The Internet has opened a world of opportunity in many ways, and that includes online loans. No longer do potential borrowers have to search all over their towns for a decent rate on a loan because with so many different lenders in cyberspace, finding the lowest rate is as close as the click of a mouse.

Types of online loans

Contrary to what some people may believe, online loans are not limited to just personal loans by any means. The information superhighway has loans for anything you can imagine including:

• Cars

• Homes

• Boats

• College

• Consolidation

• Student loan consolidation

• Credit cards

• Home equity

There is no limit to the types of loans that lenders offer on the Internet. Any reason that you can imagine for needing a loan, there is a lender that offers that loan, including mortgages and pre-approved mortgages. Of course, we tend to think of online loans in terms of either credit cards or personal loans, but it goes way beyond those.

How to find lenders

Now that you know the Internet has an abundance of lenders for many different types of loans, you need to know how to find them. Although you can search under loans and come up with thousands of search results from the engines, we recommend that you search for the type of loan you seek such as car loan, mortgage, equity loan, and the like. Another option is to use one of the financial search engines that provide your information to a large number of lenders at the same time such as Lending Tree and others. That way you will have a larger sampling of lenders than if you went to individual sites in order to read their loan criteria and different loans they have.

How safe are online applications?

Everyone worries about safety when it comes to the Internet, but the truth is if you exercise caution, you have very little about which to be concerned. Most financial sites have secure sites, shown by a lock either within the site itself or at the bottom of the website close to the toolbar. Absence of this lock means the site is not secure, and you should not put any personal information on it. If there is a telephone number, call the lender and ask for another way to fill out the application or if there is no telephone number listed, send an email and advise the lender what you need. It may be a problem with their site that they can fix, but at any rate, you do not want to put any personal information on an unsecured site because there is the potential for others to be able to read your information.

Receiving the loan proceeds

Since you are not sitting in front of the lender for him to hand you the check, you need to know how to receive the proceeds of your online loan. Depending on the reason for the loan, you can arrange for the lender to mail you the check, or if possible, directly deposit it into your checking account. If it is for the purchase of a car, the check will be sent directly to the dealer, probably by wire transfer. The same holds true for payments for consolidation and the purchase of furniture or other merchandise.