There are many reasons people from all walks of life choose to take out loans. Maybe you’re trying to fund an entrepreneurial project, like opening a store or a restaurant, founding an online business, or creating a work of art or music that you hope will be commercially saleable. Or perhaps you’re taking out a loan to facilitate your living situation. Car loans are one of the most commonly sought varieties, as are home loans.

Many people who find themselves in a financial pinch are attracted to the idea of quick loans, loans for which there is little or no credit screening or approval process, and for which the overall processing time is quick, or even instantaneous. If you think you’ll benefit from a quick loan, you’d better read the fine print and make sure loans of this type are actually right for you. As they’re often a gamble (can you really guarantee what your precise return on investment is going to be?), you can wind up stuck with some extraordinarily high interest rates. Getting in debt to this kind of private loan service is not something any homeowner or entrepreneur wants to deal with.

Most loans will require that you put up something of yours as collateral. Vehicles are often used for this purpose, and sometimes homes as well. Whole businesses are sometimes put up as collateral. But is this the only way? Unsecured loans are the way around this, but they’re a rare breed, as the lender (lacking any tangible way to secure repayment) has little recourse to demand what they’re owed, beyond legal action. Unsecured personal loans, meaning loans strictly to cover personal expenses, are available from various sources, but they also have a way of ending up in small claims court or other courts. Unsecured loans in general are best for short term expenses, like for unexpected medical emergencies. Of course the terms can vary, but a typical timeframe for repayment of this kind of loan falls within the span of one year.