Yearly Archives: 2022

How-To Guide – Is Real Estate Investing Right For You?

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If I knew then what I know now, I never would have voted for the war.
Ken Lucas

For me the greatest source of income is still movies. Nothing – stocks, financial speculation, real estate speculation or businesses – makes more money for me than making movies.
Jackie Chan

I have 1900 units, why do I need a 401K?
Robert Kiyosaki, recent interview Time Magazine

To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.
William Shakespeare

From Robert Kiyosaki to Donald Trump, from Robert Allen Carleton Sheets, from Dolf de Roos to Diane Kennedy, investing in real estate is touted as a way for average people with time, money and patience to build wealth.

But is investing in real estate right wealth vehicle for everyone? If this were a one-size fits-all-world the answer would be yes. But, then, stocks would be the perfect investment vehicle for everyone and the discussion would end there. I have had investment real estate since 1994. I have had tenants attempt to squat in my properties, I have been sued, I have had a unit vandalized, someone drove into one of my buildings and I gave gone through my fair share of property managers.

If I knew then, what I know now, would I have bought my first property? The answer is yes. Real estate has done more for me than the stock market has with less overall financial risk despite the headaches and they have been many.

Five Ways to Know if Real Estate Investing is Right for You.

1. Are you a good manager of your personal resources or do you have significant amounts of short term debt? If the answers are no and yes, in that order, do not invest in real estate until you address these issues. Real estate is illiquid. Once purchased, the hold time on your new property may be significantly longer than you anticipate. This means that your potential exposure to unplanned expenses on your property may be longer than anticipated. Significant amounts of short term debt or the inability to plan your finances in anticipation of expenses may turn your real estate investment into a financial nightmare.

2. Are you a team player and can you captain that team? Investing in real estate means partnering with others to ensure your success and recognizing that your partners may know more than you. You will encounter brokers, property managers, attorneys, handy men, plumbers, electricians, contractors, roofers, inspectors, mortgage brokers and appraisers. If you are a control freak, prefer to work alone or cannot be direct in your communication when working with people, real estate investing may not be right for you.

3. Do you understand the kind of investing you will be doing? Will you be investing for cashflow or speculating for appreciation? Do you have the analytical tools necessary to help you work up a pro-forma for the property you will be buying?

4. Do you truly understand that wealth-building in real estate occurs over many years and that you have to “survive” your first couple of properties to build wealth? Over 20 years ago I started baking bread. The guide book I bought featured a “loaf for learning”, a basic loaf that I could practice kneading, mixing and still turn out an edible product. Your first properties will be “buildings for learning”. As you move beyond the initial learning curve, you will move on to create wealth. In certain markets, real-estate can produce appreciation returns beyond expectations and create the illusion that real estate produces instant cash. In my life I have seen two such markets. Frankly I would not want my future financial well-being to rest on my ability to time markets. Sophisticated investors have as their core investments, cashflow properties, properties that perform during hot or cold markets.

5. How do you react to unpleasant business news? Is your overall reaction anger that dissipates into a sense of helplessness or do you become a problem solver? Being able to solve problems is the key to having a successful business and investing in real-estate is a business. Real-estate is also a people business, by this I mean your tenants are people and the service personnel who will work on and market your properties are people. If the failings of others afflicts you with moral indignation and heartache, real estate investing is not for you. Tenants will fail to pay the rent and you will have to evict them, your property manager will charge you market or above market for repairs and will fail to market your properties properly in order to keep them full.

While real estate investing is a great way to build wealth, investing in real estate isn’t for everyone. It is easy to “catch the fever” and jump without looking, the first step is to make sure that you know yourself; these five points of consideration will assist you to that end.

The next step is to educate yourself about your local market, financing options, price and rents. You can start by finding a local Cashflow or real estate investing club. If you join a local real estate investing club make sure some of the members actually own investment property. That way the club won’t just be a club of “wannabes”.

Next assemble your team of property managers, accountants, brokers and agents. You will do this by interviewing prospects. Once you decide on a team, you will still have to trade the members out from time to time.

Finally do your first deal.

Grieving Over the Loss of a Pet

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The grief over death has no bounds. It happens to everyone. From the time we are children until our own death we go through many periods of grieving. Whether it be grief over the loss of a human or of a pet we all go through this process of grieving. The grieving process also occurs when a family pet dies.

Most people can deal with the grief over a death. For some, though, it is a really challenging time which can sometimes be extremely difficult to get over. I know because I was one of those who really struggled.

