Link to article: http://bankruptcy.findlaw.com/bankruptcy/is-bankruptcy-right/bankruptcy-foreclosure-help.html
Many Americans fall behind on their mortgage payments. Some lenders and mortgage companies may be willing to work out deals with the homeowners, such as a short sale or loan modification. Most lenders are not. In that case, the lender will most likely begin the foreclosure process, as set out in the mortgage contract. The foreclosure process involves the creditor repossessing and usually selling the house at a public auction. The proceeds from that auction are used to repay the mortgage and any legal costs.
The foreclosure process takes time. Most creditors do not begin foreclosing until the homeowner is two to three months behind on their mortgage payments. This gives the homeowner some time to consider alternatives to foreclosure, such as a loan forbearance, short sale, or deed in lieu of foreclosure. Should all of these alternatives fail, bankruptcy may help in several different ways.
How to Delay Foreclosure with an Automatic Stay:
Bankruptcy and foreclosure are both words that the average person dreads hearing. If you are facing foreclosure, however, bankruptcy can become a tool to help you keep your house.
Once you file bankruptcy, either Chapter 13 or Chapter 7, the court automatically issues an Order for Relief. This order grants you an "automatic stay", that directs your creditors to immediately cease their collection attempts, no matter what. So, if a foreclosure sale has been scheduled for your home, it will be postponed, by law, until the bankruptcy is finalized. This usually takes about three to four months.
There are two exceptions to this buying time rule:
If the Lender Files a Motion to Lift the Stay: Unfortunately, the lender can file a motion to lift the stay, which asks permission from the bankruptcy court to continue with the foreclosure sale. If this is granted, you may not receive the extra three to four months of time. However, bankruptcy normally still postpones the sale by about two months or more, or even longer if the lender does not act fast in filing the motion to lift the stay.
If the Foreclosure Notice has Already Been Filed: Most states have laws that require lenders to give homeowners a certain amount of notice before selling their property. A bankruptcy's automatic stay will NOT stop the clock on this advance notice. For instance, California law requires a lender to give the homeowner at least three months notice before selling the home. If a California resident receives this three month notice, and then files for bankruptcy two months later, the three month period would have passed after being in bankruptcy for only one month. As a result, the lender could file a motion to lift the stay and ask the court's permission to schedule the foreclosure.
How to Use Chapter 13 Bankruptcy to Help You:
What Chapter 13 Means for Bankruptcy and Foreclosure: Chapter 13 bankruptcy allows you to set up a repayment plan to pay off the past due payments, or "arrearage". You can propose the length of time for repayment, but keep in mind that you'll need sufficient income to pay BOTH your past due payments AND your current mortgage payments at the same time. So long as you make all of the required payments for the length of the repayment plan, you will avoid foreclosure and be able to stay in your home.
2nd and 3rd Mortgage Payments: Chapter 13 can also help eliminate payments on second or third mortgages. Typically, Chapter 13 entitles bankruptcy courts to recategorize second and third mortgages as unsecured debt. Under Chapter 13, unsecured debt takes last priority and usually does not have to be paid back. This recategorizing process is possible if your first mortgage is secured by the entire value of your home since this means that there is no remaining equity in your home to secure the second and third mortgages.
How to Use Chapter 7 Bankruptcy to Help You:
Chapter 7 bankruptcy also cancels all the debt secured by the home, including mortgages and home equity loans. Furthermore, Chapter 7 goes a step further. Thanks to a new law, Chapter 7 also forgives the homeowner for tax liability for losses the mortgage or home-improvement lender incurs as a result of the homeowner's default. This tax law applies to the 2007, 2008, and 2009 tax years. However, the new tax law does NOT cancel the homeowner's tax liability for the lender's losses at foreclosure if:
* The loan is not a mortgage or was not used for home improvements (like a loan used to pay for a vacation or automobile). The mortgage or home equity loan is secured by property other than your principal residence (like a vacation home or rental property).
