Buy a car anytime you want, but I would tell anybody today that applying for a car offline is one of the worst and tiresome things I have done in my whole entire life. There was a man trying to explain the rates to me in a rushing manner. He even tried to force a particular car on me that I didnt even want, and the finance company that they deal with tried to push my rates close as 13 percent which is outrageous. I felt like I was being suckered into a deal so I turned towards the internet to get some information which is the best way to be successful in buying a car in todays world in my opinion.

I searched for days online looking for some great resources. There were many websites that showed you how to buy a car, but I needed to know the important points when I buy a car. Finally, I came upon some great websites that shows you everything that you need to know in order for you to apply yourself to buy a car successfully. I learned a ton of things, such as, the great loan company that I talk about on my website that you can easily apply for to buy a car anytime you want. What I liked about that loan is the rates and the time it takes for you to get a loan. It takes up to 24 hours for you to get a loan from them and the rates is the best on the net. The rates are very low. You would pay 7 percent at the most. Take out a loan because if you financed through a car dealership you probably would have to pay 9 or 10 percent interest rates to buy a car through a dealer.

When I was searching for a car, I also tried the car quote websites that, and they are great. I simply filled out the form and got quotes back to back in no time. There is four different websites for you to choose from or compare together. First I used edmunds, which is a pretty coo carl quote website, but personally, I like the other free car quote websites because it's easier to operate and quickerto obtain. You will get back some car quotes back in the same day. I used this for myself because you can make an educated decision of what price you can afford, and make or model of the cars. You can have local dealerships calling you to buy a car that fits your budget.

You can buy a car cash if you want. After I bought my car, I discovered some great auction services that allows me to buy a car from my own state and area. This is my main source when I buy a car now. The great news about buying auctioned cars is that you can get some really nice updated, running cars really cheap in your own local are. The bad news is that you have to react on these deals quickly in the process. I have posted some great car auction websites for people who want to buy a car cash instead of paying monthly rent. These are my jewels that I use here on out. I no longer have car bills to pay. I use most of my time buying 3 cars a month and selling them for a little more. Alot of the cars that are offered on the sites are in tip top shape. Many of the cars are under $1000. It's really easy to navigate your area. All you do is type in your area code and it shows you all the auctions going on in your area, contact info, etc.

***Remember before you buy a car to check and make sure mileages and price matches correctly. Check out my website and see how I calculated this for myself and do it for yourself too.***

About the Author

My name is Jay Pleas. I'm an auto mechanic and interior designer that spends most of my time buying autos and detailing them for many customers. At this time I make $100,000 a year maintaining my own car interior buisness. I live in Florida. I'm 28 years of age

www.squidoo.com/buy_a_car

1. Bring your ads to the store. Many stores offer “lowest price” guarantees, but you need to bring proof to get your product for a lower price.

2. Ask for a gift receipt. If you’re buying somebody a present, this is a big deal. No gift receipt means people might get stuck with a gift they don’t want/need.

3. Early bird discounts. If you’re going to save “big” money, the only way you’re going to do it is to show up early. Usually stores have the huge deals 5am-11am or so.

4. Don’t feel obligated to buy something. If you get to the store too late and all the items you wanted are sold out, don’t feel the need to still buy something at a regular price. That’s the big “scam” of Black Friday. Stores have a handful of items at low prices, then want you to buy everything else at the regular price once they’ve got you in there.

- Edwin, CashTheChecks.com

Nowadays, the marketplace is rife with risk, so you may wonder whether it’s a good idea to launch a business during a downturn, especially with layoff numbers mounting daily. When is it ever the right time to start a business?

Starting a business during an economic crisis sounds absolutely crazy but let’s put aside our concerns of risk for the moment, and think about some of the advantages. If you are afraid of losing your job due to the economic meltdown, starting a new business may be the perfect antidote. No more bosses, no more pink slips, and no more backstabbing by your fellow workers !

Why Start A Business Today?

There are more than 27 million businesses in the U.S. with less than 500 employees, of which 20 million have no employees, according to the Small Business Administration as mentioned in this page.

