Depending on your circumstances and whether or not you are a homeowner, you have a choice of two main categories of personal loans online – secured personal loans and unsecured personal loans. Secured loans require the borrower to provide the lender with some form of collateral, in this case your home. When the equity in your home is used to secure the loan, the lender is taking a fairly low risk lending you money and the result is lower interest rates. The risk for you and your home is that if you should fall into difficulties and default on your repayments you will eventually have your home repossessed. It is vital that you make sure that you can comfortably afford the repayments on personal loans online before committing to a loan agreement. An option here is loan repayment protection, which can help you over a period when you are unable to meet your repayments. This however is an additional monthly cost. Secured loans make it possible for people who are self-employed and have an adverse or no credit history to get a loan.

In the case of unsecured loans, the lender grants the loan without securities from the borrower. Because the lending company is taking on a greater perceived risk, interest rates are higher for unsecured personal loans online. The borrower's credit history is also more important here since the lender needs to assess their ability to pay back the loan. Although unsecured loans take longer to get approved, they are generally processed much faster.

Personal loans online can also be used to consolidate debts. If you have credit and store card debts on which you are paying a high rate of interest it could save you money taking out a debt consolidation loan at a lower interest rate and paying off the higher rate debts. If you decide on a secured debt consolidation loan you will get the lowest rate. When considering this type of loan, the first thing to do is to get a total figure for your debt, and remember to get settlement figures from your creditors so that any early redemption penalty charges are included. Then do an income and expenditure exercise so that you can set up a realistic monthly budget. Always include an amount for unforeseen expenses and make sure that you can afford the repayments on the loan before you offer your home as security.

In addition to the amount you want to borrow you will be charged interest by the lending company, known as the Annual Percentage Rate (APR). A repayment period or term will be agreed on and the loan will be repaid on a monthly basis. Even though lenders advertise typical interest rates for personal loans online, this is merely an indication of the rate you are likely to be offered. The exact interest rate you get will be determined on an individual basis and will depend on the size of the loan, the term and the lender's assessment on your ability to pay back the loan. You may find that you are offered a lower APR for the same loan from the same company when applying online as apposed to by telephone and this is because operating costs online are lower and this saving is passed on to you.