Business

What Are Personal Loans Usually Used For?

Published

2 weeks ago

August 2, 2022

A personal loan can be used to purchase an expensive product or pay for almost anything. You can use it for emergency expenses, debt consolidation, etc. Once the loan is approved, you can pay it back to the money lenders through monthly installments over a few months or years. The bank will decide the tenure and interest rate depending on your financial condition and history of payment.

The easiest way to use a personal loan is to decide on a plan for using the funds, such as paying off the previous loan. Now you can compare personal loans with other financing options and understand the best option that fits your financial situation, budget, and plan.

So today, we will discuss some of the main areas where you can use a personal loan. You can always contact Alpine Credits for the best personal loans.

How does a personal loan work?

A personal loan is an unsecured loan. This means that you need not offer or submit any collateral while applying for the loan. The creditor cannot seize any property if you get an unsecured loan and do not repay it, but there will be consequences. Your credit score will be drastically affected, and your loan can go into default.

Personal loan providers analyze your credit history and credit score to determine whether you qualify for a loan or not. While auto and home loans have to be used for specific purposes, there are no specific criteria for using a personal loan. You can use the loan for any cause as long as it is under the loan agreement.

Where can you use personal loans in your daily life?

It is always advised to carefully consider your current financial situation before taking out a loan. Often, a personal loan can be the best way to pay for an emergency or a large financial purchase you cannot immediately pay.

Debt consolidation

Debt consolidation is the reason behind 50% of sanctioned personal loans in Canada. When you apply for a personal loan, you can simply use it to pay off previous loans or credit card expenses by combining them into one monthly payment. This makes it easier for you as you will only be paying a single installment per month.

However, the most significant advantage of using a personal loan for debt consolidation is that you might be eligible for a lower interest rate.

Home renovation or remodelling

Homeowners can apply for a personal loan to upgrade their home or use it for repairs like fixing the roof, redoing electrical wiring, or fixing the pipes. A personal loan is a better choice for people who do not have enough equity in their home or do not want to get involved in a home equity loan or line of credit.

An advantage of using a personal loan for home remodelling is that you do not have to use your house as collateral as it is an unsecured loan.

Emergency expenses

A personal loan is a low-cost option if you are in a sudden emergency or financial crisis, like if you need money for emergency hospital expenses. Surprise medical bills and surgery can be quite expensive, especially if the doctors require the entire bill amount. After negotiating with the hospital authorities and your insurance company, you might need to opt for a personal loan to cover these unexpected medical expenses.

Alternative to a payday loan

If you suddenly need money, using a personal loan instead of a payday loan is recommended, as you will save hundreds of dollars in interest rates.

Usually, payday loans have shorter repayment periods which are, in most cases, between two or four weeks. It can be difficult for you to repay the loan within the due date, and in most cases, borrowers are forced to apply for or renew the loan. Therefore the total interest owned increases significantly.

On the other hand, the repayment tenure for a personal loan is quite long, and interest rates are pretty less.

Vehicle financing

When you are planning to buy a car or any other vehicle, you can always apply for an auto loan, but personal loans can also be used for this purpose. Auto loans have a lower interest rate when compared to personal loans. Still, it is a secured loan, and the financier or the creditor will use your vehicle as collateral.

So, a personal loan might be better if you are concerned about missing any monthly installment and getting your car seized.

Weddings, vacations, or other discretionary expenses

Even though it is always recommended that you do not take any type of loan for personal events, significant events like a wedding, honeymoon, or baby shower can be pretty expensive. A destination or lavish wedding might cost you over $30000, and not everyone can afford it immediately. Therefore, in this case, you can always get a wedding loan.

A big holiday or vacation is also expensive. Even though most travel companies nowadays offer various pay later schemes, you can also go for a traditional vacation loan to cover up your dream trip.

Moving expenses

If you are moving just a few houses or a lane away, you might not need financing. But If you are moving out of the state or province, you might need extra cash to cover the shifting costs. Moving far away from your current location means you will need money to pay the cost of packing your belongings, hiring movers, and then transporting your belongings safely to the new location.

In this situation, you can get a personal loan to fund the shifting process. You can also use the loan amount to cover expenses like rent for the first month, the previous month’s rent, and the security deposit. Additionally, some extra funds might also help furnish your new home.

Endnote

While taking out a personal loan, you must remember that no matter the situation, you must eventually pay the loan back. Whether taking it out for debt consolidation or an event, you must pay back the amount with the interest rate. Personal loans can be helpful, but you must utilize this financial resource carefully and responsibly.

Business

Mozilla report found more than a dozen TikTok influencers who had undisclosed paid relationships to post political messages; TikTok banned political ads in 2019 (Mozilla Tiktokzakrzewski Washingtonpost)

Published

28 mins ago

August 16, 2022

Leonardo

Mozilla Tiktokzakrzewski Washingtonpost: A recent report conducted by Mozilla found that more than a dozen TikTok influencers had undisclosed paid relationships to post political messages on their videos, the company banned political ads in 2019. This decision has been applauded by various activist groups and has been seen as a “victory for free speech”.

Not everyone is happy about this. As of now, it’s not known whether the TikTok app will still be able to use third-party content from content creators with undisclosed paid relationships. It’s also not clear what the ban on political ads means for the app.