With millions of businesses having less than 500 employees, a good chunk of the American population depend on these small businesses for their livelihood. That’s why the SBA (Small Business Administration) is offering funds to help those who have a good plan for starting a business now. They may be worth checking out; they may have some solutions for the budding entrepreneur.

Opening a business is an exhilarating and frightening experience. But think of the rewards; when everybody is hunkering down, you will be very well positioned to take advantage of the inevitable recovery. These ‘no-employee’ businesses are usually family affairs where everybody has a share of the pie, but a sizable portion is owned by independent professionals who work alone. Again, if you were contemplating opening your own business, now may be a good time to do it, especially if you’ve got the resources. Could you be rewarded for bucking the crowd (and the trends)?

Some Advantages To Starting A Business During A Downturn

Let’s consider some of the advantages of starting a business during slow economic conditions:

1. Space is cheaper. Finding an office, a warehouse or even store space is much easier and much cheaper. If I were a commercial real estate owner, I’d rather rent out my space for less than have no tenants at all.
2. Great deals available. Businesses going under have to get what they can for their furniture and electronics. Auctions may offer ridiculously low prices for items that you’ll need.
3. Cheaper employees. A well trained professional will gladly accept a cut in salary rather than face unemployment. Same with clerical workers.
4. Cheaper services. There are all kinds of service providers who have to lower their prices due to the lack of demand. Think of advertising specialists who can prepare your marketing campaign for much less than normal.
5. Less competition. While your competition is waiting out the storm, why not make yourself available, ready to offer people what they need? Even now, though they may be a little harder to find, there are always people in need of a service or product who are willing to pay (albeit possibly for less). Go and find them, don’t wait for them to find you.

Are You Ready For Entrepreneurship?

Everyone can become an entrepreneur, but not everyone can be successful at it. It’s great to envision such possibilities, but before I reel you in on this idea, let it be known that opening a business is not for everyone. The reality is this: not everybody may be qualified or prepared to start and run a business — and just like with the stock market, if you make big mistakes and are not sure about what you’re doing on your own, you can get hurt….badly. And in a downturn, financial wipeout scenarios are all the more common, and dramatic. So if you’re doing this, you MUST have a good plan, you MUST have done your homework, and in many cases, you’ll NEED access to cash.

Depending on the type of business you’re interested in launching, you could potentially face an enormous amount of risk. Plus, in today’s tight credit era, banks are reluctant to loan money, even to the well-qualified clients. So if you’re serious about your business idea, where can you turn? Well, you can approach people you know; start with your network. Or you could use some of your savings (gasp) or show your solid business plan to some of your wealthy friends (if you’ve got any). Some people I know have started their businesses with credit cards, but going down this path is not the most prudent way to go. In today’s era, it may very well be that you’ll have to bootstrap yourself using your own savings or you’ll need to consider the type of business that won’t require money upfront, such as a service-oriented venture.

Despite all the challenges, you may still find this to be your calling. If so, get creative. People still have to eat, buy clothes, and have fun. You can negotiate lower prices from your providers — they are anxious to sell their surplus. Drum up business by visiting churches (why not, the pastor may become your best salesman), schools, hospitals, clubs, and make them an offer they can’t resist. Note however, that this may not be the best way to promote your business .

Most of all, plan your business very carefully by analyzing the trends in your neck of the woods. Creating a niche has never been easier. But certainly, look before you leap and read our tips for small businesses. This article is about contrarian thinking, and contrarians are often vastly rewarded for their guts (no guts, no glory), patience and shrewdness. Whenever we contemplate a particular endeavor, we need to weigh risks vs rewards — the only sane way to really make a financial decision.

This is a post from The Digerati Life.

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Today the Senate passed a $300 billion housing rescue bill aimed at turning around the flagging housing market, helping homeowners avoid foreclosure, and propping up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The fact that Senators came in on a Saturday to vote on the bill is an indicator of the importance that Capitol Hill places on the issue.

