Matt asked:


I’m 18 and trying to build credit, and I’m looking to get an installment loan.

Would it be a type of loan where I would take out, say, $1000 and put up $1000 of my own as collateral? I know that I pay it off over a set amount of time at a set interest rate.

I’m just wondering if it’s the kind of loan where I would put something up as collateral or how does it work?
I already have a credit card.

Mike D! asked:


I will probably need to replace my car soon, but I don’t know that I want a traditional car loan because it would require having more insurance, and thus be rather expensive for me. (It’d be about double for me, as I don’t have a spotless driving record). I was wondering if instead I could get a personal loan from the bank, say in the neighborhood of $3-5K and use that for a car thus saving me a bunch of money by not needing collision coverage if I could pay for the car in cash.

Now the questions … is this possible, or is there usually some stipulation that you can’t use a personal loan for a car? What sort of collateral do you usually need for a personal loan? If you have good credit, can you get one w/out collateral? Any info would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!