The single most important thing that every individual who needs a loan should know is this: you have plenty of options. Whether you have good credit, bad credit, or anything in between, there are always choices that you can make about how to get the loan that you need. Of course, having great credit doesn’t hurt your situation, but even those of us with less than superior credit have some wiggle room.

Before we choose a place to get a personal loan, it is important for you to think about how you plan to use the loan. In other words, is it for a big purchase or a small purchase, and is it for something you plan to pay off quickly or over a longer period of time?

Answering these questions will help you narrow down the type of loan that you need, and from there we can narrow down the potential providers who can service your loan. In general, if the loan that you need is to finance a purchase for a period longer than two years, your goal should be to get the cheapest interest rate possible on that loan in order to avoid paying more interest over the long-term. Examples of purchases like these could include a house, car, or any other purchase which may take longer than two years to fully pay off.

When looking for long-term loans, online lenders can generally offer cheaper rates than banks with physical branches. The reason for this is that an online lending service doesn’t have to pay to upkeep all of those physical branch locations, which translates into cheaper loan rates for you.

With that said, if you are attempting to get a loan to finance a short-term purchase (i.e. less than two years), then you may want to approach the personal loan process differently. As we already discussed, online lenders can generally offer cheaper interest rates than banks when it comes to personal loans. However, there is another method that could potentially allow you to pay no interest over a short period of time. This method allows you to finance a purchase for a period less than two years with no payments required, except for the repayment of the principal (i.e. the value of the item you are purchasing).

This option requires a great deal of discipline and it may not be for everyone. With that said, many credit card companies are now offering a promotional period of 0% interest for 6-24 months for new card users. This means that you can get a credit card, make a short-term purchase, and not have to make any sort of payment on that purchase until just before the end of the promotional period, at which point you would need to pay the full balance due before interest charges begin.

However, applying for a credit card will result in a “hard pull” of your credit, which means that the credit companies are checking your credit history (i.e. missed payments, on-time payments, credit limit, etc.). Hard pulls generally result in a slightly decreased credit score for a period up to a year, so it is critical to know your likelihood of being approved for the card before you apply. Also, you will need to have a general idea of how high of a credit limit the credit card company will give you if you are approved.

Generally speaking, your credit limit is based on your yearly income, current assets, and current liabilities. If your credit limit is not high enough, you won’t be able to make the purchase that you want/need because the credit card company will not give you a loan large enough to purchase the item. Credit limit is also based on credit score, which means that those with better scores are more likely to receive higher limits.

Furthermore, carrying a balance each month on your card (even though you don’t have to pay interest on that balance) may negatively impact your credit score, so this is something to consider.

You have many options when it comes to getting a personal loan. Just remember that a physical bank may offer a promotion that beats an online lender’s rates for a specified period of time, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for the best options available. The Internet abounds with all of the information that you could need, so please do your own research before choosing a lender.