When thinking about a personal loan you think about consolidating your expenses, or a student loan for career advancement. Many apply for home loans or even small business loans. But have you or would you consider a personal loan to pay off your wedding or your event?
This week on Facebook, we posed that exact question and got some great responses from people like Washington, DC Wedding DJ Kurtis Cross and Richmond, VA Florist Bron Hansboro. You can see more opinions here.
DISCLAIMER: You’re an adult and should make your own decisions based on your lifestyle and wedding or event needs.
Here’s my take and what you should consider before apply for a personal loan.
Do You Have Enough Expendable Income?
When applying for a personal loan, banks do not really ask you to list every single thing you spend your money on. All they care about is making sure you pay off the monthly requirement. You want to pay this because this can really hurt your FICO and Credit Score.
But the thing most people may forget to consider is how much expendable income you have in order to afford a loan. Expendable income is the money that you have left over after taxes are taken out and after you have paid for your basic needs. Things like food, your mortgage, your car loan, utilities can be included in this. Don’t forget your other loan obligations.
Now if you only have a few hundred dollars left over after this, do you really think taking out a loan for your wedding or event is healthy?
What Are Your Future Aspirations?
It’s so easy for you to focus solely on booking the perfect wedding venue in DC. Maybe you want to be one of the top events in DC. Whatever your goal for that big day, make sure you look past it to focus on what you want to do in the future.
If you are getting married, are you thinking about purchasing a house following the wedding? Does your event agenda take into consideration other events you want to do next? Thinking about your future is key and you don’t want a event or wedding loan approval to be the sole decision maker for you. A personal loan taken out for a wedding or event can jeopardize how much money and at what interest rate you can get a future loan. Be strategic and focus on your big picture.
What Is The Driving Force For The Personal Loan?
Let’s talk about weddings for a second. Couples are inundated by social media and trends to the point they feel they have to go above and beyond. Let’s take the Royal Wedding for example. Fortune states that the security alone cost about $40 million. Do you know what I could do with 10% of that? I don’t need the public to see me at my wedding nor do I want to dish out that much because of it.
Couples are pressured by everyone to have elaborate weddings. As one of the best DC Wedding Planners, I want to tell you that your wedding costs should not increase because of outside pressure to out-do others. Our clients have had incredible weddings no matter if it was minimalist or over-the-top.
Is Using A Credit Card Better Than A Loan?
This is one opinion that did come up on our Facebook Post. To be frank, funds from a credit card or loan is money that you are borrowing no matter what.
When it comes to a credit card, your annual APR fee tends to be more than that of a loan which is set at a fixed rate. Credit Karama reports, according to their June 21, 2017, release, the national average credit card rate across all types of cards was 15.96 percent. But that doesn’t mean your rate is 15%. In fact many credit card APR rates go as high as 25%. AYE DIOS MIO!!
Unless you plan to pay that credit card off in full before the year is out, you are subject to this rate based on the amount of money you have used.
What Are You Spending Habits?
This is a opportunity for you to really have a come to Jesus moment with yourself. Are you an impulse bride? Do you love splurging on top shelf alcohol for your corporate event? Maybe you are known for buying the office breakfast once a week.
Whatever your spending habits are you need to see if this is going to be a problem for you when it comes to paying off your loan. If you are living paycheck to paycheck, maybe a loan is not for you. If you can’t keep yourself away from HomeGoods like I can’t, maybe you shouldn’t complete that wedding loan application.
Understand your spending habits to see if they are healthy enough to ensure you will survive another loan.
In Conclusion
The choice is really yours to make on whether or not you want to go into your marriage or future event endeavors with debt. There is nothing wrong with applying for a personal loan to cover your costs. We simply recommend thinking everything through and seeing it in black and white prior to making your decision. We are your Event & Wedding Planners in DC, MD, VA and simply want the best for you.