Secured or Unsecured Car Loan

Posted on 26th February 2009 by admin in car loans - Tags: , , ,

Ever wondered what the difference is between secured car loans and personal unsecured car loans and how that difference affects their loan and the car loan payments. The car loans terms can be only minor, but is larger when the true cost of each is taken into account.

Before we get into the nuts and bolts of car loans packages , let’s first have a look at the various workings that determine the cost of your loan and of your monthly repayments. The cost of the car finance package is the total you repay less the sum borrowed. Hence, let’s say you are repaying $20,000 at 12% interest rate over 36 months; you will repay at the rate of $664.29 per month. That would total a repayment of $23,914.44, and the cost of the loan would be $3,914.44 plus any set-up or administration fees. A car loan calculator will assists in calculating these figures to calculate the real costs of car finance.

Hire Purchase

An choice to a loan package would be car hire purchase (HP), where you hire the car over the repayment period and obtain the title to the vehicle with your final payment. Until then the car belongs to the HP company.

However, most credits are either secured or unsecured, and not all finance companies offer unsecured or personal loans so let’s look at secured car finance first. A secured car loan is one whereby the lender offers the loan with the car as security. If you fail to make payments, the lender can sell the car to recoup their money. It is possible to get a secured car loan when a used car gets older, often 7 years, but the finance term could be shorter than 5 yearsor not at all by using your home or some other form of security. These however are not strictly classed as car financing. normally the car is used as security over the loan.

Secured Car Loans

Secured car loans can include on-road expenses such as the registration, insurance to protect you against disability,death or unemploymentand comprehensive auto insurance as part of the financing deal. Loan insurance makes sure that the loan is paid off in the event of your death during the loan period, and car insuranceis needed to make sure that the car is in good condition should it be needed to repay the lend in the event of you defaulting on your payments.

This might look hard , but these are conditions you see with most secured car loans, not only car loans. You can get car loans secured for a period of one - seven years , and the interest rate will be lower than that for an unsecured car finance where the finance company charges extra to compensate for their added risk. As with any loan, a deposit will result in lower payments, or a shorter term, whichever you prefer.

Cheaper Repayments | Balloon Payment

To reduce payments a balloon might be a valid option, which is like a deposit in reverse, payable at the end of the period. This is popular by those whose income will increase over the period, and they will be in a better financial position to pay a lump sum in 3 - 5 years time. This too results in either a cheaper repayment per monthor a shorter repayment term.

Car Finance Interest Rates

If you are looking to purchase a used car, your finance package will be priced differentlyaccording to the lender and the age of your car. Many will charge higher car finance rates, and the current credit crisis has changed the outlook of many lenders to unsecured car loans in particular. Many no longer offer unsecured loans due to the increased risk in the current economic climate.

Car Loans Company

However, they are still available, and some online brokers can deal with a variety of unsecured car loans companies. In addition to the interest rate on such loans, you should also put side by side the fees charged, since they can involve a considerable outlay for you before you get the loan.

The key differences between secured and unsecured motor finance, therefore, can be summarized as:

Secured finance are cheaper to repay, with in general lower interest rates.

Secured loans demand fully comprehensive car insurance, while unsecured financing will not.

Both loans could require life insurance cover for the credit, but secured car finance packages are more likely to.

You can sometimes include insurance, registration and other expenses in the secured loan, but with an unsecured car financing you must include the the expenses on top of the amount borrowed.

Fees for unsecured loan package can be considerably higher than for secured finance.

Not all loan companies will offer unsecured car finance.

There few doubts that if your car is young enough to be given a loan with the car as colateral, then that should be your option. You might be able to arrange a secured loan for an older automobile with your home as security, but you will have to make sure to maintain the repayments since lenders are becoming unsympathetic in the current economic climate.