My Story

In October of 2014, just a few weeks after her twentieth birthday, I had to put down my best companion. Since she was six weeks old she had been with me but I met her before she became mine because I delivered her at birth.

Ever since I could remember I had never been alone. Since the age of 4 or 5 I’ve always had a pet. Now I was alone. I felt really empty inside.

At first I went through the emotions of grieving. Sadness and depression was my new reality. Emptiness and loneliness soon followed. Then anger. All the time I was becoming more depressed.

So I started searching online for some type of support group. I found plenty. I contacted most of them. When I told my story the answer was always the same. “It’s a dog. Get over it!” That just created more anger followed by more depression. Doesn’t the loss of a pet also deserve support for your grief?

Every time I saw someone walking their dog I became angrier. How dare they have a pet when I had just lost mine? The more I thought these thoughts, the more I realized that I needed help. But where do you turn when most support groups are geared towards the grieving process of losing a human companion?

Then one day I came across a book by Robin Jean Brown. A book that dealt with the grief over the loss of a family pet. So I got it. And I am really grateful that I did.

ROARing through Pet Loss

“How to ROAR: Recovering from the Grief of Pet Loss” really his home to me when I read her story. She went through all of the same emotions that I did. All the same loneliness. The anger. Everything. And she said it was OK. A perfectly natural process.

Robin’s book was way different than any other I’d seen on the grieving process and how to deal with it. He book got you involved. It made you develop a journal about your recently departed pet. It was an exercise of memories.

Right from the very beginning she involves you in remembering your late pet. She gets you involved in healing yourself. And that’s the best way to deal with grief.

The book “How to ROAR: Recovering from the Grief of Pet Loss” is divided into chapters that deal with a specific aspect of the grieving process. Each chapter in turn contains a number of simple journal exercises that help you to deal with the specific points within that aspect of grieving.

By following the journal activities in the book you begin to look at your late pet with admiration. You begin to see all that that pet has given you and what you have given in return. You begin living again. And that’s what happened to me.

If it wasn’t for Robin’s book I would still be depressed and angry. Now when I think of Midnight (that was her name) I smile remembering all the great, and not so great, times we had together. Because of this I am thankful that somebody had the good sense to make a product that was actually geared towards the pet owner.

Conclusion

Robin’s book “How to ROAR: Recovering from the Grief of Pet Loss” is a must have for those who have lost a pet. The concept of journalizing about your late pet is something that I haven’t seen before. It’s a tool that actually works.

Everyone has to heal in their own way and time. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t use a little help along the way. Robin shows you how to help yourself and regain your life. This book is a must have and an absolute read.

For me it has helped me see my late companion in a very new and endearing light. It has also shown me that my life is really empty without the companionship of a pet. It helped me meet my new companion, an Australian shepherd named Benjamin Franklin.

I am still writing in the journal. Maybe one day I’ll turn it into a book. In the meantime all I can say is thanks to Robin. Thanks for talking about grief in terms of pet loss.

The Best Business Investment You Will Ever Make – Discover How to Get the Best Return on Investment

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Do you wish you knew of an investment that REALLY pays off? You know that you get a pittance when you stash your money in savings accounts or CDs. Mutual funds can be quite a gamble, but at least things are looking up these days. And forget about pork futures… There’s a much better way to invest your money.

I bet you have questions…

Is this mystery investment guaranteed? Is there a predictable rate of return? No, it’s not guaranteed, and rates of return can vary widely, from zero to gaining back a multiple of your investment in short order.

But here’s the good news — you have a great deal of control over which it will be — whether you lose your investment or whether you’ll multiply your investment in short order.

So what is this mystery investment? It’s YOU. That’s right. The investment that’s most likely to pay off is the investment in yourself.

Of course not any old investment will do. We’ve all invested money into courses and educational materials hoping they would pay for themselves in short order. And sometimes they did, but often they did not.

Obviously, they won’t return your investment if you just collect them and arrange them prettily on your bookshelf, where they sit for years to come, never to be opened and put to use. They won’t pay you back if you let them gather cyberdust on your hard drive either.

So the good news is also the bad news. Yes you do have a great deal of control over how much your investment will pay you back, but there’s a major condition: You’ll have to put in the work.

When you do and your investment was a good fit for you, you might be amazed at what can happen.

So what should you invest in? As mentioned above, you could invest in courses, seminars, and even books. Make sure they offer what you need.

If you invest in a course on online pay-per-click advertising, for example, but you don’t have the budget to actually implement what you’ve learned, you’ll have wasted your money.

