In an ideal world, we would all have enough money and we would never have to borrow money. However, it is a fact that for many people, consumer credit and lines of credit can help finance essential purchases that we cannot do on our own.


But countless lenders offer a variety of consumer loans and loans, making it difficult to know which product is best for you. To help you decide, we'll cover the differences between both and some of the top options available.

difference between consumer credit and lines of credit

A consumer loan is essentially any type of loan that you can take out as an individual, including:

mortgage

auto loa

student loan

personal loan

Also known as installment loans, they come with monthly payments and repayment terms and accounts are closed once the loan is repaid.

However, a line of credit is a form of revolving credit, which means you can borrow money up to your credit limit, pay it off, and borrow it again. A line of credit can be secured by collateral -- such as in the case of a home equity line of credit -- or unsecured, such as with a personal line of credit.

While consumer loans often give you a choice between fixed and variable interest rates, lines of credit typically only charge variable rates.

To avoid making things too complicated, in the roundup below, we'll only cover personal loans that you can generally use for just about anything.

Also, while credit cards are a type of unsecured credit line, we will not cover them here. Instead, we'll focus on the personal loans you can get from banks, credit unions or online lenders.

4 of the Best Consumer Loans and Lines of Credit

With so many options available, it can be hard to know where to start. To help you get an idea of ​​what you can expect, we've put together a list of the four top consumer loans and credits.

We chose these companies because they are the epitome of some of the most reputable lenders in consumer credit and loans. Their competitive rates, few fees and features like repayment flexibility and overdraft protection are the reasons why they stand out.