It remains to be seen who will benefit from this legislation, but one group of folks that surely are breathing a sigh of relief are the shareholders of Fannie and Freddie. It’s unlikely that these two publically traded stocks will return to their previous levels anytime soon, but this intervention at least makes it more unlikely that they’ll go belly-up.

Nationwide, foreclosure rates continue to skyrocket. RealtyTrac yesterday reported that foreclosure activity was up a whopping 14 percent in the second quarter, a rise of 121 percent over the second quarter of 2007.

It is hoped that the passage of this regulation will soothe Wall Street’s frazzled nerves. Oil prices (too high) and housing prices (falling too fast) are surely the two most troubling elements in our fragile economic situation. Both are complex and have deep reaching tentacles. The reassuring thing about the housing picture is that, unlike oil, it is an American market – therefore Congress may have some success in turning the ship. Washington hasn’t produced any legislation on energy– neither to curb speculation nor to increase offshore drilling. Lawmakers take some lumps from the public for their inaction, but it’s probably just as well since neither approach has the potential to improve the situation. The US controls a tiny percentage of global reserves, and traders move a small percentage of barrels traded, which leads us to a troubling conclusion: the U.S. economy is just one piece in the global puzzle, and things that happen outside of our borders are going to hit us in the pocketbook here at home.

But even if we’re struggling with our oil addiction, it’s hopeful that this piece of legislation might help the housing market. Much of the impact may be psychological, however. Democrats estimate that around 400,000 households might benefit from the bill, but last quarter alone saw almost twice that number of foureclosures – around 740,000 according to RealtyTrac. But we can hope that this bill shows that Congress is willing to act if necessary, and that might be enough to get banks lending again. And that might lead to fewer foreclosures, more buyers buying, more sellers selling, a shrinking housing inventory, and eventually a recovery in prices.

I read somewhere over the weekend a letter to the editor of some newspaper (I can’t for the life of me remember where I read the comment) by a guy who was lamenting the fact that investors get screwed no matter who is president. His letter mentioned that some stocks do well when a Republican is in office and other stocks do well when a Democrat is in office—he just didn’t know which ones.

I have a suggestion:

Buy the index and don’t worry about it.

Yes, we can make more money IF we know which stocks are going to outperform the market. The problem is either WE DON’T KNOW or it’s hard to know. Therefore, buying the index is the prudent way to go because you don’t have to worry about picking stocks (unless that’s something you love doing).

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If you have ever read an article on eBay, you'll have discovered the type of income people earn - it isn't strange to find out about people earning thousands of dollars per month on eBay. Next time you are surfing the eBay site, check out how many PowerSellers there are: you'll find quite a few. Now think about the fact every single one of one of them must be making at least $1,000 per month, as that's eBay's requirement for becoming a PowerSeller. Silver PowerSellers make at least $3,000 monthly, while Gold PowerSellers make more than $10,000, and the Platinum level is $25,000. The top level is Titanium PowerSeller, and to measure up you must make at least $150,000 in sales each month!

It's hard to believe that Ebay has been around for ten years. eBay started in September 1995, by a man named Pierre Omidyar, who was residing in San Jose, California. He envisioned his site - formerly known as 'AuctionWeb' - to be an internet mart, and composed the first code for it in one weekend. It was one of the first sites of its type on the planet. The name 'eBay' follows from the domain Omidyar applied to his internet site His company's name was Echo Bay, and the 'eBay AuctionWeb' was formerly just one part of Echo Bay's website at ebay.com. The first product ever traded on the site was Omidyar's defective laser pointer, which sold for $14 .

The web site rapidly became hugely popular, as vendors arrived to auction off all sorts of strange things and buyers actually purchased them. Relying on faith appeared to work out outstandingly well, and implied that the web site could just about be left alone to run itself. The internet site had been configured from the beginning to take in a small fee on every sale, and it was this revenue that Omidyar applied to finance AuctionWeb's expansion. The fees speedily totaled up to more than his salary at the time, so he resolved to quit his job and devote attention to the site full-time. It was at this point in time, in 1996, that he added the feedback capability, to let buyers and sellers rate one another and make purchasing and trading safer.

