 TITLE: Good Reasons to Get a Personal Loan CONTENT: When a Personal Loan Might Not Be a Good Idea\n---------------------------------------------\nAs flexible as personal loans may be, there are several purposes for which it doesn't make sense to use one:\n*   **College tuition.** Dedicated student loans make more sense than personal loans for financing college education for a few reasons:\n*   Interest rates, especially on government-backed student loans, tend to be lower than those on personal loans.\n*   While student loans typically don't require a first payment until some months after the borrower has completed their studies, personal loan repayment begins right away, with the first payment typically due one month after the loan is issued.\n*   While most personal loans are issued on a \"no strings attached\" basis, some lenders explicitly forbid using them for college expenses.\n*   **Financing a car.** Auto loan interest rates are typically lower than those on personal loans because the vehicle serves as collateral on car loans.\n*   **Paying for vacation.** Once-in-a-lifetime events such as a honeymoon getaway or a just-retired grand tour might be grounds for taking out a personal loan (provided you have the means to repay it), but most experts agree it's best to fund regular vacations by setting aside household funds, and to plan the scale of your getaway accordingly: Some years you may be able to jet to the islands; other years the budget might call for a road trip or stay-cation.\nApplying for a personal loan is a fairly straightforward process, and many lenders now allow you to apply online, so you can (and should) check with multiple sources to try to shop for the best interest rates and fees. For each application, you'll need to indicate how much you want to borrow, and you'll need to submit information about your income, employment and, often, your outstanding debt and monthly expenses.\nMost lenders will check your credit score and credit reports as part of their lending decisions, so unless you're in an emergency situation, it makes sense to review your credit reports and scores so you'll have an idea what the lenders see when looking at your application.\nAs with virtually all types of personal credit, personal loan lenders reserve their lowest interest rates for people with excellent credit scores. If your credit is fair to good, finding a personal loan at a low rate may be challenging, and if your credit is on the low end of the spectrum, you may need to take the time to build up your credit scores before you can qualify for a personal loan.  \nHow a Personal Loan Can Affect Your Credit\n------------------------------------------\nWhen you apply for a personal loan, lenders typically will perform a hard inquiry on your credit report to review your credit history and check your credit score. This causes a relatively small dip in your credit score, which typically recovers within a few months, as long as you keep up with all your bill payments. (If you apply to multiple lenders for a loan of the same amount in a short period of time, credit scoring systems such as the FICO® Score☉ and VantageScore will treat them all as a single event, so your score will only dip once.)\nYour score may dip slightly again after you've been issued your personal loan, but your score will rebound quickly as long as you keep up with your payments. If you don't keep up with your personal loan payments, your credit score will suffer a much deeper decline, as missed and late payments are the single biggest factor affecting your credit scores.\nIf a personal loan sounds like something that will help you meet your financial needs, consider using Experian's CreditMatch™ tool to browse loan offers matched to your credit profile. Whether you'll use the funds to get through a time of stress or to pay for a joyous occasion, a personal loan can be a great tool for managing expenses. END