Life throws us all curveballs. It can be just about anything: The car starts making worrisome noises. The washing machine breaks down. All your kids have growth spurts at the same time and suddenly they all need new shoes and clothing.

When those emergency expenses pop up, sometimes we need more money than we have available. What is the best option for emergency expenses?

If you have a credit card in your wallet, you may wonder: Is it better to use a credit card or a personal loan for emergencies?

For small emergency expenses – the ones that you know you’ll definitely have enough money to cover within the next couple of weeks – the immediacy of a credit card may make sense. If you know you’ll have cash available to pay for the entire expense within a few days, you could use a credit card without any interest charges. 

But most often, emergency expenses aren’t things you’ll be able to fully cover before your next credit card bill arrives. That’s why it’s important to look at the question of personal loans vs. credit cards. 

MANAGING INTEREST

Credit cards often charge high interest rates. With many credit cards, those rates can be raised even higher without warning. That means if an unexpected expense like car repair pops up and you use a credit card to cover it, you will be paying additional money – perhaps quite a bit – until you’ve fully paid off that charge on your card. 

So it’s important that when you choose between personal loans vs. credit cards that you pick the solution that will let you know what you owe each month vs. the risk of snowballing interest. You don’t want to make an expense even bigger than it has to be.

AVOIDING SURPRISES

An unexpected expense comes as a not-so-pleasant surprise. The last thing you need are more surprises when you try to figure out how to pay for it. 

This is where you’ll find an especially big difference between personal loans vs. credit cards. 

Personal loans from 1st Franklin have a fixed payment. So you know exactly how much you will need to pay each month and on what date. Also, our personal loans have a fixed interest rate. So you know exactly how much interest you’ll be paying. There are no sudden increases in interest charges, unlike many credit cards. 

This certainty about what you’re paying each month can bring a sense of calm to an otherwise stressful situation. And it can help you stay on budget, so you can get the personal loan paid off quickly and also budget for a bit of savings each month. 

GETTING PERSONAL SUPPORT: PERSONAL LOANS VS. CREDIT CARDS

When you choose a credit card to apply for, you have to find your way through advertising promises and lots of fine print, hoping to choose a card that won’t come with hidden fees or an interest rate that suddenly increases when you least expect it. 

When you get a personal loan from 1st Franklin Financial, things work differently. You’ll find a friendly team of people who know your name and are ready to help you find the loan option that’s best for you. You can sit down with us in person or call up your nearest branch office to ask as many questions as you’d like. 

We’re called the “Friendly Franklin Folks” for a good reason: Our team members care about our customers and want to help them thrive. So they help you choose exactly what you need.  

Our team has the knowledge to help you find the personal loan that best meets your needs and keeps you from getting tangled up in snowballing credit card interest rates.

To make life even easier, you can start a conversation to learn about personal loans before an unexpected expense pops up. Whenever you have a moment, you can drop by a branch or give us a call to learn about the quick, easy process of applying for a personal loan, and find out how easy it can be to qualify. 

Life will keep on throwing all of us curveballs. But we can be ready with a money-saving solution when those unexpected expenses arise.