A personal loan is a financial agreement allowing you to borrow money from a lender. You pay the loan back to the lender in monthly instalments over a pre-determined time period. The lender charges you interest, for lending the money. The interest rate is a percentage of the total loan amount and is added to the monthly instalments you pay to the lender.
The interest rate on a loan can be variable or fixed. Variable interest rates may go up or down over time, depending on the general interest rate in the market. An increase in the general interest rate will increase the monthly interest rate payment on your loan. A decrease in the general interest rate will decrease the monthly interest rate payment on your loan.
Fixed interest rates are set for the life of the loan. Interest rate payments on your loan will be exactly the same every month until the loan is paid off. Budgeting your monthly expenses is easier with fixed interest rate payments because you know in advance the cost of your monthly loan instalments. Fixed interest rates protect you from unexpected increases in the general market interest rate. If the general interest rate in the market falls, however, your monthly interest rate payment will remain the same. Most personal loans have fixed rates for the duration of the loan period.
The length of time you take to pay back the loan to the lender is the loan period, or repayment period. A shorter loan period will have higher monthly payments because there are fewer months over which to spread them. However, you will pay less in total interest on loans with a shorter loan period.
A personal loan is a financial agreement allowing you to borrow money from a lender. You pay the loan back to the lender in monthly instalments over a pre-determined time period. The lender charges you interest, for lending the money. The interest rate is a percentage of the total loan amount and is added to the monthly instalments you pay to the lender. 
