I'm fortunate enough to have good credit and I qualify for a decent apr for a personal loan.

It would help give me breathing room for some time and help me make a career change. Are there any obvious traps to look out for?

Edit - Thanks for the advice, everyone! I'm not planning on taking out a loan anytime soon. I'm just under stress and hate my job. I just wanted to know if getting a loan would be a viable option to buy some time/recharge for a little bit without immediate bills on my ass.

  • sovietknuckles [they/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Taking out a loan to facilitate a career change is a little risky, because if the career change doesn't work out, the interest and monthly loan payments are still there. Any way you have to make the career change while avoid the loan would be better IMO, loans are traps.

  • RonaldMcReagan [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    This is not legal advise, just obvious things, but still worth mentioning.

    Always check terms for:

    • what methods the lender can use to calculate an increase in interest rate.
    • when the lender can exercise the right to increase.
    • how and when the lender is required to serve notice of those increases and when are you deemed to have 'received' notice.
    • penalty provisions for defaulting.
    • rights reserved for you and the lender to terminate the loan agreement.
    • consequences of termination.

    I guess basically just plan for the worst case scenario and consider if you could absorb the cost of default/termination.

  • 7bicycles [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Is the career change fail safe or fail deadly? I.e., can you keep your job and pay off the loan if it doesn't work out or are you fucked?

  • pooh [she/her, any]
    ·
    2 years ago

    If it's a career change to another country, you could always take out a massive loan and then never pay it back.

    • Sea_Gull [they/them]
      ·
      2 years ago

      But if I was thinking about that, I'd never be able to move back to the US... Oh no...

      • pooh [she/her, any]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Faking your own death might be an option too, but that would take a lot of time and effort and would probably involve stealing a corpse.

  • Simferopol [none/use name]
    ·
    2 years ago

    if you have some relative maybe ask them for money with low or no interest? ik not possible in all cases.

  • Ligma_Male [comrade/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    loans like that usually end in you asking family for money anyway, and most of them are scams.

  • SovietyWoomy [any]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Might be a terrible idea, but could you get a new credit card with an introductory 0% APR and make sure to pay it off before that promo ends to avoid getting hit with all the interest at once