When you compare personal loans which are secured to those which are not, there are a number of important differences. Secured loans require the borrower to provide the lender with collateral or security to back the loan, and this will be their home or property. Unsecured loans do not have this requirement. Because the lending company is taking a relatively low risk with your home acting as insurance against your failure to repay the loan, interest rates on secured loans are lower than for unsecured loans. It is wise to make sure that you can afford the repayments on a loan before you commit to an agreement as you will be placing your home at risk of repossession if you fail to repay the debt. Even in the case of unsecured loans, lenders have been known to act aggressively in order to protect their investment and will take defaulters to court if necessary. Apart from the differences in interest rate and risk you'll find that when you compare personal loans which are secured and unsecured, secured loans are approved faster than unsecured loans but will take longer to be processed. This means that you will wait a little longer for your money to come available with a secured loan but it will be well worth the wait when you are ultimately saving money on the interest rate.

Personal loans are available for various amounts and repayment terms and are repayable on a monthly basis. You will be charged interest by the lender and this is known as the APR or Annual Percentage Rate. When you compare personal loans, looking at the APRs is a good indication of just how competitive they are. Lending companies advertise typical interest rates but these are merely indication rates of what you are likely to be offered. The interest rate you are given is determined taking a number of factors into consideration, including the amount you are borrowing, the length of time you will take to pay back the loan and your personal circumstances and credit history. You will also notice that lenders refer to fixed and variable interest rates. If you compare personal loans with a fixed rate to loans with a variable rate there is one major difference. A fixed rate means that the amount of your monthly repayment is fixed for the entire term of the loan which makes it easier to budget as you know exactly how much you'll be paying each month. With a variable rate your monthly repayments could go up and down along with fluctuations in the bank base rate. This gives you the flexibility to save money if the interest rate drops but your loan could also end up costing you more if the rate goes up.

A further consideration when you compare personal loans is to check the redemption penalty policy of the lending company. Some companies charge up to two months interest if you pay your debt in full earlier than agreed at the outset. If you think that you may want the option of settling your debt before the due date than it may be worth your while taking a loan with a slightly higher APR but with no redemption penalty.