things that you don’t have the cash immediately available for. The longer the loan period, the smaller the monthly repayments are going to be.

However, it is also important to remember that long term loans also attract more interest, so you will pay more for what you borrow over the full life of the loan.

What is an Installment Loan and How Does It Work?

When you need to make a large purchase and do not have the cash on hand or a line of credit to do so, an installment loan is a financing option to consider. 

An installment loan may be offered through a credit union, bank or a private lender. Understanding what an installment loan is and how it works can help you to decide if this type of financing is right for your situation.

Fixed Payments

When you take an installment loan, you are agreeing to make fixed payments for a specific period of time. Each of the payments is due on a specific date, such as the first Monday of the month or the 15th day of the month. 

The fixed payment includes the portion of the principal of the loan and the interest that you have accrued on the principal. Each payment that you make on an installment loan reduces the amount that you owe on the principal.

Interest Rates

Interest rates on installment loans are usually fixed at the point in time that you take the loan. Some companies, such as Las Vegas Finance, know that the interest rate that you get may differ from what another applicant would get even on the same principal. 

Your interest rate will be calculated based upon your credit score. If you have a low credit score, you may have a high interest rate.

Secured Versus Unsecured Installment Loans

A secured installment loan is tied to a piece of property as collateral. One example is a mortgage loan. A fixed mortgage is an installment loan that uses the house as the collateral. An unsecured installment loan does not use any collateral. 

These loans are sometimes called personal loans and could be used for a leisure or personal purchase, such as buying a diamond engagement ring.

Benefits of Getting an Installment Loan

An installment loan makes it easy for you to plan your monthly expenses. With excellent credit and property to secure the loan, you may enjoy a low interest rate. 

ome installment loans, such as mortgages, have tax-deductible interest. On-time payments on an installment loan can also help you to build your credit score.

An installment loan provides you with a set amount of debt to repay each month. The predictability of the loan's payments makes this a convenient choice for many people. 

Before signing your name on the dotted line, be sure that you understand all of your obligations as the borrower on an installment loan.

Factors to Look for When Obtaining Payday Loans

Last month, when I received my electric bill I was really panicky and nervous because I had no money to pay for it. I was really worried and wrecked. Then my friend suggested me to take out payday loan that is meant for meeting urgent needs such as credit card bills, utility bills, electric bills, overwhelming medical expenses and many others. 

Shelly (my friend, in case you wonder) even imparted me some other facts about payday loan such as this loan is a short-term loan, also known as cash advance and is debited with 24 hours after one applies. I was bit relieved after I got to know all these, and I soon applied for it. Believe it or not, I indeed received the loan within 24 hours and could pay my electric bill without any further delay.
 
Now, taking out payday loans might be sounding extremely easy and effortless task to you. However, let me here take a pause and remind you that my friend (Shelly) provided me with a list of factors to be taken into account when I was about to apply for a payday loan. Let me here share some of those factors with you, so that you can also go about taking out payday loans without putting much effort and facing any hurdle.

Terms and conditions: One of the important factors (as suggested by Shelly) for taking out a payday loan is its terms and conditions. She repeated asked me to skim over the terms and conditions in order to ensure that the interest rates charged are feasible. She even warned me that I might come across different interest rates offered by several different payday loan companies. Of course, she was absolutely true. I indeed tumbled upon different interest rates with different payday loan lenders, depending upon the size of the loan, and the amount borrowed. Nonetheless, I was careful and cautious as much as possible when obtaining the loan. Went through all the fine prints and ensured that the interest rates I receive are legitimate. I also looked into the matter of fees charged for the loan and also the penalties due to early or late payment.

Keep loans manageable: Shelly advised me to take out the amount of payday loan that is manageable and can be paid off at ease. Trust me this advice of the friend was really useful and handy. Since I took out only the amount that I had needed, I could easily pay it off. Hence, I would like to advise you to not obtain more than what you require. While taking out payday loan is easy and requires no credit check, it is tempting to borrow more and more. However, always bear in mind that if this vicious cycle begins, it will be very difficult to repay and get out of it. So, keep it as minimal as possible.

Customer service: Last but not the least, Shelly also asked me to consider customer service when borrowing the loan. She told me that if I do not feel comfortable working with a particular payday loan company, then I should look out for some other one. So, before borrowing the loan, I corresponded with the representative and ensured that they respect their clients and deal with them properly.