Thursday 10 December 2015

Difference between Fixed Personal Loan and Variable Personal Loan

Personal loan can be taken to meet the financial expenses of renovating the house, wedding expenses, to take a vacation or to pay the medical bills. The lenders don’t interfere on how the amount is being used, all they care about is you making the payments on time. Personal loan doesn’t require you to submit a collateral and so the interest rate charged is higher to cover the risk.
Since the interest rate charged is higher, you need to check if the lender is offering you a fixed rate of interest or variable rate of interest. Variable rate personal loan interest rate fluctuates during the term of the loan. The repayment varies throughout the loan tenure. Whereas, fixed rate personal loan interest rate doesn’t change during the loan tenure. The repayments remain same throughout the loan tenure.
With fixed rate of interest you will know how much EMI will be going towards making the payments each month.

Benefits of fixed rate personal loan interest rate:

When a fixed rate of interest is charged, you know that each month a certain amount will go towards repaying the loan. When you have an idea of how much money you have to keep aside, you can plan your finances in a better way and mentally prepare to manage with the remaining finances for the rest of the month. The amount remains fixed and is not subject to market situations. You will know how much amount you will have to keep aside each month towards the EMI payment.

Benefits of variable rate personal loan interest rate:

Variable rate is set based on the market conditions, so there is a good chance that the rate might be low at any given time and you will be paying less interest on the loan. And in the event you have extra income in hand, you can clear off a good chunk of the loan at a lower rate of interest. You may be paying less interest overall. If you have a longer tenure, the impact on change in interest rate is greater.

Drawbacks of fixed rate personal loan interest rate:

If you are in need of a personal loan on an immediate basis and the rate of interest offered at that time is high and you opt for a fixed rate of interest, you will be paying a higher rate of interest till the end of the loan tenure. You cannot make use of the changing rate of interest and avail the benefit of being able to pay a lower rate of interest. Your overall payment for the loan will be higher.

Drawbacks of variable rate personal loan interest rate:

Though there is a good chance of the rate reducing, you are still taking a risk as the rate might rise at a different time. Your monthly payments will fluctuate and you need to be ready to pay more towards the EMI one month and manage your finances. There is no guarantee in the rates might not go very high either. If you have an additional source of income and if the interest rate is lower, try and clear out the loan at the earliest.  

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