Cautionary Notes about Chapter 7:
You Could Still Lose Your Home : All of this debt and tax liability forgiveness is great, but note that Chapter 7 will not keep you from losing your home. Chapter 7 forgives your debt, and that is all it does. When you enter into a mortgage, you are agreeing to use your home as a type of collateral in case you default on your payments. Chapter 13 enables you to pause action on that lien, while you catch up on your payments; hence, you may save your home. Chapter 7 forgives your debt, but it will not lift the lien, and hence will not lift the foreclosure on your home. Therefore, you will probably still lose your home.
You Could Lose Other Valuables: Because the courts typically want to make the creditors whole again from their loss, the bankruptcy trustee may award money from the sale of certain other valuables of yours to the creditors. For example, if you have a valuable wedding ring that's value exceeds the dollar amount you are allowed to keep during bankruptcy, under the "jewelry exemption", you could lose your wedding ring.
You May Not Be Eligible: The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 provides that anyone whose average gross income for the six-month period before the bankruptcy filing exceeds the state median income for the same sized household is ineligible for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Additionally, if your income is sufficient enough for you to pay your living expenses AND fund a reasonable Chapter 13 repayment plan, you are also ineligible for Chapter 7.
How Bankruptcy Will Affect Your Credit:
Although bankruptcy and foreclosure are both extremely damaging to your credit, sometimes filing bankruptcy can be a wise choice when trying to rebuild credit. A foreclosure not only damages your credit score for years, but you are still left with the mortgage debt. Most mortgage creditors will not consider you for future mortgages if you have a foreclosure on your credit history. In contrast, bankruptcy lets you start fresh. It still is damages to your credit, but because you are debt free, you immediately begin rebuilding good credit sooner.
Although bankruptcy has a few negative consequences, and may not save you from losing your home, it can be the best option in starting fresh with no debt, getting back on your feet, and saving money.
Worst Case Scenario: Losing the House, but Also the Debt
Sometimes bankruptcy can't prevent the loss of your home, so you may start to think that a bankruptcy filing is pointless. There are other benefits to filing for bankruptcy besides the interplay between bankruptcy and foreclosure, however.
Even if you can't keep your home, bankruptcy can help to shovel out from under mortgage debts and tax liability. This is an important first step towards getting back on your feet. Bankruptcy can also help you to put away money for the tough times ahead.
This blog is updated by the San Diego Bankruptcy Law Firm. The blog is designed to illuminate, update and educate consumers about their bankruptcy rights. Our staff of Bankruptcy Attorneys help consumers file for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 7 and 13 of the Bankruptcy Code. Feel free to contact our Bankruptcy Lawyers for a free consultation at 619-260-1800 or visit us at www.gobksandiego.com
Showing posts with label credit after bankrutpcy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label credit after bankrutpcy. Show all posts
Monday, October 3, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
Marriage, College, Job Won’t Ward Off Bankruptcy
September 13, 2011, 3:15 PM ET
Associated Press
By Eric Morath
Link to Article: http://blogs.wsj.com/bankruptcy/2011/09/13/marriage-college-job-wont-ward-off-bankruptcy/
A wedding ring, college degree and a well-paying job: the American dream or a recipe for bankruptcy?
Some of the factors often associated with financial success are increasingly becoming correlated with personal bankruptcy filings, a study released Tuesday by the Institute for Financial Literacy found.
The study found that from 2006 to 2010, bankruptcy filings increased among college graduates and those earning $60,000 a year or more. What’s more, last year, 64% of bankruptcy filers surveyed were married—a number that also increased from five years ago.
“The Great Recession has had a dramatic impact on the bankruptcy filings of American consumers across the economic spectrum—including college educated, high income earners,” said Leslie E. Linfield, executive director the institute. “While less educated, low income individuals continue to represent the typical bankruptcy filer, this report underscores sophisticated evolution of the profile of the American debtor that now extends to disparate age, income and ethnic groups.”
The survey collected responses from some 50,000 of individuals that filed for bankruptcy in the past five years. All respondents had sought credit counseling.
