What is an installment loan really? When you think about it, isn’t EVERY loan an installment loan? Very few loans require you to pay it all off at once. Every other loan — from the best student loans to mortgages to bank loans to the worst title loans and everything in between – allows you to make payments against the borrowed sum.
And when you make payments on anything, then you are paying it back in installments. So in reality the term “installment loan” is just a marketing term, to clearly delineate these loans from payday loans.
Better Names for Better Loans
But why pick such a boring title for such a valuable service? A few other suggestions for re-branding these loans:
- Stable loans
- Reliable loans
- Dependable loans
- No-tricks loans
- What You See is What You Get loans
- Most Amazing Loans Ever!
Ok, maybe the last one is pushing it a bit, but you get the point, right?
So-called installment loans are not much different from any type of loan offered by a bank or credit union, with only one major difference:
These loans are available to ANYONE.
Got bad credit, or no credit at all? Have a divorce or a foreclosure in your past? All of these things matter to bankers, and would be enough to have your loan application rejected immediately.
On-line installment lenders operate from a different rule book. Unlike banks, they don’t run intrusive credit checks or dig through your background looking for reasons to disqualify you. Installment lenders want your business, they want to loan you money!
Best Service, Fast Cash
And unlike payday lenders, these loans don’t come with hidden fees or balloon payments. Payday loans are designed to be repaid all at once in one big payment. This fact alone makes these kind of loans less than helpful for most people.
But installment loans, like all forms of traditional lending, have you making small payments over a longer period of time. This structure allows you to plan out your repayment schedule over time, instead of loaning you an amount and demanding the entire amount back immediately.
Banks and credit unions offer stability – you know exactly what you’re going to get from their services. But they are a lot more demanding, and make it almost impossible to borrow money. Unless of course you don’t need the money, then they will happily lend it to you. (Weird how that works, isn’t it?)
Payday lenders off speed and convenience – you get your money fast, with very few questions asked. But they are a lot more expensive than banks, and you need to turn around and repay it almost immediately.
Installment loans offer the best of both worlds! Speed, convenience, with established repayments spread out over time.