Have you ever cut corners in planning a wedding or shied away from revamping for home interiors because of shortcomings in your budget? You can always look towards personal loans to fill the void without risking high-interest rates or heavy collaterals against it.

An unsecured personal loan is a reliable solution to your cash crunch. The eligibility depends on your credit score, debt-to-income ratio, and your income itself. Everyone cannot afford a personal loan, and people should spend the money wisely.

Like with other loans, personal loans also have their fair share of disadvantages along with the benefits. Before observing all the pros and cons, we need a deeper understanding of how a personal loan works.

Know more about Personal Loans

The salient feature of a personal loan is that it is unsecured, which means you do not need to submit collateral to secure the installment. You receive a fixed amount of money based on a minimum requirement or your monthly income. The repayment duration can be anywhere between one to 10 years.

Borrowers have the liberty to use the loan for any personal requirement, although some lenders specify special requirements or restrictions. The interest rate remains fixed, so you do not need to pay a variable sum of money while repaying.

Applying for Personal Loans

The application procedure for a personal loan is similar to a credit card. You need to submit your personal information, contact details, along with financial statements and desirable loan amount. The lender reviews your profile and checks your credit score.

The final verdict of approving the loan lies with the creditors. If your application and finances convince them, you will receive the installment. The lenders ascertain the interest rate, final loan amount and terms following the approval process.

How much personal loan can you borrow?

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) implements the limitations on installment amounts to ensure borrowers do not overextend their means. The current limit is 12 times your monthly salary. However, you can borrow amounts as low as $500 from the institutes.

When can you start paying back the loan?

You will hear people talk about living debt-free as a wonderful feeling. You can start your loan repayment immediately after receiving the lump sum amount from the creditor. Every month you will pay the same amount of money as an instalment. It includes a part of the principal amount with interest added to it.

Notable Benefits of Personal Loans

Now that we are familiar with the application process and the features of personal loans, here are the noteworthy advantages of personal loans over other available options –

• Low-interest rates

The interest rate levied on personal loans varies from 3.5% to 10.8% per annum. Nevertheless, it is significantly lower than the rate charged on credit card amounts, which can be as high as 25.9% per annum.

• High borrowing limits

You can borrow anywhere between $500 to 6 times your monthly salary for an unsecured loan amount. Borrowers receive a lump sum to a preferred bank account and repay the same in installments over tenure. Different banks offer unique schemes based on your financial statements and requirements.

• Multipurpose

Personal loans are flexible and versatile in utility. Financial institutions do not limit how you plan on using the money. For instance, you need to declare your college education details and academic records for a student loan or buy a car if you borrow a car loan. You can use the disbursed amount to pay off debts or medical bills as you deem necessary. Although, it is best to check with your lender for approved uses for the loan amount.

• Absence of collateral

The thought of putting up valuable assets for collateral often dissuades people from loan applications. However, you do not need to mortgage your house and put up your car to secure a personal loan. Failing to repay the amount in the pre-estimated duration warrants financial consequences, but you will not lose your assets for it.

• Manageable

Personal loans are a better alternative than managing multiple credit card loans. You can pay off your debts using a single loan amount and manage only one account for monthly payments. Moreover, you will save money for lower interest rates.

Drawbacks of personal loans

While personal loans are convenient and the bank offers lucrative schemes for their borrowers, it comes at a cost. They add to your debt and do not resolve the cause in any way. Over-spenders may fall prey to higher charges and the burden of monthly installments.

Here are some of the drawbacks of personal loans –

• Not the best option in the market

While personal loans are a superior option to credit card bills, it is not the ideal one. The addition of processing fees determines the effective interest rate on loan. Most of the schemes you will come across will have rates ranging between 7% to 10% p.a.

• Processing fee

Banks and other lenders charge a processing fee ranging from 1% to 3% on the loan amount.

• Early repayment fee

Ironically, you may incur an extra charge for settling the amount before your tenure elapses or if you cancel the loan. The charge varies from around $100 to $250, depending on your lender.

• Higher payments than credit cards

You have the option of the minimum monthly payment and the absence of a credit card bills deadline. Personal loans require a mandatory monthly payment until the end of the loan term. Hence, consolidation of credit card debt results in higher monthly payments with a payoff timeline.

Which is the best-licensed money lender in Singapore?