In 1997, Omidyar modified AuctionWeb's - and his company's - name to 'eBay', which is what people had been using to refer to the site for awhile. He started to spend a great deal of money on promotion, and had the eBay logo created. A milestone was reached in this year - the one-millionth item was sold (it was a miniature version of Big Bird from Sesame Street). Then, in 1998 - the peak of the dot com company boom - eBay became big business, and the investment in Internet businesses at the time allowed it to bring in senior managers and business strategists, who took in public on the stock market. It began to encourage people to trade more than only collectibles, and rapidly morphed into a huge site on which you could trade anything, big or little. Different from the other websites, though, eBay endured the final stage of the bonanza, and is still going strong nowadays.

1999 saw eBay go worldwide, unveiling sites in the UK, Australia and Germany. eBay purchased half.com, an Amazon-like internet retailer, in the year 2000 - the same year it inaugurated Buy it Now - and bought PayPal, an internet payment service, in 2002.

Pierre Omidyar has now cleared an estimated $3 billion from eBay, and still serves as Chairman of the Board.There are now literally millions of items bought and sold every day on eBay, all over the world. For every $100 spent online worldwide, it is estimated that $14 is spent on eBay - that's a lot of laser pointers.

The fact that these PowerSellers are around gives you some idea of the money possibilities on Ebay. Most of the power sellers never intended to even launch a commercial enterprise on eBay - they merely began trading a couple of items, and then continued. There are quite a lot of people whose full-time job is merchandising items on eBay, and some of them have been working at it for years now. Can you believe that? Once they've purchased the merchandise, everything else is basically pure profit for these people - they don't need to spend money on any business premises, employees, or anything else. There are multi-million dollar commercial enterprises earning less in genuine net income than eBay PowerSellers do.

Even if you do not want to resign from your line of work and really try for it, you can use all the same eBay to make a substantial supplemental income. You can package customer purchases during the week and bring them to the local post office for shipping each Saturday. There are few other things you could be doing with your free time that have anywhere close to that kind of money-making potential.

What's more, eBay could care less about who you are, where you reside, or if you are good-looking. Some PowerSellers are very old, or very young. Some live out in very rural areas where selling on eBay is one of the few options to agriculture or being very impoverished. eBay levels the playing field and removes the roadblocks to earning that the real world constantly erects. There's no job interview and no traveling back and forth involved - if you can post items on the site, you can make it happen!

Put it this way: if you know where to acquire something fairly inexpensively that you could sell, then you can sell it on eBay - and because you can always get discount rates for mass purchases at wholesale, that's not hard. Purchase a job lot of something in-demand inexpensively, sell it on eBay, and you are earning cash already, with no set-up expenses.

If you wish to try it out before you commit to really purchasing anything, then you can just sell unwanted objects that you've got sitting around in the home. Explore that closet full of items that you never use, and you'll in all likelihood find you've got a couple of hundred bucks' worth of stuff lying around in there! This is the beauty of eBay: there is always someone who wants what you're selling, whatever it might be, and because they have come searching you out, you don't even need to do anything to get them to buy it.

Please visit http://homebizhelper.com and http://www.computingninternet.com/

About the Author

Dottye is an Educational Consultant. Please visit http://homebizhelper.com and http://www.computingninternet.com/

First, a small disclaimer:  I’m not a big movie-watcher myself.  I’ll take in a movie maybe every two months, possibly less often than that.  This includes trips to the theater and rentals.  As such, I don’t spend a lot on movies, anyway.

Over the next few years, taking in a flick with friends and family will be an affordable substitute for a vacation.  It’s just plain cheaper.  The good news for people who really love movies is that it’s possible to get by pretty cheaply, and if you downsize other areas appropriately it won’t strain the budget that much at all.