The study found that those holding a bachelor’s degree accounted for 13.58% of filings last year, up from 11.2% in 2006—a 21% increase. Those holding high school degrees still accounted for the largest percentage of filers, 36.27%, but their proportion of all filers fell by 8.6%.
Those most at risk for a bankruptcy filing were individuals who attended college but did not complete a degree, the study said. They accounted for 28.7% of filings last year.
“This we suspect is because they have all the burdens of school related debt and none of the rewards of an actual degree,” the study said.
While those earning less than $20,000 per year accounted for nearly 40% of all filings, higher-income earners saw their ranks grow in the past five years, the study found.
Those earning $60,000 or more accounted for 9.2% of all filings last years, up from 5.5% in 2006, a 67% increase.
The study found that the number of filers who were married jumped above 60% in the past five years, from 57.2% in 2006. That out paces the 50.3% of U.S. adults that are married, according to the Census.
Based in Maine, the Institute for Financial Literacy is a nonprofit organization that promotes effective financial education and counseling.
Associated Press
By Eric Morath
Link to Article: http://blogs.wsj.com/bankruptcy/2011/09/13/marriage-college-job-wont-ward-off-bankruptcy/
A wedding ring, college degree and a well-paying job: the American dream or a recipe for bankruptcy?
Some of the factors often associated with financial success are increasingly becoming correlated with personal bankruptcy filings, a study released Tuesday by the Institute for Financial Literacy found.
The study found that from 2006 to 2010, bankruptcy filings increased among college graduates and those earning $60,000 a year or more. What’s more, last year, 64% of bankruptcy filers surveyed were married—a number that also increased from five years ago.
“The Great Recession has had a dramatic impact on the bankruptcy filings of American consumers across the economic spectrum—including college educated, high income earners,” said Leslie E. Linfield, executive director the institute. “While less educated, low income individuals continue to represent the typical bankruptcy filer, this report underscores sophisticated evolution of the profile of the American debtor that now extends to disparate age, income and ethnic groups.”
The survey collected responses from some 50,000 of individuals that filed for bankruptcy in the past five years. All respondents had sought credit counseling.
The study found that those holding a bachelor’s degree accounted for 13.58% of filings last year, up from 11.2% in 2006—a 21% increase. Those holding high school degrees still accounted for the largest percentage of filers, 36.27%, but their proportion of all filers fell by 8.6%.
Those most at risk for a bankruptcy filing were individuals who attended college but did not complete a degree, the study said. They accounted for 28.7% of filings last year.
“This we suspect is because they have all the burdens of school related debt and none of the rewards of an actual degree,” the study said.
While those earning less than $20,000 per year accounted for nearly 40% of all filings, higher-income earners saw their ranks grow in the past five years, the study found.
Those earning $60,000 or more accounted for 9.2% of all filings last years, up from 5.5% in 2006, a 67% increase.
The study found that the number of filers who were married jumped above 60% in the past five years, from 57.2% in 2006. That out paces the 50.3% of U.S. adults that are married, according to the Census.
Based in Maine, the Institute for Financial Literacy is a nonprofit organization that promotes effective financial education and counseling.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Rebuilding Your Credit after Bankruptcy
Here is a great article I found on MSN Money
Make sure to read it at: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banking/BankruptcyGuide/BounceBackFastAfterBankruptcy.aspx?page=all
Bounce back fast after bankruptcy
Carefully rebuild your credit, and you could qualify for almost normal rates, even a mortgage, in a year or two. Here's what you need to do.
By Liz Pulliam Weston
Almost anyone can get credit soon after a bankruptcy. It's just a matter of knowing how.
It's true that bankruptcy deals a devastating blow to your credit and your credit score, the three-digit number lenders use to gauge your creditworthiness. But the effects don't have to be lasting.
Long before the bankruptcy drops off your credit report, you could be qualifying for loans with good rates and terms.
Nothing is forever
Ken from Chicago filed Chapter 7 liquidation after unemployment and overspending caused him to rack up more than $20,000 in credit card and other unsecured debt. Four years later, his credit scores ranged from 655 to 719, decent numbers that are just below the cutoff to get most lenders' very best rates.