If you invest in a course that teaches you how to conduct webinars or how to give terrific speeches, but you’re too shy to get up in front of an audience, you’ve wasted your money.

And if you invest in a coach who has no idea what it’s like to be in your shoes, you’re likely to waste your money too.

But if you pick a course that teaches you the next step you need to take, or the missing link that’s been holding you back, and you put the information into practice, your chances of making your money back many times over are excellent.

Similarly, if you invest in a coach who knows what you’re dealing with and has successfully navigated similar challenges and helped others do the same, you’ll make your investment back with dividends too. Of course, that’s provided you’ll do the work.

Do you notice a common thread here, or rather two?

One: you should invest in something that is a good fit for your current needs and helps you move to the next level.

Two: You need to do the work.

As long as you follow these two guidelines, your investment in yourself could well be one of the best investments you’ve ever made.

And if you are ready to make such an investment in yourself that can pay of big, and you’re willing to do the work, why not start with investing an hour of your time in a no-cost business strategy session where you can learn more about how your business can benefit from one of the most powerful client-getting strategies there is — getting referrals.

Why Not Complete Law School in 2 Years?

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In a time where the economy is slowly tinkering along like an outdated train through the cornfields of Iowa (home state), law schools have a need to make a crucial pivot. Let’s be REAL. Today’s legal education is no longer practical in its approach. Of course, I am only speaking from my own experience as a third-year law student; yet, my gripes are no less disconcerting…

I came into law school just knowing I wanted to be a lawyer. From the age of seven, I was groomed and molded for the profession. My dad knew that I loved to read and talk, and I knew that I wanted to help people. Law seemed to be a natural fit. I was fortunate enough to be able to experience law firm life as a junior in high school by working for a small personal injury/workers’ compensation firm in my hometown. As a receptionist and eventually a paralegal, I was able to be trained on client counseling, court filings and etiquette, and networking with legal professionals. All of this was attained before even sitting for my LSAT. Now that I am in the home stretch of my legal education, I can confidently say that this environment does an extreme disservice to its students.

Yes, we all know John Doe’s adverse possession of Blackacre is so very important; but will we be able to explain to Sally Sue why she cannot break her lease with her landlord? Where are the students who come away from law school knowing how to build a book of business that so many of these legal hiring departments desire? Where are the students who come away knowing how to professionally and empathetically deal with a sensitive client matter? This element is sorely missing from legal education today.

In general, I feel as if the American Bar Association and subsequent law school administrators have lost sight of the market and what its consumers truly need. We need to move beyond just teaching for a bar exam, teaching for an ethics exam. Just last week I spoke to one of my peers about their graduation plans, and I asked if they knew how to draft pleadings to begin a civil case. My peer said no, laughed it off, and said she was sure she’d learn sometime. Madness! We have to show some genuine concern for the students who are going into significant debt for this education; and go beyond showing them how to write an essay and take a multiple choice exam. There should be no reason or room for a law school administrator to mention to me that her job was to make sure I pass the bar exam, and that’s it. And I am definitely tired of hearing from law professors, “Oh, your grades don’t demonstrate how great of a lawyer you’ll be.” Umm EXCUSE ME, then why am I being graded!? I am thoroughly confused about the genuine purpose of law school today.

With almost 40,000 students graduating law school each year, the time for change couldn’t be more present. Each day I try to figure out how exactly 199 ABA-approved law schools are reporting 90 percent and above employment rates when most of my friends who graduated last year either do not have a legal job or are severely underemployed. I’m not making the argument that the job statistics are misleading; I am saying there is a disconnect and deeper rooted issue of these law schools not properly nurturing students to be creative when thinking about their futures.

I ultimately have two suggestions on how law schools can pivot and create a new legal education environment:

1) mandatory practical experience for the third year of law school, AND
2) encourage creativity!

Being a lawyer essentially means you are an advocate (to support or urge in form of argument). Why not make only 2 years of casebook/black-letter law and require the third year to be only practical or advocacy work? I’m in my third-year and struggled to find relevant (mildly entertaining) coursework being that all my “bar” required courses were out of the way. I can imagine I’m not alone. This time could have been better spent clerking full-time or providing legal services to those who need them. Second, encourage students to think BEYOND working the 9-5 at a firm or even behind a desk. Encourage them to think outside the box and find meaningful ways to make the world around them better. Tell them that it is okay if they can’t find a BigLaw job, and that you’ll support them by giving them the resources they need ANYWAY! This is not about lofty/mismanaged expectations, this is about facing the realities of our situation and searching for solutions to better our tomorrow.

