Congratulations on your engagement with your partner! Now that being engaged is out of the way, it is now time to prepare for the next step in taking your relationship to the next level. Of course, we are talking about tying the knot together at a wedding.
The average cost of a Chinese wedding in Singapore is really high, with a $27,000 average on a normal wedding. If you want a grand wedding with a lot of guests, be prepared to spend an average cost of $100,000 or more. Wedding loans Singapore can help you with dealing with those expenses.
What is a wedding loan
Back then, “wedding loans” were just renamed personal loans. These are loans that you can spend on anything you want, without any restrictions like vehicle financing or home renovation loans. However, that is no longer the case. There are wedding loans now that are specifically catered to borrowers who are planning to walk down the aisle.
How it works
Loans used for marriage have no collateral, lower rates compared to credit cards, and have a loan tenure of 6 months to 5 years.
When to take a wedding loan
It is not recommended to take a wedding loan just to make your Chinese wedding in Singapore more extravagant. This is considered a splurge expense, which will be very expensive to pay later once the joy of the wedding is over.
Meanwhile, if you cannot afford to invite family members and important friends that you want to be present on your big day due to a shortage of money, taking a wedding loan makes sense. It is better to spend loan money if it means that important people in you and your partner’s life are able to attend than spending it on making your Chinese wedding grander.
The advantages and disadvantages of taking a wedding loan
Like every other loan, wedding loans have certain advantages and disadvantages. In this section, we will discuss some of them.
Advantages
Taking a wedding loan has its advantages, and that’s why people resorted to taking them. Below are some of the best advantages of taking a loan for your Chinese wedding:
1. Loans are very convenient
Loans are a really hassle-free method of acquiring cash. When you begin preparing for your big day, you will find out that your wedding venue, as well as other service providers like catering services, requires advance payments to be able to reserve the services they provide. These expenses, along with the usual wedding expenses (wedding dress, wedding cake, etc) can quickly add up. When you do not have a massive amount of cash reserved for the wedding, you can cover the expenses with a wedding loan.
2. Easy to apply
Loans that can be used as wedding loans are easy to apply for. Most licensed money lender today accept online applications, which makes the process even easier. Once your loan is approved, the loan money is deposited directly to your bank account, or through other means. Most money lenders in Singapore have a fast release of cash, with some even releasing money in just a day once the loan is approved.
3. Unsecured wedding loans have no collateral
Taking up a wedding loan will not put your properties at risk of repossession since they are normally unsecured.
4. Taking out a personal loan can boost your credit score
If you are looking to improve your credit score, you can do so by taking and paying a loan properly. Just make sure that you do not make a late or missed payment, and chances are your credit score will increase. A high credit rating has a lot of benefits, which includes making it easier for you to qualify for loans and obtain low rates.
5. Inquiring for wedding loans doesn’t affect your credit score
As long as you are doing only soft credit checks, wedding loan inquiries will not affect your credit score since they will not appear on your credit report.
6. Lower interest rates compared to credit card
Back then, before wedding loans became common, a lot of people looking for money to spend on their wedding use credit cards instead. However, this is not a wise idea because credit cards come with notoriously high rates
Wedding loans normally have lower rates compared with credit cards. As long as you have a good credit score and an outstanding credit history, you will get good rates with the best personal loans. For this reason, we do not recommend you to use a credit card as your credit loan, except if you have no other options.
Disadvantages
As listed above, there are a lot of advantages to taking out a loan for wedding purposes. However, that doesn’t mean that there are no disadvantages. Below, we will list some of them:
1. You will pay it for a long time
Taking out a loan for your big day will mean that you will have to pay monthly for the duration of the loan, which is usually 6 months to 5 years. Imagine still paying for your wedding 3 years later, and with interests too.
2. Your married life will start with a debt
Money problems are one of the most common sources of fights in married people. Do you want to add the burden of a debt to the first years of your marriage? If you have to take out a loan to be able to afford the wedding in Singapore that you want, chances are you don’t have a lot of disposable income, or you don’t have enough savings. If you do not want to begin your married life paying monthly for a loan that you only spent on just a single day (and honeymoon), you might want to think twice.
It will be better for you and your partner to start your first years together building up your wealth, as opposed to paying for your loan.