"I . . . applied for a secured credit card (usually reserved for people with troubled credit) and was informed that I qualified for an unsecured card -- a possibility I hadn't even considered," Ken said. "While I am going to be very careful with my new credit (card), I am heartened that creditors consider me an acceptable risk."If you're recently bankrupted, here are two things you need to keep in mind:
Nothing in credit is "forever." A bankruptcy legally can remain on your credit report for up to 10 years, but its effect on your credit score can start to diminish the day your case is closed -- if you adopt responsible credit habits such as paying your bills on time, using only a small portion of your available credit and not applying for too much credit at once.
You have to get and use credit to build your credit score. Living on a cash-only basis may be a smart choice for those who really can't handle credit. But if you want to rebuild your credit score, you can't sit on the sidelines.
Learn from your mistakes
Although repeat bankrupts show that getting credit after a Chapter 7 or 13 filing is possible, you shouldn't want to emulate those who file more than once.
At first glance, people who file more than one bankruptcy seem to be beating the system: They run up big bills and then walk away.
Video on MSN Money
Video: How's your credit?
Where to go to get free reports -- and how to interpret them when you've got one.Think about it a little more, though, and you'll see these multiple bankrupts are really defeating themselves. Their debts and credit history often mean they're paying out big bucks in high interest payments during the time when they're prohibited from filing another bankruptcy. (The 2005 bankruptcy law provides that, under Chapter 7, eight years must elapse before you can refile. If you go for Chapter 13 after a Chapter 7, you must wait four years. Going from one Chapter 13 to another, two years must elapse.)
And most people can't file for Chapter 7 liquidation if they have significant assets to protect, such as home equity or savings. So these folks who are repeatedly going broke often have little to show for all the money that's leaving their pockets. Instead of building wealth over time, they're losing ground.
Instead, use your bankruptcy as a wake-up call to figure out what's wrong with your finances and fix it.
If your problem was overspending, you'll find plenty of information on this site about creating and sticking to a budget (see "Your 5 minute guide to budgeting").
If you didn't have enough savings to survive a job loss or other setback, get serious about establishing an emergency fund.
If you were sunk by medical bills, seek a job with insurance coverage or check to see if your state offers coverage.
Clean up your credit report
One common problem people emerging from bankruptcy often face is that credit reports frequently show accounts as open and overdue -- when in fact they were closed and the obligations wiped out as part of the bankruptcy.
If you encounter this, you need to contact the credit bureaus and insist that those accounts be properly reported as "included in bankruptcy." It's the only way your credit can recover.
If you have other serious mistakes on your credit report, those need to be corrected as well. Your credit score is based on information in your credit report, so errors on your report can seriously dampen your score.
Get a secured credit card
You need two types of credit to quickly rebuild your credit score:
Installment: auto loans, student loans or mortgages
Revolving: credit cards or home equity lines of credit
Continued: Light credit card use builds credit
Most recent bankrupts have trouble qualifying for a regular, unsecured credit card. So the best solution usually is a secured card, which generally gives you a credit limit that's equal to an amount you deposit at the issuing bank.
Typically, that's $200 to $500, which may seem like a pittance compared with the credit limits you enjoyed before your bankruptcy. But don't make the mistake of using your available credit. Maxing out your credit cards hurts your credit score.
You don't want to charge more than 30% or so of your credit limit, and you want to pay the balance off in full each month. Light, regular use of a credit card is what helps build your credit.
And contrary to what you might have heard, you typically don't need to carry a balance or pay credit card interest to build your score, since the leading credit scoring formula doesn't distinguish between balances that are paid off and balances that are carried month to month. Get in the habit now of not charging more than you can pay off every month; your credit score and your finances will be the better for it.
You also shouldn't grab just any secured card. Look for the following:
No application fee and reasonable annual fee. Some secured cards tack huge upfront and annual charges onto their accounts; you don't need to pay these to build your credit.