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Sports Betting Companies

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The betting industry offers employment to over 200,000 people and provides large tax revenues to local governments. Public view in relation to sports betting has changed from a vice to a widely accepted activity. Sports betting is greatly regulated as a result of concerns of criminal involvement. Unlawful betting still continues and flourishes on many accounts, creating a parallel economy estimated at over $200 billion.

Sports betting companies offer a complete range of betting activities. There are a large number of sports betting companies that offer international, online and telephone sports betting opportunities. Some of the sports betting companies also offer web-based gaming in different languages.

There are sports betting companies that present the widest offer of tax-free odds on sports events. Some sports betting companies offer completely cooperative sports betting and casino services, wherein bettors can view prices, finance their account, place bets and check their winnings, all online and in real time, whenever they like. Many companies also provide a variety of online sport gambling markets with the option of 24/7 betting.

Sports betting companies are required to be licensed and regulated so that the bettor whose funds are at stake are safe and secure and also their winnings are paid on time in full, each time they win. Sports betting companies in addition to offering bettors a wide range of sports on which they can place their bets, also offer bettors with a host of different types of sporting bets.

Betting forms offered by sports betting companies comprise of head to head or moneyline, coupons, line or spread, buy points, multiple betting parlays and teasers. Other types of sports bets include totals margin, futures exotic singles, live betting and Asian handicap.

Sports betting is a well-known form of betting on the Internet. Sports betting companies present betting on straight or single bets and betting on parlay or numerous bets as well as many other sports betting options.

A Sedentary Lifestyle – What Is It Exactly And Are You Living One?

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You hear a lot about living a sedentary lifestyle these days but what exactly is it and how do you know if you are living one? This term ‘sedentary lifestyle’ is a medical term used to describe a type of lifestyle with a lack of physical exercise. It is typified by sitting or doing light activities only for much of the day, watching television and computer use with little or no vigorous physical exercise.

A lot of health experts agree on the following guidelines that will help tell you if your lifestyle is indeed sedentary or inactive.

• You are not doing any muscle strengthening activity 2-3 times each week
• Do not get regularly your blood pumping and some ‘huff and puff’ happening
• Your day is spent mostly sitting
• You have a job which requires no physical activity
• Your leisure time is not spent being active but involves more sedentary activities

It has been estimated by the World Health Organization that up to 85 percent of people lead lives that can be defined as sedentary. A caution has been issued by them that living this type of life is becoming one of the most principal causes of death and disability. A sedentary lifestyle has become so common that the experts are now calling it a disease as it is causing so many preventable health problems and shortening people’s lives.

Not only does a sedentary lifestyle increase the susceptibility of age related diseases that cause premature death, being inactive influences and speeds up the aging process itself. This is confirmed with the incidents of people that we know (maybe in our own family) that have been taken long before their time leaving us shaking our heads in disbelief wondering what how this could have happened.

This trait is accelerating as our modern world becomes less and less active. One of the main reasons is the loss of muscle tissue that accompanies a sedentary lifestyle. Muscle atrophy (shrinking and weakening) downgrades the entire body and its systems and we become more susceptible to disease and physical injury.

Physical strength and fitness is correlated with a strong immune system function, our amour and defense system protecting us from disease and illness. A reduction in strength and general fitness weakens the efficiency of the immune system increasing our risk of what they call ‘chronic lifestyle diseases’. Heart disease, cancer, diabetes and dozens of others are all health issues we inflict on ourselves.

The human body functions best when it is active, strong, vital and dynamic. Hormones are balanced; blood is circulating around the body efficiently taking nutrients and oxygen to all tissues and cells maintaining their health. Body weight is maintained at a healthy level, mental and emotional health is stable and sleep is of a better quality so the renewal and rejuvenation of the cells is at a maximum to maintain health and wellness.

If you want to protect something as precious as your own life you need to take action get yourself started on a proper exercise program that contains mostly strength training exercise and never stop. It is this simple. Lead a physically active life and reap the benefits as opposed living a sedentary life and risk a lower quality of life or even worse a shortened life. We each have a choice what will yours be?

When is it Worth it to Get Earthquake Insurance?

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What do San Diego County residents have to know about Earthquake Insurance Policies, Risks and Costs?

