When money gets tight, you need options. If you’ve got debts coming up, then you’ve got to figure out how to settle them before you end up in serious financial or legal trouble. Sometimes it’s just lousy timing: you know that you’ll have the money you need soon, but the deadline is just over the horizon, and you need to figure out how to get your hands on some money right now. In these cases, you may want to think about a short term borrowing strategy like taking out a car title loan.

Hang on, though—aren’t car title loans supposed to be risky? Well, that’s what some people say, but actually, car title loans can be a really useful strategy, as long as you know what you’re getting into and have a plan for how to get back out. Most of the people complaining about car title loans are just folks who didn’t approach their loans responsibly, and who suffered the consequences. That’s to be expected when you don’t read the fine print, but for those of you who pay attention and treat your title loan with respect, you shouldn’t have any problems.

You’re probably familiar with how title loans work. When you take out a car title loan, you’ll fill out an application and submit a couple of documents that prove you’re the legal owner of your vehicle. A couple of days later (if you’re using a bigger company like Embassy Loans), you’ll get the money agreed on during the appraisal and hand over the title to your vehicle. The idea is that you get the title back if you pay the loan off in time, and if you don’t, then the loan company takes your vehicle. Here’s the thing, though: if you avoid using car title loans frivolously, you won’t have to end up in that kind of jam.

Let’s say you’re getting married, and you need extra money for the wedding. You know you have a big raise coming at work, but your boss has just told you that it won’t kick in until after the wedding, which you and your fiancé have already scheduled. This situation is a good example of when a car title loan might come in handy. You know you’ll have the money soon; you just need a little extra in the short term. If you stick to using car title loans for the right reasons and avoid taking them out whenever you want to burn money, there’s nothing to fear from car title loans.