Reports to the major credit bureaus. You're not doing your credit score any good unless your payment history is being reported to the three major bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Before you apply for a card, call and ask if the issuer regularly reports to all three.
Converts to an unsecured card after 12-18 months of on-time payments. Good behavior should get you upgraded to a regular credit card within a year or two.
Get an installment loan
If you still have student loans (which typically aren't dischargeable in bankruptcy), you can use them to rebuild your score. Make your payments on time, all the time, and try to pay more than you owe whenever possible. Next to making on-time payments, paying down your existing debt is one of the best ways to improve your credit score.
Ken of Chicago took this to heart, making double or triple the minimum payments required to retire his $23,500 student loan debt within three years of his bankruptcy filing.
"The fact that I had to repay my student loans (rather than having them discharged) might have helped me in the long run," he said.
It's unlikely in the current credit climate, but you may be able to qualify for a high-rate mortgage as little as six months after a bankruptcy. You're probably better off waiting until you can qualify for an FHA loan, though. You can typically get one just two years after your bankruptcy case has closed, as long as you've maintained good credit habits since then. FHA loans have interest rates that are usually only half a percentage point higher than regular mortgage rates.
Just make sure you really can afford a home before you buy one. Many people wind up in bankruptcy court because they stretched too far to buy a house and can't keep up with all the attendant costs of homeownership, said bankruptcy expert Elizabeth Warren of Harvard University. (See "Don't bite off too much house" for more details.)
Video on MSN Money
Video: How's your credit?
Where to go to get free reports -- and how to interpret them when you've got one.Auto loans can also help you rebuild your credit -- just be prepared to pay nose-bleeding rates at first.
"My first vehicle out of bankruptcy (had an interest rate of) 21%," said Chance Nelson of Indianapolis, who applied for the loan just a few months after his debts were discharged. "After paying this for about two years, I went and traded it in and purchased another (at) 13.99%."
Nelson refinanced this second loan a year later at 7.95%. Five years after his bankruptcy filing, Nelson was paying a reasonable 6% rate for his auto loan.
If you go this route, try to make a big down payment and choose a loan that doesn't have a prepayment penalty. That way, you can refinance the car to a lower interest rate as your credit improves.
Liz Pulliam Weston's latest book, "Easy Money: How to Simplify Your Finances and Get What You Want Out of Life," is now available. Columns by Weston, the Web's most-read personal-finance writer and winner of the 2007 Clarion Award for online journalism, appear every Monday and Thursday, exclusively on MSN Money. She also answers reader questions on the Your Money message board.
Make sure to read it at: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banking/BankruptcyGuide/BounceBackFastAfterBankruptcy.aspx?page=all
Bounce back fast after bankruptcy
Carefully rebuild your credit, and you could qualify for almost normal rates, even a mortgage, in a year or two. Here's what you need to do.
By Liz Pulliam Weston
Almost anyone can get credit soon after a bankruptcy. It's just a matter of knowing how.
It's true that bankruptcy deals a devastating blow to your credit and your credit score, the three-digit number lenders use to gauge your creditworthiness. But the effects don't have to be lasting.
Long before the bankruptcy drops off your credit report, you could be qualifying for loans with good rates and terms.
Nothing is forever
Ken from Chicago filed Chapter 7 liquidation after unemployment and overspending caused him to rack up more than $20,000 in credit card and other unsecured debt. Four years later, his credit scores ranged from 655 to 719, decent numbers that are just below the cutoff to get most lenders' very best rates.
"I . . . applied for a secured credit card (usually reserved for people with troubled credit) and was informed that I qualified for an unsecured card -- a possibility I hadn't even considered," Ken said. "While I am going to be very careful with my new credit (card), I am heartened that creditors consider me an acceptable risk."If you're recently bankrupted, here are two things you need to keep in mind:
Nothing in credit is "forever." A bankruptcy legally can remain on your credit report for up to 10 years, but its effect on your credit score can start to diminish the day your case is closed -- if you adopt responsible credit habits such as paying your bills on time, using only a small portion of your available credit and not applying for too much credit at once.
