Extra tips for your small loan
Installment loans are offered by both branch banks and direct banks. Due to the higher processing effort of branch banks, it is often cheaper and faster to apply for a loan online. With a few lenders, the loan application and its approval are even completely digital. Then upload the necessary documents as a scan, for example. However, there is no personal advice here. A bank advisor will speak to you personally and will also explain possible risks to you. Among other things, he will ask you the following questions: What financial burden can you take on each month? When should the loan be repaid?
No matter which provider you choose for an installment loan, compare many different offers and save a lot of money. The fastest way to find out the current conditions for a loan is to use a loan calculator on the Internet. You can find out which comparison portals we find helpful below after our offer comparison.
Our recommendation: Think in advance how high your installment loan must be and how much money you can repay monthly.
With various comparison portals, you have the opportunity to set the reason for the loan application and receive suitable conditions for this purpose. The intended use makes a difference: if, for example, you need an installment loan because you have to buy a new car, car companies offer special loans for this and banks also offer you extra tariffs for this. With a consumer loan for a new kitchen, the offers therefore immediately look different.
Tip: Incidentally, you can get loans particularly cheaply if they are linked to your own property.
With many online loans, residual debt insurance is also made palatable to you. It should help you, for example, to repay the loan in the event of sudden unemployment. This is then included in the scope of the loan.
Attention: The decision as to whether you want to take out residual debt insurance is not given to you on all comparison portals. It is often part of the loan and is not always recognizable as residual debt insurance at first glance. Legal debt insurance is also classified as positive on some comparison portals, so an installment loan is rated better if the insurance is offered at the same time. We find that this misleads potential borrowers.
Our recommendation: We advise against this insurance, as it will result in additional and sometimes very high costs. In addition, legal liability insurance does not apply in many cases. Incidentally, Stiftung Warentest also came to this conclusion in “Finanztest” issue 12/2016, where it says: “Residual credit insurance makes little sense for online borrowers.”