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Understanding Terms for Bank Loans
When the concept of banking first arrived on the scene, a bank was viewed as a place where people could deposit their money in order to keep it safe. This was the premise of the most ancient of the banks. But the person who came up with the idea of a bank loan – or a bank that loans out money to people for an interest charge, can be credited with the most important inventions of all time.
Today, banks have been synonymous with bank loans. Nearly every individual who has a bank account has a bank loan of some sort. And living up to this reputation, the modern day banks offer loans for every imaginable need or requirement. All of which comes at a nice interest though! Speaking for myself, my first relationship with a bank was when I opened my first savings account. But it has been the bank loans that have made me dependent on the bank for my survival. I took my first bank loan when I wanted to buy a two-wheeler. It was an auto bank loan or a bank loan given for the specific purpose of buying a vehicle. My next bank loan was taken when I wanted to buy a flat. Nobody in the present day and age (unless they are born to money) has enough money lying around to make big ticket purchases like a flat or an apartment, without having to resort to a bank loan. I myself could never have hoped to buy a flat without a bank loan. (Of course, it is another matter altogether that I will continue to pay this bank loan, with interest, for another fifteen years to come!) Even a mortgage is just another variety of a bank loan issued for housing purposes, with collateral attached.
There are also other types of bank loans issued for various purposes. A personal bank loan will enable you to buy a broad spectrum of goods or services. This sort of bank loan will come in handy for repairs, renovations, marriages, celebrations, events or any other expenses that you don’t have cash lying around for. And then of course, there are student bank loans. There are bank loans that will help you buy a car. And again, there are bank loans that will help you buy computers, washing machines and other consumer goods. Broadly speaking, even credit cards are a form of a bank loan that you can repay. And some banks even offer you loans to pay up other loans you may have taken in the past!
Bank loans issued to individuals for the purpose of housing are probably the vast majority of loans issued by banks. But they may not compare in volume or value to bank loans issued to businesses worldwide. Whether it is a small business operated out of the home or a large business that needs millions of dollars in order to tide over a cash flow problem or to acquire assets, banks loans issued to businesses far outstrip individual bank loans. One could go so far as to say that without bank loans, the vast majority of business worldwide would collapse. Small wonder then that banking, and by association investment, lending, finance and credit are the words that drive business in the modern day.
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