The Ministry of Law in Singapore approves the registered money lenders from where you can safely apply for a personal loan. Here are some of the leading firms you may lookup –

• Crawfort Pte Ltd
• Credit 21 Pte. Ltd.
• Lending Bee Pte. Ltd.
• GS Credit Pte. Ltd.
• Katong Credit Pte. Ltd.
• Horizon Credit Pte. Ltd.

Apart from money lenders, you may also approach national and international banks like Citibank, Standard Chartered, CIMB, DBS, and POSB for their loan schemes.

There are both advantages and disadvantages to personal loans. Hence, thorough planning is crucial for your budgeting and repayment timeline. Obtain quotes from different lenders, compare them, and choose the best scheme suited to your needs.

Irrespective of what business or company you are having, creating a presence in social media is one of the most suited ways these days for reaching out to your target customers. However, certain needs cannot be always fulfilled by the in-house workers. There are several freelancers and agencies which work for startups as well as top companies and help them to build their identity in the social media platforms and increase Facebook page like (ปั้มไลค์, which is the term in Thai) and users’ commitment. 

Why Should You Hire A Social Media Marketing Agency?

You need to maintain a proper strategy for reaching out to efficient consumers and the DIY approach does not help in this case. As the resources available online are immensely huge in number. So it is not that easy to reach out to your target customers without following any certain well-working marketing strategy.

And the agencies are trained professionals who have extensive knowledge about this field. And their level of expertise is quite high compared to your in-house workers. Besides having a strong grip over the present-day tricks and tactics, they are quite well-versed in handling the top-rated tools. These marketing agencies are capable of handling multiple campaigns at a time. And that is why you can easily utilize your teams’ energy and skills for the betterment of your business which the experts take care of the branding of your company. These professionals will help you to increase Facebook page like.

How To Know Whether You Seriously Should Get A Social Media Marketing Expert?

If you are wondering if your company is big enough to tie with a social media marketing agency, let me tell you that these experts play a major role in letting your business flourish while you improve the services you offer to the customers. And this interdependency and their constant assistant will push the in-house staff to work harder too. As when you see your company growing in front of your eyes, you feel to work more automatically.

The budget might be an issue at the starting. However, these agencies offer services at a different range of rates. So you can opt for the one according to your ease. Some of the agencies offer other services like SEO or content marketing too. So once you hire any of them, you can pitch them to help you in some other fields as well. In the end, your company is going to get benefited in several ways and that is why it is completely worthy to take assistance from a professional marketer.

During tough economic times or when things don’t look so good, precious metal investors can rest easy knowing that their money is safely invested in precious metals like gold and silver. These metals can protect your wealth against inflation and uncertainty. There is some ongoing debates of how, when and how much silver bullion investors should include in their portfolios.

Buy physical silver and store it in a safe or bank safety deposit box that you can have quick access should you need to. 

When it comes to wealth protection and creation, silver is just as important as gold. However, silver is used in a lot of industrial applications and is more than just a safe haven investment but a metal whose demand continue will continue to grow. This demand for the precious metal makes the price of silver more volatile and more reactive than gold. 

When you buy silver bullion there are certain costs that investors may not be aware of, like the fact that some silver dealers add commission fees to the price. The average is 5 to 6 percent, depending on who the dealer is. For example, the most popular silver bullion coins sold by the US Mint the 1oz. American Eagle sell at high premiums. Other government mints that make silver bullion coins like The Royal Canadian Mint also produce silver bullion coins that they sell at premium prices. Third party vendors will also add a percent of two to increase their own profit. 

There are also storage costs to consider.  Anyone with a safety deposit box at a bank knows that there is an annual fee that has to be paid. Home safes range in price and the level of security they present, but they can cost thousands. A bullion owner has to consider which is the safest method to store their bullion. 

When you buy silver bullion, it is your and yours alone. You can do whatever you want with it. It comes in very handy in times of financial difficulty because you can sell it to a bullion dealer or pawn it to get access to the cash that you need. 

Besides being an investment vehicle, silver bullion is attractive, especially bullion coins. You might find yourself inclined to collect bullion coins from all over the world just because of their beautiful designs. There are various silver bullion coins that are popular not only to investors but collectors as well. So, when buying silver bullion coins you should know which coins are in high demand. These are the kinds of coins that sell well and at a higher price. When you have coins like that, you can sell them at a high price when you need to cash them in. Buying or selling bullion: it doesn’t matter which side of the spectrum you are, you should keep an eye on the silver market and what is happening to the spot price. 

The bottom line is that if people think or believe that the global economy is collapsing, then it is prudent to hedge your money in investment asset classes like silver.