Loans and Lending Tips - Borrow Short Term Cash

Will my Credit Score Matter to a Landlord?

When you are looking for a rental property, there will be all sorts of things that you will need to think about. One of these might be whether your landlord will be concerned about your credit score. It is something that is worth thinking about as it could have a big influence on the home that you will be able to rent.

They Will do a Credit Check

Landlords will usually do a credit check or get their letting agency to do it for them. They will often want to check whether there is evidence that you will be able to pay the rent. Although a credit report does not tend to show rental payments, it will show other payments like loan repayments and bill payments. These will provide evidence for them as to how well you manage regular payments like this and it is likely that they will use it as a way to decide whether they feel that you will be capable of making the payments that they need you to make. They may also want to look at whether you have missed payments in the past as this may cause them concern as well f they see that you have not managed to always cover them all.

Some Will be Concerned and Others Will Not

There will be some landlords though, that will not be so worried about your credit record. They will be happy to rent to you even if your credit report is not so good. There may be some that will ask you to make some advanced rental payments though so that they have some money just in case you do miss a payment. This means that you will need to find a large chunk of money. They may also want you to have a guarantor. This is a person who will agree to pay your rent if you cannot do so. They will have to have a good credit record themselves and be prepared to pay your rent should you not be able to afford to do it.

Advantages of a Good Credit Record

So, you can see that if you do not have a good credit record it could have some consequences for you. You could find that you will have a more limited choice of properties as a result of this and that could make things tricky for you, especially if you have quite precise needs with regards to a home or you need to live in a specific area due to work or your personal situation. You may also find that you will need to provide a big chunk of money before you can start renting. You will normally have to pay a deposit, but if you have to pay for a few months extra rent in advance as well it could take a lot of saving up. It could take quite a long time to accumulate that much money and it could be almost impossible for some. Finding a guarantor may also not be an option for everyone. There are some people that just do not know someone that they can ask to help them out like this.

So, you can see, that although it is possible to be able to rent without a good credit record, it can be much easier if you do have a good one. Therefore, it can be a good idea to work on thinking about what you might be able to do to improve your credit record so that you can have a greater choice of properties and find it easier to rent one as well.

Will Budgeting be too Hard?

It can be easy to worry about budgeting and think that it will be too hard. This is because the idea of having to spend less money on certain things can seen scary. You might think that you will have to cut back on all of the things that you like so that you can budget and it might just make you think that you will not want to try at all. However, it is important to understand that this is not what budgeting is about necessarily. Of course, you will need to be careful with spending but it may not be as difficult as you might think.

Find Cheaper Items to Buy

Firstly, it is good to realise that to spend less money, it does not mean that you will have to necessarily cut back on the amount of things that you buy. It could just be that you can find ways to pay less for the things that you buy. Even things that are necessary, such as electric, could be cheaper if you find a different supplier. It can therefore be very useful to think about whether there are ways to pay less for items and then you will be able to buy just as many and spend less. There may, of course, be some things that you are not prepared to pay less for. You will have to consider value for money and you may think that if you buy things that are really cheap, you may find that they will not last and that you will have to replace them sooner and that will mean that you will end up paying more for them in the long run rather than less. If you are only budgeting for a short amount of time, perhaps to pay off a loan, then this may not matter, but if it is more long term, then you will need to take account of this. However, if you can find enough things to buy cheaper, it could make a huge difference once those smaller savings are added up.

Allocate Money for Treats

It is perfectly acceptable to add in a treat budget. Make sure that you think about how much money would be a sensible amount considering what sorts of things you might want to buy. It is a good idea to try to keep it small, or else you will not have so much money left for other things, but it is important to make sure that you do have a treat every so often though. Consider what you think would be really nice for you and how often you think that you should have it and that will enable you to be able to allocate the right amount of money towards it.

It May Not Have to Last

It is also worth focusing on the fact that you may not have to budget for that long. It will depend on why you are budgeting of course. If you are saving up for something or paying off a loan, you will be able to stop and go back to what you were doing before once you have achieved that goal. This means that although it might be hard, it will be easier because you will know that it will end eventually.

Rewarding

It can also be very rewarding if you set and goal and achieve it. Therefore, you may find the fact that you are sticking to the budget rewarding and that might make it feel easier than you predicted that it might be. So, you could find that you actually enjoy it, rather than finding it hard.

How to Choose the Best Bank?

There are lots of banks to choose from and it is not always easy to know how to pick the best one. It is worth going through a few steps and then you will find it much easier to be able to pick the right one for you.

Consider What you Want and Need

The first step is to have a think about what you want and need from a bank. If you have used a bank before, perhaps you are moving from a bank, then you will have an idea of what a bank may and may not offer. If you have not, then it might be a good idea to speak to others about what they think a good bank should offer and use that as a guide. It can be a good idea to actually note down all of the things that you feel is important in a bank. It might be that the cost of the most important to you, but often there might be other things as well. For example, you might think that it is worth paying some extra money if you get a better customer service, a wider range of products or can use a local branch to bank in. So, consider whether these sorts of things might be important to you or whether it is really only the cost that is important.