Quality Claims Management views Earthquake coverage as catastrophic insurance. You will only need it if we have a really big earthquake. However, depending on where you live in San Diego and how much you have invested in your home, you may opt to get coverage. Here is what you need to know.

First, most standard homeowners, mobile home owners, condominium, and renter’s insurance policies DO NOT cover earthquake damage. Similar to flood insurance, earthquake insurance usually must be purchased separately.

However, fire insurance is part of most typical homeowners insurance policies. This means your home insurance policy may cover a significant part of the damage if your home burns down or is damaged in a fire that is caused by an earthquake.

Much of the damage that often arises from an earthquake happens after the ground stops shaking. Gas lines that may have ruptured and start leaking can catch on fire and burn your home to the ground. In San Diego County, it is also very possible that your home may be consumed in a wildfire sparked caused by earthquake motion many miles away. A power line may have collapsed. A home may have caught fire because of the quake and flames traveled many miles through brush to your home.

Another major factor is water damage. Quakes often break pipes. Even small quakes can crack a water or sewer pipe that floods your home and can cause extensive damage to your floors, rugs, furniture – even to the structure of your home.

If your homeowner’s insurance includes fire and flood damage, you should be covered for this “earthquake” damage – even if you don’t have earthquake insurance.

Another danger from earthquakes is landslides. You may or may not be covered for this. You need to check your homeowner insurance policy to make sure of your coverage for both landslide and fires. If your home does burn down, are you fully covered? Will you be able to replace your home and all of your belongings.

Check our other articles about homeowners insurance for details about coverages and what you need to know.

Where do you get Earthquake Insurance?

The law requires insurers that sell residential property insurance within the state of California to offer earthquake coverage to their policyholders. Most of these California earthquake insurance policies are backed and administered by a government organization known as CEA – the California Earthquake Authority.

Even though most earthquake insurance policies are sold by the state-run insurance pool, a few private companies also sell earthquake coverage. In order to provide earthquake coverage, insurance companies can become a CEA participating insurance company and offer the CEA’s residential earthquake policies or they can manage the risk themselves. To date, companies that sell over two-thirds of the residential property insurance in the state have opted to become CEA participating companies.

According to the CEA website, the CEA homeowners policy is designed to help get you back into your home after an earthquake. The CEA base-limits policy for homeowners includes:

Dwelling coverage – The coverage limit is the insured value of your home stated on your companion homeowner policy.
* Personal Property coverage – $5,000
* Additional Living Expense/Loss of Use coverage – $1,500
* You may select either a 10% or 15% deductible on your Dwelling coverage, and CEA’s increased-limit options allow you to increase Personal Property coverage to as much as $100,000 and Additional Living Expense/Loss of Use coverage to as much as $15,000.
Residential property insurance includes coverage for homeowners, condominium owners, mobile home owners, and renters.

Earthquake insurance is not intended for smaller losses as you must have enough damage to surpass your deductible. Even though deductibles are generally 10-15% of the amount of the Coverage A limits, it can be a little confusing to calculate the actual deductible amount since there are several factors that go into the formula.

How will your home handle an earthquake – Do you need Earthquake Insurance

– where in San Diego County do you live?
– what is under your house (rock, sand, fill, etc?)
– how is your home constructed – is it up to code and why that matters for your coverage

Age and type of construction contribute to how a residential structure reacts during an earthquake. Based on the scientific and engineering research, the CEA premiums reflect the following rating factors:

– In general, houses built on a slab perform better than those built on a raised foundation.
– One-story houses are less vulnerable to earthquake shaking than multi-story houses.
– Unreinforced masonry structures are more susceptible to damage than those of wood-frame construction.
– Houses of a certain age are not as strongly constructed as others.

The type of home you have affects your risk. One-story homes that are “tied together” — with the roof bolted to the walls, and the walls to the foundation — tend to survive earthquakes and windstorms better than multistory homes that aren’t. As you would expect, houses with big openings, such as plate-glass windows or large garage doors, fare worse than ones without those features.

In addition, your home can be substantially fortified with some special construction measures. For many, this can be a better investment than buying earthquake insurance.

The Institute for Business and Home Safety has a Fortified For Safer Living” program that specifies building techniques that can help homes better withstand disaster.

Other California Earthquake Insurance Factors

No Known Loss Letter Requirement

In areas that have been previously affected by an earthquake or other catastrophic event, an insurer may require a “No Known Loss Letter” with all requests for earthquake insurance or to add earthquake coverage to an existing policy. These kind of letters letter confirms that no known losses or damages have already occurred to the requested coverage location(s).