So, here are some tips for you movie buffs on how to maximize your cinematic dollar:

• Really pick and choose which movies you see in the theater. One group of movies that might make the cut are ones that absolutely depend on special effects and the latest, greatest sound equipment.  Another group would be movies that might take a really long time to get onto video.  The main point is that going to the theater is the most expensive option for watching a movie, so choose wisely.  There’s the time and gas to get out there, as well as the fact that you only get to see it once for your money.
• Take in a matinee if you can. Some theaters offer off-peak showings at a discount to the price of nighttime showings.  The movie is the same.
• Stay away from the concessions if you can. The movie theater makes its money on the concessions.  Fountain drinks have a markup of a few thousand percent.  Same with popcorn.  A movie theater that lets you bring in your own concessions is a hidden gem; if you can, take advantage of that.
• Stay away from giving to causes before the movie. Movie theaters play off attendee’s emotions.  They have a movie screen at their disposal to play carefully-designed clips that encourage you (guilt you?) to give right there.  If you do, the movie theater writes off your donation, not you.  If you itemize, and give what you would have given directly to the charity, you can write it off (assuming you’re allowed to do so).
• Look into packs of tickets to see if there’s a price differential. Costco.com offers movie ticket packs for four different movie theater networks.  Check to see what network your favorite movie theater is in, and check the price of the tickets in the pack compared with your movie theater’s prices.  (Or, you can of course check for movie tickets on eBay!)
• See if you can get a group together. For example, our church got a bunch of people to see Fireproof this year, and I believe that they got a small discount.  Every little bit helps.

• For the movies that really don’t need to be seen immediately or ones where the big screen doesn’t matter, watch it at home! It’s way cheaper.  You can buy your soda and candy at the grocery store, and eat it during the movie without feeling like you have contraband.  Popcorn is way cheaper and healthier.  We use a Nordic Ware microwave popcorn popping bowl and it does a good job without needing any oil.  A bag of kernels costs a couple of bucks and could provide popcorn for a couple dozen people.
• Like to watch a lot of movies and want a lot to choose from? Netflix is probably your best choice.  They have over 100,000 titles to choose from.  They pay for shipping both ways, and you can cancel at any time.  There are instant downloads available each month as well.  My parents-in-law have a Netflix subscription and they absolutely love it.
• Are you looking to start or expand a collection? Well, good news!  Lots of people are looking to get rid of their collection or decrease the size of it.  There’s nothing wrong with pre-viewed DVDs (unless they’re absolutely trashed).  People routinely sell their personal DVD collections on eBay, and bidding on these is brisk.  More often than not they will list every single movie right in the auction, so you’ll know exactly what you’re going to get.  A fair price point for collections is less than half of what you can get them for in WalMart’s dig-through-the-box specials.
• What if you’re like me and don’t watch movies often at all? Like I mentioned above, I watch only a few movies a year.  A Netflix subscription would be overkill for me.  If you’re a casual viewer, then it’s easier to find good deals in low quantities because the urgency really isn’t there.
• Pawn shops, thrift stores, and garage sales are good places to pick up one or two cheap movies. Three bucks is a good price point.  If you run across something that looks interesting, pick it up.
• Redbox works well, too. I had a good experience with Redbox when I rented Expelled.  It was a very easy process, and the rental was a buck for one night for a movie that was released this year.
• Don’t forget free! There are options for free movies, of course.  Your local library might have a collection.  Your church might.  Hulu.com has a fairly decent free movie selection.  You could borrow one from a friend, or wait until it comes out on network television.

It's a rhetorical question, I think.  Or, maybe not.  If I have already decided the answer, does that make it rhetorical.  Because here's the answer:  absolutely not.

Several months ago, I wrote a post about the wonder juice, Mona Vie.  It's a juice made with acai berry and other exotic sounding things that you couldn't possibly grow yourself.  You see, you would have to get the magic seeds from the depths of the Brazillian rain forest.  Ever wonder why the most healthy things in the world only grow in the far reaches of Brazillian rain forests and Himalayan mountain tops?