3. You will have a harder time qualifying for new loans until you settled the wedding loan
If you have current loans, it will be harder to be eligible for other loans. So, if you want to purchase a new house or a new vehicle with a loan after you are married, you will have a harder time qualifying for those loans if your wedding loan is still unpaid.
Every time a financial institution looks at your loan application, they are going to take a look at your current loans to find out if you are able to pay the loan you are applying for. When you have a lot of outstanding loans, the lender might lower the amount they approve, or might even reject your loan application completely.
4. You will be tempted into spending more than you can afford
Once you have taken a loan, you will have a lot of money on hand to spend. They could make you spend more than what you originally planned. You could be more prone to buying a more expensive floral arrangement, buying a really expensive dress, or inviting a lot more guests to your wedding in Singapore. All of these upgrades when added all together, will be very expensive and will take up a chunk of your loan.
How a personal loan can help you cover the wedding expenses
Aside from the venue, catering services, wedding bands, wedding dress, cakes, and overall bridal package, there are a lot of other expenses associated with weddings in Singapore. They include the following:
1. Wedding decorations
A wedding in Singapore will be incomplete without decorations. One of the most expensive decorations is the flower arrangement that will adorn the wedding venue. The bridal banquet is also something that shouldn’t be missing. Depending on the type of flowers used in the floral arrangement, a banquet can cost you a fortune. A wedding loan in Singapore can help alleviate some of that.
There are businesses that contract all of the decorations of a venue, which takes a lot off your shoulders. This will allow you to focus on other aspects of your wedding in Singapore. However, hiring an all-in team like that is definitely not cheap.
2. Wedding banquet
Depending on how grand your wedding is, and how many guests are invited, a wedding banquet can cost a fortune too. Wedding banquet providers also require deposits before scheduling you, so be prepared to have the money to pay them before the day of your marriage.
3. Solemnization
Weddings in Singapore have fees. Solemnization is the act of being wed itself, where you and your partner will exchange your “I do’s”. It can be performed by either a priest of your religion or a judge. Regardless of which you choose, you will have to pay solemnization fees.
4. Entertainment
After you are done with the marriage ceremony, the next thing that happens is the reception. This is a separate place that you have to rent if your wedding ceremony is conducted at a church. In the reception, there needs to be entertainment, such as wedding bands, for your guests. There are also traditional games that are played, photo booths, and programs to keep people busy. Of course, you will have to pay for wedding bands, hosts, sound systems, and the people that you hire to handle the programs.
5. Wedding day photography/videography
If you are taking loans for your wedding, your marriage ceremony is likely to be grand. A grand wedding is something that you want to immortalize with photos and videos. As such, you will have to hire photographers and videographers to perfectly capture your marriage. After all, it is a once in a lifetime event, and it is so important that you are willing to take out a loan for it. Professional photographers and videographers can be very expensive, and you will have to hire more than one if you want a full video coverage of your wedding in addition to photos.
6. Honeymoon
Last but not the least, you have to consider your honeymoon with your new partner in life. This can be a simple 3-day stay at a luxury hotel, or as grand as a 1-month vacation to a holiday destination. Honeymoons can be very expensive, depending on where you want to stay.
All of these marriage expenses will quickly add up to enormous amounts, making wedding loans a necessity if you haven’t saved money for your wedding.
How much can you get with a wedding loan
The maximum amount and or the average cost that you can get for your wedding loan mainly depends upon your eligibility. Banks have a maximum loanable amount of 4x your income monthly if you qualified for the minimum amount. Meanwhile, people with better credit score and good credit history can get even more than that.
Some lending institutions offer 10x your income monthly as a loan if you are earning S$120,000 and above. Repayment schedules are the standard monthly payments, while rates are the normal 4% to 5%, with special promotions allowing people to sign up with loans featuring 3% to 2% interest rates.
How to to get your wedding loan in Singapore approved easily
Now that you decided to take out a wedding loan to augment your wedding, here are some tips on how to get your loan for a wedding in Singapore approved easily.
1. Make sure to have an excellent credit history
Your credit rating and credit history are going to be strong evidence that you are a good payer. Having an excellent credit rating and credit history will allow you to obtain favourable loans with ease. This is because banks and other lending institutions are more willing to accept the loan application of someone with great credentials.
