Imagine this: You have been driving your old Lexus for a long time now and you have your eyes set on that new Audi A4. But you just somehow never get to save enough to buy a new car. Then, one day your car brakes down and just refuses to pick up. Now, what do you do? You have no option left but to buy a new car. But you don't have enough savings to finance your car. Now what?

Do you start begging your colleagues for a lift to work everyday? Or do you turn to friends and relatives for some financial help? Neither sounds good! Doesn't it? Then, why not avail a personal loan?

A personal loan is a form of credit that you can utilise for fulfilling your personal needs. The major benefit of personal loans is that there are no restrictions on the way you use it. In other words, you can use a personal loan for anything ranging from financing your holiday to purchasing your dream car.

Types of personal loans:

Personal loans may be classified as secured and unsecured personal loans. In order to avail a secured personal loan you will have to offer some kind of security. A house is the most acceptable form of collateral. On the other hand an unsecured personal loan does not demand any collateral but at the same time carries a higher rate of interest.

Loan terms and limits:

You can usually avail a personal loan up to £15,000 but some lenders even go as high as £25,000. So is the case with the loan term, while some firms lend you personal loans for a maximum period of seven years, there are others that are ready to extend it to ten. Basically, it all depends on your ability to convince your lender of your repayment ability. But a general rule is that bigger is the loan amount; lower is the interest rate.

Things to Remember:

When you start your search for that perfect personal loan, you must take note of the following pointers: . Will you be able to keep up with the monthly installments?
. Is a fixed rate more suitable to you or a variable rate? While a fixed rate makes you pay a specified rate of interest for certain duration of your loan term, a variable rate varies with the base rate.
. Do you need a loan protection insurance to cover for the periods when you are not able to pay the installments due to illness or unemployment?
. Also, remember to read the fine print of your loan contract and never approach a small, unheard of firm for your loan.

So, go ahead avail a personal loan and take that long overdue vacation or buy that dream car that you have been hankering after for so long.