Anyway, I analyzed the business plan offered to those wishing to be part of the Mona Vie pyramid.  Er, I mean, take advantage of the exciting business opportunity.  Looks to me like it is possible to make some money.  Of course, I don't wish to view all of my friends and family as sales prospects.  So, I guess I wouldn't be successful.

Not surprisingly, the comments were one of two things.  Either it was someone telling us all that Mona Vie cured their high blood pressure, insomnia, baldness, made them taller, grew back their amputated leg, etc.  The other type of comment was that Mona Vie made them broke, ruined their marraige, caused them to be impotent and friendless.  Tragic, really.

So, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that it was that same post that instigated my first bit of hate mail.  Here's the email that I found in my inbox this morning:

"It seems that before you question the business of Mona Vie that you would at least find out what pv means.  Hey, here's a concept why don't you drink it for a month and then make your claims.  How long do you have to take vitamins before feeling any difference?  Do vitamins help lower your blood pressure because that is what Mona Vie has done for my mother.  Don't ruin it for everyone else who can benefit from the nutritional value of Mona Vie."

It was sent from the catering department of a golf course.  I wonder if she's slipping some acai berries into the fruit tart.  Lucky golfers.

Last year while big lenders like Countrywide collapsed and Wall Street took a beating on mortgage-backed securities, smaller banks weathered the storm pretty well. These guys seemed pretty stodgy while the market was racing along, home values were zooming, and investors were chomping at the bit to jump into the latest negative-amortization mortgage structure. But slow and steady wins the race, as it turns out. Smaller banks wouldn't touch this stuff with a ten foot pole. They looked like luddites a couple of years ago, but they're looking pretty smart right now.

When I started this website I funded it with the backing of Partners Bank of Texas, a small Houston based private bank with assets of less than $200 million. Last year Partners was acquired by Texas based Sterling Bank. Sterling is somewhat larger than Partners - with assets of around $4 billion - but they're very small when compared to, say, Wells Fargo, which has assets of around $600 billion.

In the past I've relied on companies like USAA ($68 billion in assets) and Wells Fargo, but Sterling is my go-to bank now. USAA is the financial institution dedicated to serving current and former members of the military community, and I've been a member for over twenty years, starting when I was a cadet at the United States Military Academy. I still appreciate their great customer service (although some of their lending practices have annoyed me). But even though I have a military connection with USAA, at the end of the day I'm just a number. No one knows me there. They put my data into a computer and it spits out an answer.

But when I talk to Sterling, I'm sitting across the table from the guy who is gonna make the decision. And I like that. When I trying to get this website funded I spent almost a year jumping through hoops for the guys over at Bank of America ($1.7 trillion in assets) and the venture capitalists wanted me to sign away my first born. But at Partners (now Sterling) I got to sit across from someone and pitch my idea; and the woman who I talked to was the same person empowered to make the decision.

I'll still shop the big boys for the plain vanilla deals I'm considering. But when I'm looking at some more challenging opportunities in this crazy market - raw land and multi-family - my first stop is Sterling. Real estate investing is all about relationships, and smart investors know that their reputation can be one of their most valuable assets.

Failure was not an option. The government finally stepped in on Sunday and unveiled plans to take over troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, putting to rest fears that the two firms would collapse and send the housing market into a death spiral.

The housing market breathed a sigh of relief – but no cheers from the stockholders of the two firms. Fannie Mae [FNM] was trading at around $7.00 towards the end of last week and immediately collapsed to about a buck on news of the announcement. As of close today it’s hovering around $0.74.

For investors Fannie and Freddie have seemed like a pretty safe play for years. Stodgy, even. A publically traded pseudo-government entity which was crucial to the U.S. economy and backed by government guarantees seemed like a pretty safe place to stash away some cash that you didn’t want invested in risky stuff; let the day-traders mess with the bio-techs and dot.coms.

But what a difference a week makes.

