Used car financingWritten by Jakob Jelling
Purchasing or leasing a new vehicle can be an expensive proposition that you may not be ready to commit to right now for many reasons. But if you do need a vehicle this only leaves you with one option purchasing a used vehicle. A purchasing a used vehicle can save you thousands of dollars in interest payments, especially if you do not have perfect credit. However, finding a lender for a used car loan can be very difficult. Any time that you are considering a financed solution first thing you should do is examining your credit report. Looking at you credit report will do several things for you. It will give you an idea of how much interest you can expect to pay, let you know how creditors will view you, indicate your odds of getting a loan and allow you to verify and correct any mistakes that you may be there. This is very important as 1 out of 4 credit reports usually contains errors that can result in you paying higher interest rates. Once you have an idea as to what to expect for interest rates and perhaps who will finance you can begin to shop for your loan. A bank is a good place to start if your FICO score is more than 600 but there can be several bottlenecks to your getting a loan. In order for a bank to issue a car loan for a used car it must meet certain standards. Each situation is a little different but generally your car must be less than 5 years old and ideally be less than 3 years old, have low mileage and still have a warranty. The reason for these requirements is to ensure that vehicle still is of value if you default on your loan and to make sure that it is not going to be a write off while repaying loan thus encouraging you to walk away from payments. If you do get an auto loan do not be surprised if term for repaying loan is 3 years or less. Since vehicle will depreciate in value faster than a new vehicle would terms for loans are normally shorter. If you are not able to secure an auto loan and you have good credit you may wish to seek a line of credit or a personal loan from bank. Since this loan will be considered an unsecured loan you will pay a higher interest rate than you would for an auto loan but this rate may be lower than rates offered by a third party lender. However if you are looking to finance a privately sold vehicle this may be your only option.
| | Shave £100,000 off your mortgage by doing... NOTHING!Written by Peter Parsons
Surely it can't be possible? To chop 100 big ones off your mortgage without even trying? How about chopping a few years off term of mortgage too, all absolutely free? Sound too good to be true? Well, dear home buyer, get a load of this! We will consider UK for purposes of this article (although principle is valid anywhere). First of all, let's remember that UK property boom is now well and truly over, and prices are sliding (according to UK's 'Land Registry', official source for property transaction figures), and have done so for 11 months straight.Like all booms, this one went bust, and as it is a property boom, resultant crash appears to be in slow motion, with a 'water torture' of continuous falls, probably (if history is any lesson!) for between 5 to 7 years. Sounds nasty? Not at all. It in fact provides an opportunity for you to save yourself hundreds of thousands, and literally years off your mortgage. The average house in UK has now dropped back down to just below £170,000 and is heading south. So what, I hear you cry. Consider cost of servicing a £170,000 mortgage at close to long term UK average interest rate (we'll use 7% as an example - actually 1% comfortably BELOW long term UK interest rates!). Over 25 years, that property will cost you £1,201.52 a month, each and every month for 25 years making a total cost of £190,456 in interest. This means that after 25 years, you will own house, and it will have cost you £360,456. Surprisingly large amount, isn't it? And here's where REALLY interesting bit comes in. General inflation in UK is running at just below 3%. Assuming by some miracle that realtor's preferred 'soft landing' (stagnation) scenario happens, that still means that over 3 years, prices will have effectively dropped by 10% or so. And what if we get 'gentle falls' - say 5% a year? That adds up to 15%. Add on general inflation, and houses in 3 years time are likely to be, under this scenario, 25% cheaper than now. If prices actually 'crash' as they usually do, in 3 years average UK house could be a measly £110,500.
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