I did it many times when I was younger and it worked great. We always did it through a bank and never had to have collateral as our credit history was unblemished. If you decide not to go that route you might want to talk to your insurance agent and have all of the bills to them ( homeowners, auto,Etc.) set up for monthly payments instead of 4 or 6 large ones due throughout the year. It costs 2-3 extra $'s to do this but so much easier on the wallet overall. Good luck to you.