Needing to borrow money is a common occurrence among many adults in the UK. From being underpaid to facing emergency expenses – or even just forgetting it’s your sister’s birthday next week – there are any number of reasons for needing a small amount of cash quickly and with as little hassle as possible.
However, if you have a bit of a rocky credit history or you’re attempting to rebuild your credit file, then trying to borrow a small amount of cash can be tricky. A lot of mainstream creditors won’t lend to people with less-than-perfect credit scores, so unless you’ve already got an arranged overdraft in place, getting a loan with a guarantor tends to be the next option. But what if you want a small loan without a guarantor?
That’s where short term loans can help. A short term loan is a small amount of money that you can borrow for up to 12 months. You can either have a payday loan which you repay in one instalment, usually on your next payday; or, you can have an instalment loan which you repay in several instalments.
Instalment loans tend to be repaid over 3 or 6 months, but there are options with some lenders to borrow for up to 12 months. While you will repay more in total for your borrowing than if you got a payday loan, each individual instalment is much less than the lump sum you make when repaying a payday loan and so it can work out more affordable and more manageable for some people.
It is possible to get a short term loan with a guarantor, however most short term lenders understand that asking your friends or family for help in times of financial difficulty can be daunting and embarrassing (even though cashflow shortfalls are nothing to be ashamed of). So, providing a loan without having to ask someone else to co-sign the paperwork makes things a lot easier both on your conscience and on your relationships.
There are some direct lenders who still operate high street stores, however the majority of creditors are online which means finding a lender and making an application is quicker than ever and there’s no face to face conversation which makes it much more private too.
As well as being online, most short term lenders appear on at least one loan comparison site. This is so that consumers can compare the costs of the loan and make sure they apply for a loan with a lender which offers the right service and product for them.
Clear and Fair is a short term loan comparison site which compares loans so that you don’t have to go through the hassle of making spreadsheets and notes of all the different quotes from various lenders. You simply enter your required loan amount and how long you need it for, and we will find your results in seconds. The lender at the top of the search table will always be the cheapest of the lenders we work with as we don’t promote lenders or take paid placements.
Once you find a loan that suits your particular financial circumstances, you can click through and apply directly with them, so there’s no third party involved once your application process starts. This, together with our straightforward short term loan comparison calculator, makes comparing loans clear and fair.
All you need to know about short term loans
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