Alternatives to Small Personal Loans Online
If you live in Canada and are looking for small personal loans online because your bank or credit union has said no to your request for a loan, you might, in fact, have other options that have the potential to resolve your debt issues, restore your credit, and set your finances back on a firm footing.
The first thing you need to do right now is to stop and ask yourself a question: "Why?" Why do you have to get a small loan? What's compelling you to find one? Take a moment to click on your motivation below, and discover whether other, better possibilities may be available to you.
- You have an emergency situation. Your vehicle has stopped working or is close to it, you have a huge dentist bill, your cat or dog isn't well, you have a sick relative you need to travel to see, or some other emergency along these lines.
- You'd like to restore or enhance your credit.
- You need one monthly payment that you can actually afford, and you're looking to do this with one loan that lowers your monthly payments and reduces the high interest rates you are currently paying.
1. Need Money for an Emergency
If you have a real emergency and you haven't saved up any money to deal with emergencies, then you may need to continue with your search and see if you are able to find a loan company that is willing to lend you the money. Interest rates for personal loans for people with bad credit are often around 47%. You may be able to do better than this, though, if your credit isn't too bad. Learn more and find out how to not get ripped off.
2. Trying to Re-Establish or Improve Your Credit
Someone may have told you to apply for a personal loan to improve your credit score. While a loan may help in the long term, at this point it’s not about saving your credit anymore. Right now it’s about rebuilding your credit. To do this, your best first step would be to contact a non-profit Credit Counsellor in your area.
A Credit Counsellor will sit down with you (either in person or over the phone – it’s your choice), go over your complete financial picture, answer some of your credit related questions, and help you put together an action plan to re-establish your credit. You'll know which steps to take so that you can reach your financial goals. Meeting with a non-profit Credit Counsellor is usually free and always completely confidential.
You can also take steps to improve your credit by following the suggestions in our How to Fix Your Credit Guide.
3. Want a Monthly Payment You Can Afford
Before we move further into this, there are some really important questions you need to seriously ask yourself. What would truly be the best solution for your situation? Is it really a loan? Is that actually what you need? Will it it truly help? Are you resolving the issues in your situation, or are you simply extending your suffering? Is there a possibility that a loan may only by a temporary solution for long term issues that have been developing? Have you considered the real possibility that a bad credit loan could put you further behind the eight ball - or even hurt you - by increasing your cost of living with high interest payments that you may scarcely be able to afford?
Don't be too hasty to go for something that has the potential to hurt your finances and possibly cause you more harm than good. You need to know your options. Look for advice from someone who isn't interested in selling you a loan - someone who is well-informed about how to turn around a bad credit situation.
The key thing you need to do is resolve the core issue that's causing financial challenges. Finding the cure is critical. Don't just keep prolonging your pain.
The first step you take should be to sit down with a local, not for profit Credit Counsellor. They'll carefully examine your complete financial situation for you, help you make a spending plan (budget), and help you make sense of all your options so you can create a plan to get your finances back on track as quickly as possible. When dealing with circumstances like this, you can never say, "one size fits all." Every person's situation has it's own distinct aspects. That's one reason why it's so valuable to meet with a real expert to look over your situation to find out what possibilities may be available to you.
An Alternative to Small Personal Loans Online that Few People with Bad Credit Know About
Even though there are a fair number of ways to assist people with bad credit who are looking for small personal loans online tackle and deal with their situation, a nice option a fair number Canadians don't really know about is a Debt Management Program.
If you make the choice to go with a Debt Management Program, a credit counselling agency will then get a hold of your creditors and arrange things so that each one of your unsecured debts is added to the repayment plan (it isn't a personal consolidation loan, but it pretty much gives you the same result in the end). Every one of these payments is then consolidated into just one monthly payment that you are able to afford. Interest rates on these debts are then either drastically reduced or eliminated entirely. If you also happen to have debts that are secured by something, your Credit Counsellor will work these secured payments for these debts into the program so that you are able to afford to pay them each month.
An average repayment program lasts for about 2.5 years (the longest it can run is 5 years), and the agency you work with can help you rebuild your credit once you're done their program. Some of these credit counselling organizations have developed a credit rebuilding program which they can make available to you near the end of your program if you'd like to take advantage of it.
What to Do if You’re Really Struggling with Debt in Canada
If you’re having a tough time with your personal debt and really need some help, don’t prolong the suffering with small personal loans online. Talk with a qualified, Canadian, not for profit credit counselling organization right away and get some help to put your finances back on the right track. Another really nice thing is that non-profit credit counsellors often work with people for free, and their assistance is totally private and non-judgmental. You really don't have anything to lose by speaking to someone like this. Their job is to simply help you. Call one today.