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Whether there’s something broken in your home that needs fixing, or you just got inspired to redecorate, or maybe even decided to install a pool, redo the kitchen, or add a patio, home improvement definitely takes a considerable amount of money to accomplish. On average, renovating your whole house could run you $40,000 to $60,000. Not many people would have 40 grand laying around to do home renovations. If you want to do away with taking out another mortgage on your house, your best alternative would be to apply for a personal loan to finance your projects. With several personal loan types to choose from, how would you know which one would work best for you?

Here are things you need to consider:

1. Your credit score

Personal loans are usually unsecured, meaning you don’t have to put up collateral to borrow money. The loan will depend entirely on your rating. Most lenders prefer a score of 660 or higher. If you meet this criterion, you have several lenders or lending companies you can borrow from.

2. Loan amount and interest rates

Once you know your credit score, the next thing to consider is the amount you need and the interest rates that lending companies have for various personal loans. The average interest could run from 10% to 32%. With personal loans being unsecured, interest rates are mostly higher than secured loans; so you will need to consider why you are renovating, how much it would run you, and if the interest rate is something you feel is justified and is something that you can afford to pay off.

Once you have set a budget for yourself and know how much you can afford to pay monthly for your loan, it’s time to shop around for the best rate on your personal loan. When doing this, you will find that the higher your credit score is, the lower your interest rate. On average, a credit score between 720 and 850 will get you a 10%-12% interest rate on personal loans. A score of 300-639 will get you an average interest rate of 28.5% to 32%.

3. Repayment terms

You have to ask yourself: what is the repayment term you can afford? The usual terms for personal loans are one-, three-, and five-year repayment terms. What this means is that the lender will give you one, three, or five years to pay off your loan. Just keep in mind that the longer your repayment term is, the higher the interest. This is because the longer the payment term, the higher the risk of non-payment is.

There are several lenders that offer personal loans for home improvement. A quick search online will lead you to lists and tables of lending companies and banks with their APRs. Some will even have the ratings of each company or bank.

There are lenders that offer personal loans with reasonable APRs that will not break your bank trying to pay the loan back. Find one that will also help you build your credit portfolio, as well as help you improve your credit rating and improve your chances of getting approved for a loan with better APR in the future.

This article originally appeared on Payment1.com