Auto dealers frequently offer special financing opportunities with interest rates far lower than personal loan rates, simply because an auto loan is a collateralized debt. With both home equity loans and HELOCs, you will often have a lower interest rate than with personal loans," Felipe says. While personal loans can help people pay off high-interest debt faster, "a personal loan can cause harm if an individual is taking on additional debt at higher interest rates to service expenses that are unnecessary," says Ali Hashemian, Certified Financial Planner, author, and President of Kinetic Financial.