Personal Finance - Emergency Cash Needed?

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If you need huge money, lets say 6 months or one year of your gross salary, as an emergency, then consider following options rather than depending on credit cards.

• Play with your money - If you have your own money in CDs, use them first. Always safe to play with your own money rather than borrowed money. Sometime people hesitate to take their own money and they will touch only at the end.
• Go with Home Equity Loan - This is a safe loan which offer low interest rate. Make sure you do not have any pre payment or refinancing penalties.
• Go with 401K Loan - If you have 401K plan, 50% of your vested investment can be borrowed at very low APR and low loan application fee. This would create problem if you get laid off or switch your company. Because the monthly installments will get deducted from your pay check directly.
• Go with personal loan - If you have good credit score and unused credit line, then you might approved for your personal loan. Even if you pay loan origination fee, that would be less compared to credit card transaction fee. Make sure you do not have any pre payment penalty for the loan.
• Go with Auto Loan - Use your own vehicle as a collateral to get the loan. Again if you are at the beginning of financial issue and have a good credit score, getting approval from usual auto loans with low APR is easy.
• Go with Life Insurance Loan - If you have any life insurance plan, you may get a loan with the plan. The maximum limit is depending how long and how much you have paid as premium.
• Go with 0% APR on credit card - This would be the last option.