Personal loans can be used for anything – whether it’s emergency cash to pay a sudden medical bill or travel cash, and everything in between.

On this page, we’ll take a snapshot at the different types of personal loans that you can tap into to maximize your cash flow – instantly!

* Unsecured Personal Loan – a loan that’s not backed by collateral, but rather based solely on a borrower’s credit rating. This typically makes them more difficult to receive than a secured loan (which also factors a borrower’s income into the equation).

* Secured Personal Loan – A loan in which a borrower pledges some asset, such as a car or property as collateral for the loan, thereby making it a secured debt owed to the creditor. If the borrower defaults, the creditor can take possession of the asset / collateral.

* Payday Loan – a short-term loan that is repaid by a borrower’s next paycheck cycle or two. Often, the level of the loan is linked to a borrower’s income level – and keep in mind that interest fees may be high, relatively-speaking. See Interest Only loan below for more.

* Single Payment Loan – a loan that requires the pahyment of the entire principal sum at the end of the loan’s duration, as opposed to monthly installments.

* Installment Loan – a consumer loan in which the principal and interest are repaid by the borrower in equal installments at fixed intervals. Commonly secured.

* Emergency Cash Loan

* Interest Only Loan – sometimes, certain types of personal loans and the loan due dates (such as payday loans), can be extended until the next billing cycle if a borrower pays the interest on the loan, rather than the interest and principal. The penalty is that you’ll end up paying interest twice, once to extend, the other time when you pay off the loan.

* Bridging Loan – a short-term loan (usually one to three months advanced to cover the period between the termination of one loan and the commencement of another.

* Debt Consolidation Loan – the replacement of several smaller loans or debts into one large loan. Typically, the new loan has a longer payback period with smaller monthly installments than the original loans – which is by and large their appeal.

* Refund Anticipation Loan – This type of loan, otherwise known as a RAL, is a short-term loan that’s secured by a taxpayer’s / borrower’s expected tax refund. It’s designed to offer borrowers quicker access to funds rather than waiting for their tax refund.