Taking Out A Personal Loan For Vacation

If you’re looking into taking a big vacation but aren’t sure how you’ll pay for all the expenses at once, you may want to consider a vacation loan. There are a lot of options out there to help finance a vacation, including personal loans for vacations. 

A personal loan, or vacation loan, is one of the most common financing options because you can get all the cash you need for a dream vacation quickly and easily. Personal loans offer many benefits, but before taking out any type of loan or line of credit, you should always consider all of your options.

If you’re considering getting a personal loan for a vacation, contact Arkansas Federal Credit Union today to learn more about our loan options and how they can benefit you.

What Is a Vacation Loan?

A vacation loan is a term used to describe a personal loan that’s used for vacation expenses. You can use a vacation loan for any travel or vacation-related expenses, including airfare, hotel rooms, rental cars, tours, food, etc. 

When you apply for a personal loan, it’s common for you to be required to select an intent or purpose for what you are planning to use the loan money for. When applying for a personal loan, you’ll just need to disclose that the money will be used for a vacation. 

At Arkansas Federal Credit Union, we allow our personal loans to be used to pay for vacation expenses. You can apply online and get approved quickly so you can jet off on your dream vacation in no time.

How Do Personal Loans for Vacations Work?

To use a personal loan for a vacation, you go through the traditional personal loan application process and select that you plan to use the loan to pay for a vacation.

With a vacation loan, you’ll typically get a lump sum payment of the loan amount that you can put towards paying for your vacation. After receiving the funds, you’ll repay the loan in fixed monthly payments.

Pros and Cons of Vacation Loans

Vacation loans can offer many benefits for financing vacations, but it’s important to thoroughly consider all loan aspects to make sure they’re a good fit for you and your needs.

Pros

Paying off a vacation loan through fixed monthly payments can help you spread out the cost of a trip over time, which can make it more affordable and realistic than having the savings to pay off all of the vacation-related expenses at once. 

Your payments for your vacation loan are fixed, which means you know what your monthly payment amount will be throughout the life of your loan from the start. Fixed monthly payments can be easier to budget for because you know exactly how much to allocate each month, and that amount doesn’t change.

One of the major differences between personal loans and other types of loans is the loan approval timeline. Personal loans tend to have a very quick approval process. You could get approved for your vacation loan in as short as a day and get access to the funds the same day as well.

Personal loans are known for low interest rates. If you have good credit, you could be eligible for a low interest rate, which means you’d have smaller monthly payments and pay less interest throughout the life of your loan. Arkansas Federal offers personal loans with competitive, low-interest rates. 

Cons

With any loan, it’s important to consider the cost of borrowing. Interest rates and fees like origination fees or documentation charges can be “hidden fees” that you might not think of when calculating the initial cost of the loan. It’s important to consider all of these fees and how they add up to make sure that you’re not borrowing too much and will be able to repay your loan. 

If you don’t have a good credit history or credit score, you might not be able to qualify for a good interest rate on your personal loan. Having a high-interest rate makes paying off your loan more expensive and could make a personal loan a less ideal option for financing a vacation.

Other Options

There are other types of loans or lines of credit that could be a good option for financing a vacation if a personal loan doesn’t seem like the best fit for you.

Line of Credit

Opening a new line of credit is a way to pay for things that you aren’t currently able to pay for directly from your savings. A line of credit can be more flexible. With a personal loan, you borrow a fixed amount of money. With a line of credit, you only have to borrow the amount that you actually need. Borrowing less could also lower your total cost because you only pay interest on the borrowed amount. 

A line of credit is an open-ended option for borrowing money. There are a variety of ways you can go about opening a new line of credit.

Secured Line of Credit

Home equity loans and HELOCs are secured lines of credit. These are open-ended lines of credit that allow you to take advantage of equity in your home.

Home equity loans and HELOCs are risky lines of credit because they are secured by using your home as collateral. If you are unable to make your payments, you could risk losing your home. 

Borrowing against the equity of your home may seem appealing now because of high home values, but it’s important to be careful. If there’s a decline or drop in home values, you could be left with equity debt that’s more than the value of your home.

Unsecured Line of Credit

Unsecured lines of credit are less risky than secured lines of credit because they don’t require any collateral. Unsecured credit lines typically have higher interest rates because of the lack of collateral backing up the loan. With an unsecured line of credit, you may end up paying more for your vacation with added interest than you would with a personal loan with a low-interest rate or a secured line of credit. 

Low-Rate Credit Card

To pay for vacation expenses, you can put the charges on a credit card. If you aren’t able to fully pay off your credit card balance each month, this could be an expensive move on a traditional credit card. Credit cards tend to have higher interest rates than other loan options.

If you are close to being able to afford your trip but have some expenses you can’t pay for at the moment, a low-rate credit card is a great option to help you bridge the financial gap.

With a low-rate credit card, you avoid taking out a larger loan, like a personal loan, but you can still finance your vacation with a lower interest rate. Arkansas Federal’s everyday low-rate credit card offers one of the lowest rates in the country with no annual fee and no over-limit fee.

A low-rate credit card can be a less stressful way to access credit while also avoiding high-interest payments that could make your vacation more expensive.

Apply For a Personal Loan Today

Using a personal loan can be a great way to finance a vacation so you can enjoy yourself without worrying about expenses. Fixed payments and low interest rates make personal loans ideal for helping you pay for your trip.
Applying for a personal loan is a quick and easy process, and once approved, you can access your funds quickly. Apply for a personal loan with Arkansas Federal today and start planning your dream vacation.