The report was released by Mozilla, a major free web browser provider and anti-privacy organization. The report argued that political messages were being spread through the video platform without users knowing that they were paid promotion of propaganda. Specifically, 7 Indian political parties allegedly used TikTok to influence voters ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election. TikTok has been widely used in India because it is unable to detect political content and is mostly used by young people in India. TikTok is an app that allows users to post and share videos with one another.

The CEO of Mozilla, Mark Surman, claimed that the platform had been used for “political propaganda” for a long time. He claimed this was not only a problem in India, but globally as well. He also claimed that such incidents are not unique to India and are happening all over the world. The report also stated that many of these political influencers have more than 100,000 followers on the app. Allegedly, these users were able to get their political messages across without anyone knowing that they were paid promotions.

At the same time as the report was released, Mozilla CEO Mark Surman said that TikTok has removed all of these videos from its platform and banned political advertising on its app. He said, “It shows a clear desire from TikTok to address this problem, so we’ve decided to temporarily suspend our work with them. We will resume engagement with TikTok when we know they’ve solved this problem.”

Mozilla has decided to stop working with TikTok for an undisclosed amount of time. Mozilla also announced that it would work with other companies to make sure that political messages would not be able to be spread on their platforms for the next 4 months. The company also announced that it would work with Google, a major search engine, YouTube, a popular video streaming platform, and Facebook in order to address the issue.

Business

Facebook will announce a suite of audio products on Monday, including a Clubhouse-like app, a podcast discovery product connected to Spotify, and more (Sources Monday Clubhouselike Spotifykafkavox)

Published

1 day ago

August 15, 2022

Leonardo

Sources Monday Clubhouselike Spotifykafkavox: Facebook will announce a suite of audio products on Monday, including a Clubhouse-like app, a podcast discovery product connected to Spotify, and more.

The announcements are part of Facebook’s efforts to stay competitive in an increasingly crowded social media space dominated by other companies who have fleshed out their audio offerings.

It might seem like Facebook is moving too fast in the media realm, but those who know around here know that it’s just following the rest of tech. A few years ago, the company’s advertising executives were inventing and experimenting with a range of new ad formats. From that came the creation of Timeline, its news feed, and the addition of paid ads to the social network.

On Monday at its F8 developer conference, Facebook will announce a trio of audio products — an updated version of Clubhouse which will be known as “Timeline Chats”, a podcast app called “Podcasts”, and “high quality audio” as part of Instagram.

Clubhouse first launched in 2016 as a private community where Facebook employees post 10-minute audios. It’s sort of like a Facebook-focused version of The Moth, the live storytelling event and podcast. The feature will be open to the public starting Monday (for those willing to signup for one of this thing).

Facebook is also launching a new podcast app called “Podcasts” that will be available on iOS and Android and connected to Spotify — a first for Facebook. The feature could be a competitor to the likes of Apple’s Podcasts app. Facebook is also integrating podcast listening with its main app. So people will be able to listen via their news feed, of course.

The third product is high-quality audio, which is said to be “a new format optimized for sound quality and created with the latest in audio technology”. I’m just going to say that it’s probably a way for Facebook to easily differentiate its audio products from rivals.

Facebook already has a lot of tools for recording and editing audio, especially video. With standalone products, the company can increase user engagement and promote vertical video content over horizontal videos.

Facebook has been investing in several other audio products as well.

Business

Wejo, which collects and analyzes real-time vehicle data, is going public via a SPAC merger to raise $330M, which will value Wejo at $800M including debt (Wejo Spac 330m 800m)

Published

2 days ago

August 14, 2022

Leonardo

Wejo Spac 330m 800m: Wejo is a predictive analytics company that specializes in collecting, analyzing, and interpreting real-time vehicle data. They operate out of the globe’s largest traffic network and have built the world’s largest connected vehicle telematics database.

The company has been privately held since 2006. Wejo plans to enter public markets via an SPAC merger with Criora Health, which will be renamed Wejo Inc with a publicly traded ticker symbol of WJHO. The merger is expected to close in Q3.

The SPAC is a new form of hybrid private/public company that has been gaining popularity in certain industries including healthcare, IT, and cloud-based security services.

Wejo’s real-time software enables consumers to monitor driving patterns and behavior via an on-board telematics device, or log into their account online to review the data. The company has been providing these solutions for more than a decade to consumers, dealers, and auto manufacturers in the U.S. and Europe.

The data that Wejo gathers from its network of connected vehicles is available to a wide range of businesses, including auto insurers, dealerships, finance companies, and auto OEMs. The company also collects data from non-automotive sectors such as delivery fleets and shuttle buses among others.

Wejo has operational headquarters in the U.S., and is listed on the OTC Markets under the ticker symbol WJHO. The company also maintains a research, development, and engineering center in Palo Alto, California. Wejo’s operating headquarters are located on the campus of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Wejo operates its largest connected vehicle telematics database, which consists of more than eight billion connected miles of driving data gathered from over three million vehicles. The company currently analyzes data from over seven hundred thousand vehicles in the U.S., fifteen thousand fleets outside the U.S., and twelve thousand transit buses around the world.

The company currently operates five technology platforms. Wejo’s Real-Time platform is a web and mobile portal that allows users to analyze, visualize, and share driving patterns and behaviors. The company’s fleet management platform includes features such as fleet routing optimization and real-time fleet analytics. The Mobilize platform offers a unified user interface for device management systems and connected vehicles.