Examine Main Features of Banks

Then you will need to look at the main features that banks have so that you can see which fit in with your requirements. This could include things like whether they have a local branch, if they offer telephone and online banking, if they have a big range of products, what their opening hours are, what their customer service is like, what their reviews are like and if they come recommended. To do this you will have to take a look at their websites and find out more about them, perhaps by asking other people or by looking at online reviews etc. You should be able to find out some information pretty easily, but it might be worth speaking to their customer services department to check. It is also worth thinking about using more than one bank depending on the products you want. You may find one pays out more interest on savings but charges more on loans, on might have a good mortgage but does not offer a decent current account. It might be best to make sure that you are not fixated on just one bank but that you are open minded about the idea that you might need to open accounts up with more than one.

Match up

You will then be at the point of matching up your wants with what banks are offering and you will be able to choose the one that suits you the best. It is something that could take quite a time overall because you be doing quite a few stages and the research can take a while. However, it can be worth it when you find a bank and products that suit you really well. It can be a great idea to spend the time now and then you can benefit by paying less for loans and getting more savings interest as well as a good customer service as a result. It is worth remembering too, that it can be good to keep checking this as there will be changes from time to time in interest rates and this could mean that it will be better value to switch to another bank at some point. So do your research every six months to a year to see if you want to move.

Should I get my Credit Card from my Bank?

It can often be tempting to stick to our regular bank when we are applying for new financial products. There are advantages to doing this, but there are also disadvantages as well and it is a good idea to be aware of both so that you are able to make sure that you doing the right thing.

No ID Checking

As you are already a customer with your bank, you will not have to have an ID check when you apply for a new product. This means that you will not have to provide documents such as utility bills, driving license or to prove who you are because they have already checked that information. This will save you the hassle of finding that documentation which can take time and will slow the application process down.

Might be Easier / Quicker

As the bank already has your personal details this might also speed up the application process. It can be easier for you as you will not need to sit with them and give them this information or fill in forms with it in as they have it already.

Cost

It is well worth comparing the cost of a credit card between providers before you decide to go with your bank. Even if the plan is to repay it each month and not pay any interest on it, it is good to check to see whether the interest rate is competitive. There is always a risk that you might have to pay the interest on the card and therefore you want to check carefully to make sure that you are aware of the interest rate. Most will be competitive. Also check out if there are any other costs that you will need to be aware of that might have an impact on your decision as well.

Other Features

It is also worth comparing other features of the card as well. For example, there are some credit cards that will give you cash back when you use them. If you use a card a lot, then you might think that it will be worthwhile looking for a card that will provide you with some cashback. You will need to be careful though as it is possible that these cards will be dearer compared with cards that do not offer cashback. You could even find that it will be the case that you will be worse off because ethe extra interest costs will more than outweigh any cashback you get, although if you are planning on repaying in full, this will not be the case. Having cashback can also tempt some people to spend more money and this means that they might find that they are justifying buying lots of things that they do not need by thinking about the very small amount of cashback they will get as a result.

There might be other features on the credit card too, it is good to compare them carefully in order to make sure that you understand what each is offering and what their similarities and differences are. It can be tempting to go with your bank because it is convenient but you need to make sure that it is offering you good value for money as well, before you go for it and do not check first. It can take time to do these checks and you may feel that it is a bit tedious and you may rather not bother, but it can be worthwhile when you get a credit card that you are sure will offer you really good value for money.

Are Payday Loans Just for Emergencies?

There are lots of ideas and thoughts that people have about payday loans and one of them is that they are only for use in emergencies. This is probably because the loans were originally set up to help people out in emergencies as it was found that some people could not get help when they needed money quickly. However, it is a loan which is more flexible than this, as although it can be arranged quickly, there are other features which might appeal to people in other situations as well as it is worth being aware of these.

No Credit Check

A credit check is when a lender takes a look at your credit record to see whether they are happy to lend you money. Even if we’re only talking loans from £100. They will be looking to see whether you can be trusted to repay the loan and if they see that you have missed payments in the past or you do not have a history of taking out loans, they may decide that you are too much of a risk to lend to. All lenders have to look at your credit record by law, but Payday lenders will tend to lend to anyone regardless of whether they feel they can trust them to repay. This is because they were set up to help out those that could not borrow money elsewhere. Therefore, even if your credit record is not good, it is unlikely to be an influence in whether you will be taken on for a payday loan or not. So, if you have been turned down elsewhere, then this could be an opportunity to be able to borrow the money that you need.

Can Borrow Small Amounts

With a payday loan, you tend to only be offered small amounts of money, up to £1,000. This can be really handy because it means that you will be more easily able to manage the repayment. With some loans you can be offered large sums of money and you can be tempted to borrow more than you need to treat yourself. Although this might sound great, it does mean that you could end up having a huge amount of money to repay and finding it really difficult to be able to do so. With a limited amount on offer, it means that this will not be able to happen and hopefully you will stay in complete control of your repayments.

Repaid Quickly

You will find that a payday loan will have to be repaid really quickly. You will be expected to repay it, in full, on the next day that you get paid. This means that you will be able to get the loan paid back within a few weeks or maybe even a few days, depending on how far from the day that you are paid that you take it out. It can feel good to know that the loan will be paid back really quickly, especially for those people that find it difficult to cope with the idea of being in debt and do not like having a loan hanging around for a long time.

So, you can see that there might be other situations where a payday loan could be useful to you. It is a good idea to make sure that you consider all of the features of a loan when you are trying to decide whether it will suit you or not and that will allow you to be sure of whether you are making the right choice for you or whether there are any loans that are better suited to your needs. There ae lots to choose form so knowing a bit about each can be really helpful when you are trying to choose between them.