A lot of investors took a bath on this one. We’re still in the shadow of Enron, WorldCom, Quest, Tyco, and others – but I never cease to be amazed when I speak to folks who have large percentages of their net worth tied up in a single stock. Sometimes it’s because it’s a “safe bet”, or because they’re comfortable and haven’t bothered to rebalance. But most often it’s because they work for the company in question.

This isn’t smart behavior. Real estate investors understand that there is no reward without risk, but diversification is the way that smart, tactical investors hedge their bets. Anything else is just gambling.

Contrast this to the advice that millions of Americans swallow then they read what is undoubtedly the worst personal finance book ever: Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad. Diversification, according to get-rich-guru Kiyosaki, is for suckers. “Put a lot of your eggs in a few baskets,” he exhorts. “Do not do what poor and middle class people do: put their few eggs in many baskets.” A balanced portfolio “…is not the way that successful investors play the game.” These are quotes from the book; I’m not making this stuff up. The biggest problem with Rich Dad Poor Dad is not that it’s filled with vague motivational psycho-babble; it’s that hidden in the self-help hucksterism there are gems like this that are actually dangerous.

Kiyosaki is undoubtedly a smart businessman and has made millions of dollars selling his books and courses, but I’d encourage his true believers out there to take a critical look at some of the ideas that he’s promoting.

Related:

• Why I don't like Rich Dad Poor Dad
• The Black Swan :: The highly improbable and real estate
• Another bailout on the horizon?  Fannie and Freddie

With the whole mortgage meltdown and ensuing credit crisis, there is plenty of blame to go around. Even with shady lenders, complex loans, and loose lending requirements, most of this could have been avoided if people took the time to read, and more importantly, understand what they were signing. Most people simply don’t want to spend the time to sit there and read all of the fine print and those who do actually read it may not fully understand everything.

Don’t Be Embarrassed if You Don’t Understand

When someone explains something technical or difficult to grasp and then asks, “Do you understand?”, the response is typically “yes.” Either it is because you want to get through the process quickly, you don’t think it is very important, or you don’t want to feel embarrassed that you don’t understand a concept. This could end up being a costly mistake. If you don’t understand something or if you see conflicting information, it is in your best interest to stop and ask questions. It’s much easier to take a moment before signing to get clarification than to learn the hard way at some point in the future.

Information Included in the Fine Print

Most people are concerned with a few key areas of a loan such interest rate and length of the loan, but it is within the fine print of the promissory note or security agreement that contains the information that can really cost you money. The most common information included throughout the text will include:

• The promise you make to pay the lender a certain amount of money plus the agreed to interest rate.
• Whether the interest rate is fixed or variable — if variable, when does the rate change and by how much.
• The payment schedule.
• Charges for late payments.
• Any applicable grace period.
• If the loan can be paid off early and if any penalties are incurred for doing so.
• Whether or not security or collateral is required.
• Whether or not the loan can be extended.
• What happens if you default.
• What happens if you pay with a bad check.
• Can the lender take money from other accounts you may have with them to repay the loan.
• Who pays legal fees and collection costs.

Don’t Sign Anything Until You Completely Understand

While it pays to make sure you get a good interest rate with good terms, it is equally important to make sure you understand everything about the loan even if you don’t think it will ever apply to you. You have nobody to blame but yourself if you make a late payment and find out there is a $40 late fee. It would come as no surprise if you took the time to understand what you agreed to. In the event of a problem with your account, ignorance is not a defense. It may seem like a waste of time to spend an extra ten or fifteen minutes to read multiple pages of small text, but it could end up saving you money or problems somewhere down the line.

And finally, don’t feel pressured by the person sitting across the table who’s urging you to sign. Not everyone is out there trying to trick you into a shady loan, but you shouldn’t feel rushed if they are just trying to quickly get you through the process. They can wait, and you should take as much time as you need. If they brush off certain sections saying it isn’t important, just explain that you want to take a moment to look it over. A couple extra minutes will ensure that you aren’t missing some key terms on the loan and help you completely understand what to expect, and what the consequences will be if something goes wrong.

Read the Fine Print Before Signing Any Loan - You Might be Surprised at What’s in There