Improve your credit rating by settling unpaid loans, not issuing bouncing checks, paying your credit card and other bills on time, and being a good payer in general. You can check credit reports on your profile to see if you possess a good credit score, and to see the areas where you can improve.
Keeping a savings account open will is a good way to improve your credit score. Also, avoid closing credit card lines even if you no longer use them, because closing bank accounts and credit card accounts will actually hurt your credit score.
2. Improve your DTI by settling your unpaid debts
Your debt to income ratio is one of the most important factors that lenders consider when looking at your loan. For starters, the debt to income ratio is the combination of all your monthly loan obligations divided by your income.
Your debt to income ratio is a measure of your ability to pay additional loans on top of your current loans. This is one of the main factors that money lenders use when determining your capability to handle the monthly installments for the loan that you are borrowing from them.
The better your debt to income ratio is, the more willing money lenders are when it comes to approving your loans.
3. Do not borrow for more than what you need
You should avoid borrowing more than what you need for your wedding in Singapore. This is because you will be tempted to overspend if you have an excess budget. For example, you have already budgeted your wedding in Singapore at an average cost of S$50,000. You take a S$70,000 loan to use as a wedding loan. Now, you have an excess of S$20,000. With that excess money, you will surely be tempted to upgrade some of your previous wedding expenses to fully use an average cost of S$70,000 loan. This might sound like a good idea if you are in the heat of the wedding, but once it is over, it can be regrettable.
This will come to bite you in the future once you are paying for the loan and its interest. Instead of paying for what you just originally planned, you will be paying even more in interest and monthly settlements. As such, only apply for a loan after you made a wedding expenses budget, and only apply for a loan that matches the plan that you formulated. Do not take a higher marriage loan offer even if the loan provider practically shoves it in your face.
4. Find the best lender
Finding the best marriage loan is synonymous with finding the best lender. After all, the best lenders offer the best loans with the most competitive rates and favourable terms and conditions. Finding the best lender is vital to avoid falling into debt traps and other scams since you will avoid lenders with bad ratings.
It is recommended that you visit loan comparison websites such as Loan Advisor when you are canvassing for the best loans available in Singapore. Online comparison tools such as Loan Advisor is an extremely efficient way of getting the best deal since you are able to compare a lot of loans with less effort.
You only have to sit in front of a computer and spend a few hours studying what is the best loan offer for the needs of weddings in Singapore. Taking advantage of pre-approval will also help you in finding the interest rates and monthly rates that you can handle.
5. Use a cosigner
Same with other loan types, you will be able to qualify easily through the use of a co-signer. A cosigner is someone who applies for the loan with you and agrees to pay in case you are not able to. This is useful if you have a bad credit score since the cosigner will nullify your credit score.
6. Apply for a joint loan
A joint loan is a loan that is shared by you and your partner. Similar to using a cosigner, this means that both of you will share the responsibility in paying it. This is more advantageous when it comes to approval since the lending institution will consider both of your incomes and credit scores into account. Additionally, your wife or husband will be the acting “co-signer” in this loan, which makes it a good choice if you are unable to convince a friend to be a cosigner in your loans.
With this, you will be able to qualify easier, especially if both you and your partner have a good credit rating. If both of you have a job, you will also be able to apply for a higher amount compared to when you are just the sole person applying for the loan.
How to find the best wedding loan
In this section, we will discuss some of the ways that you can find the best wedding loans. First, we encourage you to use loan comparison websites such as Loan Advisor. As stated earlier in this article, some people just use a trusted personal loan in Singapore as their wedding loan Singapore. If you find a good loan with low rates, you might as well take it for your wedding day.
If you are looking for a licensed money lender in Singapore offering loans, we recommend you to check out Fortune Credit. Operating since 2010, they have a 5-star rating on Loan Advisor, which says a lot on the quality of loans and customer service that they provide.
They offer a designated wedding loan too, but there is no stopping you from making just one of their personal loan offers for the same purpose. Some of the requirements include being 21 years and above, and a resident of Singapore for a few years. To view all of the requirements and other information that you need, check out the site of Fortune Credit.
