Why Personal Loans For Financing Trips?

Many consulters suggest that one should resort to personal loans for financing trips or vacations instead of other financial products like credit cards. Such suggestion is undoubtedly well founded but not everybody knows the reasons that justify the advice. The costs of financing should be measured both by comparing the overall amounts spent on interests but also by how the monthly payments affect the borrower’s budget.Personal loans present significant advantages when compared to credit cards for financing trips. However, there are many considerations to be taken into account, especially when there are certain promotions by credit card companies that can offer more benefits than paying the whole trip in cash and in advance. Therefore, there is no general answer to the question: should I pay with credit card or take a personal loan? It will all depend on the particular case.The Interest Rate IssuePersonal loans tend to charge lower interest rates than those charged by financing unpaid credit card balances. While credit cards can charge up to 20% APR or even more, personal unsecured loans rarely exceed 10% or 12% APR. Thus, financing your trip by taking a personal loan will end up being significantly cheaper unless you repay your credit card balance within a short period of time.Moreover, personal loans come either with a variable interest rate or a fixed interest rate. By requesting a variable interest rate personal loan you can get significantly lower rates. However, you need to bear in mind that variable rates can increase suddenly due to market variations and you might end up paying more than what you would have paid if you selected a fixed interest rate personal loan.The Monthly Payment IssueThe advantage of personal loans when it comes to monthly payments is that the installments are fixed which is perfect for those with little discipline that always feel tempted to pay only the minimum payments on their credit cards and keep spending without control. This way you will know exactly how much you owe every month and you will be able to repay your debt sooner. Obviously, some will prefer the flexibility that credit cards provide. It all depends on how much self-control you have.But, besides the discipline issue, fixed personal loan monthly payments are a lot easier to budget and since as explained above, the interest rate is lower, smart borrowers will prefer it over credit card financing. The monthly payments can be easily included in the budget and calculated as an additional expense letting the applicant to make the necessary previsions to afford the payments without hassles.Credit Card Offers From Time To TimeOften, agencies agree with credit card issuers and present offers for credit card holders that excel the advantages that can be obtained by financing with a personal loan. In such cases, after you have considered the offer carefully and watched for any hidden cost that agencies like to conceal on the fine print of the contracts, you can assuredly choose credit card financing over taking a personal loan. Other than that, it is always advisable to use a personal loan unless you can not afford the monthly payments or you do not meet the requirements for approval.