What Is The Cheapest Form Of Lending Available?

There are many different loans available from various sources and the way to compare them is to use the annual percentage rate, or APR, to compare them against each other. There are two things to be wary of though, one to make sure that you compare loans over the same period, as the APR will be lower for a long term loan, and the second is that the rate advertised is not necessarily the rate you may be offered.

One way to find the cheapest rates is to get on the internet and use one of the loan comparison sites that will show you the cheapest loan for a set amount over a set period. You may find that a secured loan is cheaper than an unsecured loan, but the downside if that is that you may lose your house if you suddenly find you are unable to meet the payments.

A good way to get a very cheap loan, although you will have to be very organised, is to use the balance transfer facilities that credit cards offer. You can build up a dept on one card, which will probably have an APR of around 12-18%, then transfer it to a card that is offering a low interest on balance transfers. When that offer comes to an end, as they are usually only for six months or so, get another balance transfer from a different credit card and carry the balance over. This way you can get your loan for as little as 0%, as long as you remember to move the balance before the usual APR kicks in. You also need to watch for the balance transfer fees that some credit card companies are now bringing in.