I am in the market for a loan.  Now you might ask what I am thinking of buying – and I will tell you.  You see I need a new computer for my business and I also need to renovate our kitchen.  I thought I could probably get one loan to do both, but I wasn’t sure.

I went on my computer and opened an Internet browser.  I used this time to compare loans that were available to me.  After about an hour of research, I found out that I would need two different loans for my two purchases.

For the computer, I would get a personal loan.  Basically, my bank would lend me the money based on my credit rating with a short repayment plan (in my case three years).  The interest rate is the same as prime for me due to my good credit rating.

My loan for the kitchen was a little different.  I would need to get a secured personal loan to pay for my renovations.  This type of loan allows you to take advantage of the equity you have in your home – effectively allowing you to take a second mortgage on your home.  The big bonus I found is that you can stretch your payments over the life of your mortgage and in some cases up to twenty five years.

With my new found knowledge, I am going to talk to my banker next week to get my financing in place.  Now that I know what I am talking about, I will better understand our meeting.