I think there comes a time in almost everyone’s life when they have to apply for a personal loan. How many of my readers have never taken out personal loans? I suspect that only about 10% to 20% of you haven’t taken one out yet.
I bet all of us know people that are living beyond their means and have taken out multiple personal loans just to pay their bills. I see people nodding their heads. I think that is one of the worst reasons to have to take out a personal loan.
I think we have to face that facts that most people, even those living within there means are going to need to take out a loan at some point in their lives. Whether it be unsecured loans, personal loans, a mortgage or even home improvement loans, we’re all going to be in debt one day.
The only loan that we are paying off at this time is our mortgage. That’s a great feeling, because at one point we were paying off two student loans, and a personal loan for our car purchase. Now those are all paid off and it’s just the mortgage that we have to worry about. However, just like anyone else I would suspect that we might take out a personal loan at some point in the future, but I would hope that it would never be because we spent to excess.
How do you feel about people taking out personal loans? Do you think that the people you know do this far too often? Are there better ways to pay of debts than to keep taking out loans?
My view is that a personal loan should really only be taken out by someone who has the means to pay it back in a timely manner. Yes, on the very rare occasion there will be emergency expenses, such as a large hospital bill, that makes it necessary for some to take out a personal loan, but I don’t think that people should take out loans just to get out of debt.
Perhaps the kind of people who take out loans because they’ve over spent should look at debt consolidation or talk to a banker and get some loan advice so that they can understand their spending habits and learn how to overcome that desire to live beyond their means.
What do you think?