When should you take out a title loan? This seems like a simple question to answer: when you need it, of course, but it’s actually a little trickier than that. After all, all of us would like to be as self sufficient as possible, sometimes to a fault, and we’re often hesitant to reach out for help even when it would prevent further pain down the road.

To counteract that hesitancy, we’ve compiled a guide to help you identify when it’s time to take out a title loan, specifically those title loans Chicago residents could most make use of.

Do You Need Fast Cash?

Speed and convenience are the two strongest attributes of a title loan. Practically no other loan can get you the cash you need at the same speed as a title loan. The title loans Chicago residents take out can often take as little as a half hour from start to finish once you walk into a title loan store.

For the title loans Chicago residents, and residents of Illinois as a whole, can take out the upward limit is $4,000. That number will vary though based on the make, model, and condition of your car, which will be appraised when you drive to a title loan location in a quick inspection.

The speed of a title loan is what makes it such an effective way to deal with emergencies. An emergency room visit, sudden job loss, or car accident are all examples of emergencies that can strike suddenly and unexpectedly as lightning, and drain your savings immediately. Considering most people don’t have more than a few hundred in savings, a title loan provides an invaluable reserve to call on in emergencies.

Have You Done Everything You Can?

Before taking out a title loan, it’s important to ask yourself if you’ve played all the cards in your deck up to that point. A few of the steps you can take to pull yourself out of a financial hole:

• Going on unemployment is a useful way of bringing in a trickle of income if you’ve been suddenly laid off or fired. It will only last for around three months and won’t be the same income as you were used to when you were fully employed, but every little bit helps.
• Selling your possessions that you don’t need anymore can also earn you a fair bit in cash. Garage sales, pawn shops, and Ebay are all valid ways of unloading your possessions while making a little dough.
• Working odd jobs and gigs here and there is also a valid way of earning a little money on the side. If you already work full time this can be done on the weekends, while if you’re unemployed it’s a good option until you find a new job. Check out sites like Upwork, Fiverr, and Etsy to see what kind of gigs or products you could reasonably do or sell.

Will It Prevent Greater Costs Later?

This is a big one. Often it takes money to make money, and sometimes even spending money to save money. It’s an admirable trait that so many Americans are so stoic, but often in trying to just muscle through and endure problems we simply ignore situations that will only grow worse over time and cost exponentially more when they do inevitably have to be dealt with. A few examples of things it’s worth taking out a title loan to treat:

• Health is by far the best example of this dynamic, and because of the high cost of any type of medical visit or treatment in the US it’s also unfortunately the category most Americans put off. Often minor aches and pains are symptoms of deeper problems, and many serious diseases and medical conditions can be caught with early screening before they blossom into full blown emergencies.
• Home repair is another big offender in this category. A house fundamentally has no way of healing itself, and once even one crack in its armor appears, it’s sure to quickly split wider over time. Rot or mold in the walls for example will only grow worse until it threatens the structural stability of walls or even your roof.
• Cars, just like houses, will only ever degrade in quality unless you make an active effort to maintain them. A regular oil change, tire change, and tune up can mean potentially hundreds of thousands of miles added to the lifetime of your car.