Things happen and mostly when we least expect them to. An unplanned illness equipped with an endless array of medical bills that just keep coming in the mail. An unplanned termination or downsizing at your place of employment. Bills your spouse ran up for years and you just found out about through a debt collector. Whatever the reasoning may be, having bad credit or no credit severely limits you in the avenues you can take to get quick cash if you need it. But you can get around this if you know how and this is what we are going to show you here.
First, you do have to understand that better prime terms and rates are reserved for people with better credit. This is just like with car loans – if you have bad or no credit most car dealers will turn you over to the special finance manager and you will have higher rates and worse terms. So, now that you understand that, take a second and ask yourself if you really need that emergency or personal loan? Is it really an emergency? Or is it something that can be worked out like by calling the creditor and arranging a payment plan to pay it off and/or get it caught up?
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If you are requesting money for something that is not necessary like a flat screen TV or something extravagant and similar then learn to say no. We have become the have it now generation and we don’t want to wait until we can afford to pay cash for something – besides once we’ve built up the cash we many times find we no longer want the item or that we worked to hard to spend our money like that. See, the banks and retail stores have figured out how to keep us in debt and make us buy things on impulse. And they make billions off of us. We need to learn that most debt is bad (except for a mortgage as the property will usually increase in value unlike cars and other purchases) and to see through the deceptive ads and gimmicks that are used to make us buy things that really aren’t good for us.
Now, enough of that, let’s say you really got blind sided by some unforeseen incident and need cash fast. Your best alternative is to ask family and friends first. I know it sounds demeaning and it’s probably the last thing you’d ever want to do. But it’s also your surest and quickest bet – just make sure you pay them back and quickly. You do not want to put your family and friends in the role of unhappy bill collector and most likely ruin your relationship. Friends and family will usually loan you the money interest free to help you out. No one else will do this for you!
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If you have tried family and friends and cannot get any to help you may not have tried hard enough. You also may not have been sincere enough in the fact that you will pay it back promptly. Or maybe you’ve already been down this road and burned some bridges. Well, there are a few more avenues. Some credit unions do personal loans and their credit requirements vary. Obviously you have to be a member and then talk to a personal banker about your situation. If you are not a member of a credit union you can get online and look up Prosper.com. This is a website that is like an auction for loans. The people inquiring for loans range widely in their credit from AA to E and no credit. C and below is considered bad credit on this site. You just log in and post your desired loan amount. Over a few days lenders will bid on your loan and drive down the interest rate and it may take up to a week or two to get the loan finalized. The term is for 3 years and you can pay it off at any time without penalty. For smaller loan amounts ($3,000 and under) you will usually find rates more favorable than the dreaded Pay Day loans and car title loans.
If you need money faster or Prosper.com is not for you you can look to local government agencies that give assistance and sometimes (depending on your state and locality) emergency funds and loans. These are usually given out based on meeting certain low income criteria and either don’t require repayment or come with a set and very low interest rate. The only people that usually are excluded from this type of assistance, other than those that have too much income and assets, are those with serious criminal records. Again, each state and locality are different and have different requirements so it is best to check with your local government branch by looking it up either online or in your local phonebook or yellow pages (it will most likely be in the blue, governmental section).
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If after all that you still are out of luck, then there are the Pay Day loans and car title loans. Both of these come with very high interest rates and fees that border on the verge of usury laws in most states so try to use the above mentioned ideas first. The basic requirements here are a job and income for Pay Day loans and a car title to a paid off car. If you do take out one of these loans, be sure to pay it off and on time. Failure to do so can result in harassing calls at work, repossession of your car (which could be even a bigger disaster as you can no longer get to work), or even lawsuits and judgements further ruining your credit. So, there you have it – multiple ways to find cash in the event that you end up short and need some extra money. All are listed from the least costly to the most costly and detrimental. Do everything possible to stay away from Pay Day loans and car title loans as 90% of people pay fees and interest larger than the original loan due to just a few late payments! This is why it is always a good idea to stay close and honest to your relatives and friends – because then you know you can count on them and they can count on you in a pinch.
