Few things are more satisfying than driving your brand-new car – until you realize that it lost value immediately after you left the dealership. Thanks to depreciation, it’s possible for a car to lose over 20% of its starting value within the first year. According to CARFAX data, cars can lose over 10% of their
Automotive Loan
It’s always best to pay off a loan as soon as you can, isn’t it? Not necessarily. There are several reasons you may not want to pay off your loan early, including the effects on your credit score.
The obvious reason for early payoff is interest savings. By paying your loans off early (especially large
It seems obvious. If you drive an expensive car, you must have an excellent credit score – but that’s not always the case.
Credit scores are calculated from factors in your credit report, including on-time payment history and how much of your available credit you use. You could be a Lamborghini driver who is drowning
By Eric Olsen, Executive Director, HELPS Nonprofit Law Firm
Recreational Vehicle (RV) loans last typically for 10-15 years and sometimes up to twenty years. Often a medical condition or simply a change in lifestyle makes the RV no longer necessary. Sometimes a high RV payment can become simply unaffordable. What are the solutions for seniors
Debt is a major barrier to financial well-being among Americans. While we tend to think of debt as an issue affecting young and middle-aged people, the truth is that senior citizens carry debt, too. Among seniors approaching retirement, debt can be an obstacle to maximizing savings. Retirees living on a reduced income may find debt
Your credit score is one of the most important variables that lenders use to assess your risk. A low credit score can disqualify you for an auto loan, or force you to pay higher interest rates – but how much will higher interest rates cost you in the long run? New data from Experian shows
By Haden Kirkpatrick, Esurance Head of Marketing Strategy and Innovation
Despite the majority of cars being parked 90 percent of the time, cars are the second biggest expense in the average American’s budget. Aside from the actual purchase of the vehicle, owners also must pay for maintenance, insurance, repairs, gas, and cleaning costs. And don’t
So, you are in the market for a new vehicle, huh? You’ve got some important decisions to make. New or used? Coupe or sedan? Import or domestic? Fire engine red or metallic silver?
But perhaps your most important decision, at least from a financial standpoint, is how you will pay for the vehicle. You have
Is a bad credit score dragging you down? Almost half of millennials (46%) feel that way, according to a new survey conducted by OppLoans.
It’s an understandable feeling, given that millennials came of age during one of the worst recessions in decades. Many millennials emerged from the recession with delayed careers or lower-than-expected
When your credit score is down, it takes great effort to rebuild it. You have to take care to pay down your debts and get your finances in order. You may also have to change some of your spending habits to have the greatest impact. Consider these five spending habits that will retard your credit
Congratulations! Your shopping has paid off and you’ve finally found an excellent car at a reasonable price. Now, how do you plan to pay for it?
Dealers will be happy to arrange financing for you. Simply fill out and sign a loan application, and the Finance and Insurance (F&I) manager will immediately begin searching
By Eric Olsen, Executive Director HELPS Nonprofit Law Firm
Affordable transportation is often a concern for senior citizens. Some seniors go without basics to make car payments they can’t afford for a car with little or no equity. Others need affordable replacement transportation but don’t have the income to finance a car. What are
We frequently hear about America’s crushing student loan debt – but auto loans are not far behind. While student loans are approaching $1.5 trillion, outstanding auto loans topped the $1.2 trillion mark in the third quarter of 2017 according to the New York Federal Reserve.
Subprime borrowers (FICO credit scores below 620) hold almost one-quarter
Do you ever feel like you are drowning in debt? Have you ever considered simply not paying your debts? What’s the worst that can happen if you refused to pay them back?
Unless you owe that debt to the “unregulated” end of the high-risk loan market, nobody named Vito is going to show up and
Auto loan defaults have been on a steady decline, except for one segment – the subprime market of loan holders with credit scores below 620. According to the report on household debt recently released by the New York Federal Reserve, almost 10% of auto loans made to borrowers in the subprime market were delinquent by
Consider All the Costs Few things beat the thrill of driving off the auto dealership with your new car – but are you paying more for that thrill than you should be paying?
Presumably, you shopped around to find the car you wanted at the best price, and remembered to compare all the associated taxes
Your car served you well for many years, but now you’ve decided it’s time for a new one. After doing suitable research, you’ve found the car of your dreams at a local dealership. Now all that’s left to do is to finance it.
You fill out a loan application, and in a relatively short time,
“Dude, Where’s My Car?” may be the name of a lame Ashton Kutcher movie, but it could also be your response as you realize that your car has been repossessed.
Just like a home, a car is not yours until it is fully paid off. The creditor has the right to repossess it under certain
You may associate the term “refinancing” with a mortgage or a student loan. However, almost any loan can be refinanced if the conditions are correct, including an auto loan.
Why would you consider refinancing an auto loan? For the same reason you would refinance any loan — you are able to realize financial benefits. You
Have you been frustrated over the last few years with an inability to get credit? A recent survey by the Federal Reserve of New York suggests that while credit may be loosening, your frustration may continue.
Three times a year since October 2013, the New York Fed’s SCE Credit Access Survey assesses the state of
You may like shopping for a new or used car, but you will not like paying for it — especially when it comes to arranging the auto loan. The finance and insurance (F&I) office at the dealership is nobody’s idea of a good time. How can you keep your time in the F&I office to
June 28 is National Insurance Awareness Day. Are you aware of all the factors influencing the costs of your insurance? For example, does your credit score affect your car insurance rates? If you live in California, Massachusetts, or Hawaii, the answer is no. For residents of all the other states, the answer is yes, thanks
America Breaks the Debt Record According to the New York Fed’s recent Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit, America has more debt than ever before. Do you? Should you be concerned in either case?
The report shows that American household debt reached $12.73 trillion in the first quarter of 2017. That tops the previous
Does Anybody See a Pattern? The financial crisis of 2007-2008 was caused in no small part by a housing market full of questionable mortgages. Loan qualifications were stretched beyond reason to accommodate eager homebuyers trying to deal with rapidly increasing prices. The resulting “subprime” loans were packaged inside vast mortgage pools (such as government-backed
April is National Financial Literacy Month. Why do we dedicate this calendar page to highlighting financial skills and education? The tax deadline? Sound financial decisions are important all year long, but most Americans never learned how to manage money or save for goals, so financial security is a bigger challenge than it needs to be.
If you are having trouble making your auto loan payments, recent data from the New York Federal Reserve suggests that you are not alone. According to the New York Fed, delinquent auto loans have reached levels not seen in over eight years.
Auto loan delinquencies of greater than thirty days or more reached $23.27 billion,
Slower Credit Growth for the New Year Are you using more or less credit these days? If your habits track the latest data released by the Federal Reserve, your rate of consumer credit growth has slowed considerably.
The Fed’s release for January 2017 revealed that outstanding consumer credit rose by $8.8 billion to $3.77 trillion
America may be in a continued economic recovery, but that recovery is not currently translating into more consumers paying their debts on time. At least that is the case with respect to auto loans and credit card debt in the third quarter of 2016, according to the American Bankers Association (ABA).
The ABA tracks delinquency
According to a survey from AutoMD.com, 64 percent of
American drivers are riding in cars with more than 100,000 miles on the clock.
The reason so many odometers are rolling into triple digits is simple – saving
money. According to 81 percent of the drivers surveyed, the ideal lifespan of a
car is ten years
A report issued by the Pew Charitable Trusts in July 2015, stated that 80 percent of consumers in the U.S. have some type of debt. With auto loans and student loans both topping $1 trillion and credit card holders dealing with an average of more than $7,500 in debt, many are looking for ways to