I can think of fifty or seventy-five reasons a person might need to take borrow some cash for a short period of time. Think through this scenario – it’s April 5th, and in just ten short days the government is going to be looking for a rather large check in the mail from you. Your previous fiscal year went better than expected, which is turning out to be both a blessing and a curse now that you’re staring at your obscenely large tax burden.

So you owe the government some money, and you have one big problem – you spent all your cash reserves (which were supposed to take the fear out of tax day) on a trip to everyone’s favorite gambling town in Nevada. You’re wishing the government were in favor of such trips, so they’d give you a break on your bill, but no such luck. Yeah, right – it’s either pay the bill or pay the interest and penalties.

A lack of cash isn’t the only problem you have to resolve before you can pay off the Feds – you’re also facing your poor credit history. Remember when you purchased an almost new Ford truck because they were having a year-end blowout sale? You borrowed the money for the truck even when you knew you’d have no real ability to keep up with the large monthly payments, and not much time had gone by before the truck had to be repossessed.

You have yourself in a serious quandary – how are you going to get the government’s money to them when you have no cash and really bad credit? There is an answer, although it’s not ideal. Certain types of lenders will give you a signature loan for people with really bad credit.

What exactly is a signature loan? You go to your local bank, fill out their forms, smile, shake their hands, and head home with a wad of cash to help you survive tax day. It’s an uncomplicated process, but their going to want more than a big smile from you if they’re going to give you the money.

The first requirement your prospective lender will be looking for is a steady income. They won’t mind your terrible credit as much if you can show them your earnings will easily cover the repayment of their funds. There are a number of ways to verify your income, including canceled paychecks, check stubs, or last year’s tax forms.

And what about collateral? Collateral is defined as some valuable article the lender could sell on the open market if the borrower decided not to fulfill the obligations of the loan. It’s a classic risk-minimizing tool for banks who want to be able to recover all or part of their lost money when they loan to flaky people. Be careful – if you use something you actually care about for collateral, you run the serious risk of losing your valued item.

If you can convince the bank you’re not a major loan risk, you’ll end up getting the loan and surviving the day. Next time you should probably be more prudent about the use of your emergency cash reserves and your tax planning. Don’t let your financial situation become a vicious cycle!

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