Robert Jain: The Most Common Questions Regarding Interest Rates

By Jason McDonald


Do you owe a large sum of money to your bank, student loan provider, or what have you? If so, it's likely that you're already familiar with interest rates, at least on a general level. What you may not know about these rates, however, is that they are more intricate than they appear. For those that would like to learn more about interest rates so that they can improve their financial situations, here are the questions that Robert Jain and others will stress that you ask.

"What are interest rates, anyway?" An interest rate is defined as the percentage of what's owed during a certain pay period. This applies to anything from your bank statement to your student loan bill, as you're likely to pay interest on top of what's already owed. Furthermore, the longer that a payment is left unaccounted for, the greater the interest becomes. Bob Jain and other names in the world of finance will tell you the same.

"Why do we need to pay interest rates?" Despite how bothersome they seem on the surface, interest rates are actually important for us. One of the reasons for this is to counteract the possibility of someone not making payments as they should. Interest provides an incentive, which increases the likelihood that someone will cover the aforementioned payments as required. Interest rates aren't as purposeless as they seem.

"What variables go into interest rates?" There are quite a few that are worth covering. The first is inflation; when inflation goes up, interest rates tend to increase by proxy. These rates may also be affected by the actions of borrowers, which is worth keeping in mind. They could also be impacted by how businesses, including banks, are fun. Interest rates are complex in terms of how they're determined, as there's no one variable to point the finger at.

"I'm not confident in paying interest rates. What should I do?" You don't have to fear, as there exists a bevy of methods for paying interest rates easier. If you have numerous debts to pay, start with the smallest and go from there. Even if smaller debts have smaller interest rates, you'll be able to pay them off sooner, which eliminates the interest in question. This is just one suggestion, but it's among the most worthwhile.




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