DIC Policy

DIC (Difference in Conditions) insurance provides coverage designed to close specific gaps in standard insurance policies. It allows coverage to be customized to extend to such exposures as water damage, flood, collapse, earthquake, landslide, etc., according to the insured’s needs. DIC coverage may be provided by means of a separate insurance policy or it may be added by endorsement to the basic policy.

Is Earthquake Insurance Right For You? How Much Equity Do You Have In Your Home?

As mentioned earlier, we view Earthquake coverage as catastrophic insurance. You will only need it if we have a really big earthquake. The more equity you have in your home, the more you need insurance.

According to UnitedPolicyHolders, a non-profit organization that fights for the rights of insurance consumers and educates individuals and businesses on how to get fair treatment, “a generally accepted rule of thumb is that you should not risk more than 10 percent of your liquid assets. A large earthquake could mean 10 to 100 percent of your home’s structure could be damaged or destroyed, up to 20 percent of your belongings could be damaged, and/or you may need to come up with $3,000 a month for temporary rent and relocation costs.”

In San Diego, we get lots of smaller quakes on a regular basis. These are reminders to YOU to review your current coverages to be sure that you are adequately insured. Is your current homeowner’s insurance up to date? Will it pay to rebuild your home to current building codes? Do you have additional coverage and riders for all the new stuff yiou may have acquired since you first bought your insurance policy?

Remember, it is far more likely you will have pipes break or fires start from the smaller earthquakes. If either of these happen, you should have coverage under your regular homeowners policy. Check to make sure it is up to date and that you have enough coverage. As a result of the 2003 and 2007 wildfires, we have found that most homeowners in San Diego are underinsured.

By the way, businesses should review their policies to be sure they have EQSL – or Sprinkler Loss coverage. There is a greater chance you will suffer damage from sprinklers leaking than from a building falling down.

by Ronald Reitz, President of Quality Claims Management

Getting Personal Loans for Bad Credit Management: A Wise Financial Move

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For many people in a financial quandary, the options available to guide them towards an improved situation can seem very narrow indeed. But there is a route that exists that can make a difference – namely, a special personal loan for bad credit management purposes, which are offered by a growing number of specialist lenders.

The chief attraction with these loans is that the old loans and their terms can be bought out, and replaced instead by one loan that is more easily repaid over a longer period of time. While fast loan approvals might be something of the past – at least in the short-term – the chance to turn the financial corner is hard to resist.

What is more, with a new personal loan that is easier to manage, there is no further damage suffered to the credit rating.

What Are These Loans?

It might seem strange that loans are available specifically to those who are already struggling to repay their loans. The principal, however, is that consolidation allows personal loans for bad credit borrowers to be used to repay the loans involved, while the borrowers have a chance to restore their credit rating.

Basically, the loan secured is used to repay the outstanding loans and debts that the borrower has, which ensures that the lenders get their money back in full. The new consolidation loan is repaid over a longer period of time, and in that way the monthly repayments are kept lower than the original debts combined. This makes the enterprise all the more affordable.

While fast loan approval may not be guaranteed, it clears away much of the pressure that a borrower is under. This has all-round benefits, so the usefulness of these personal loans is extremely clear.

Qualifying for Rescue Loans

Just like any other loan product, it is necessary for applicants to qualify for personal loans for bad credit management. A lot of things are taken into account when qualification is considered, with details of a credit report from one of the three credit agencies (TransUnion, Experian and Equifax) used to assess the terms.

For example, scores below 600 are considered to be bad, while anything between 600 and 650 is borderline. A decision by the financial company will also take into account the amount of money owed, the income of the borrower and his or her repayment history. From this information, they will be able to work out if taking on the new debt is feasible. A fast loan approval is unlikely.

The information will also dictate the terms of the loan, especially the rate of interest to be charged and how long the loan is to be repaid over. Often, these personal loans will have long lifespans so as to keep the monthly repayment sum as low as possible.

Consider Loan Security

Of course, the chances of getting approval at all are increased when security is offered as part of any personal loans, for bad credit management or specific purchasing reasons. This means that funds are available to those who can provide collateral.

Security practically removes the element of risk, and so two things happen. Firstly, fast loan approval is granted and secondly, lower interest rates are charged.

The only catch is being able to find items that match the value of the sum borrowed – something that not everyone can do. In this case a consigner is the best option, someone who is willing to guarantee monthly repayments will be made when the borrower is unable to pay. An alternative is to split the loan between secured and unsecured personal loans.