You have to get and use credit to build your credit score. Living on a cash-only basis may be a smart choice for those who really can't handle credit. But if you want to rebuild your credit score, you can't sit on the sidelines.
Learn from your mistakes
Although repeat bankrupts show that getting credit after a Chapter 7 or 13 filing is possible, you shouldn't want to emulate those who file more than once.
At first glance, people who file more than one bankruptcy seem to be beating the system: They run up big bills and then walk away.
Video on MSN Money
Video: How's your credit?
Where to go to get free reports -- and how to interpret them when you've got one.Think about it a little more, though, and you'll see these multiple bankrupts are really defeating themselves. Their debts and credit history often mean they're paying out big bucks in high interest payments during the time when they're prohibited from filing another bankruptcy. (The 2005 bankruptcy law provides that, under Chapter 7, eight years must elapse before you can refile. If you go for Chapter 13 after a Chapter 7, you must wait four years. Going from one Chapter 13 to another, two years must elapse.)
And most people can't file for Chapter 7 liquidation if they have significant assets to protect, such as home equity or savings. So these folks who are repeatedly going broke often have little to show for all the money that's leaving their pockets. Instead of building wealth over time, they're losing ground.
Instead, use your bankruptcy as a wake-up call to figure out what's wrong with your finances and fix it.
If your problem was overspending, you'll find plenty of information on this site about creating and sticking to a budget (see "Your 5 minute guide to budgeting").
If you didn't have enough savings to survive a job loss or other setback, get serious about establishing an emergency fund.
If you were sunk by medical bills, seek a job with insurance coverage or check to see if your state offers coverage.
Clean up your credit report
One common problem people emerging from bankruptcy often face is that credit reports frequently show accounts as open and overdue -- when in fact they were closed and the obligations wiped out as part of the bankruptcy.
If you encounter this, you need to contact the credit bureaus and insist that those accounts be properly reported as "included in bankruptcy." It's the only way your credit can recover.
If you have other serious mistakes on your credit report, those need to be corrected as well. Your credit score is based on information in your credit report, so errors on your report can seriously dampen your score.
Get a secured credit card
You need two types of credit to quickly rebuild your credit score:
Installment: auto loans, student loans or mortgages
Revolving: credit cards or home equity lines of credit
Continued: Light credit card use builds credit
Most recent bankrupts have trouble qualifying for a regular, unsecured credit card. So the best solution usually is a secured card, which generally gives you a credit limit that's equal to an amount you deposit at the issuing bank.
Typically, that's $200 to $500, which may seem like a pittance compared with the credit limits you enjoyed before your bankruptcy. But don't make the mistake of using your available credit. Maxing out your credit cards hurts your credit score.
You don't want to charge more than 30% or so of your credit limit, and you want to pay the balance off in full each month. Light, regular use of a credit card is what helps build your credit.
And contrary to what you might have heard, you typically don't need to carry a balance or pay credit card interest to build your score, since the leading credit scoring formula doesn't distinguish between balances that are paid off and balances that are carried month to month. Get in the habit now of not charging more than you can pay off every month; your credit score and your finances will be the better for it.
You also shouldn't grab just any secured card. Look for the following:
No application fee and reasonable annual fee. Some secured cards tack huge upfront and annual charges onto their accounts; you don't need to pay these to build your credit.
Reports to the major credit bureaus. You're not doing your credit score any good unless your payment history is being reported to the three major bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Before you apply for a card, call and ask if the issuer regularly reports to all three.
Converts to an unsecured card after 12-18 months of on-time payments. Good behavior should get you upgraded to a regular credit card within a year or two.
Get an installment loan
If you still have student loans (which typically aren't dischargeable in bankruptcy), you can use them to rebuild your score. Make your payments on time, all the time, and try to pay more than you owe whenever possible. Next to making on-time payments, paying down your existing debt is one of the best ways to improve your credit score.
Ken of Chicago took this to heart, making double or triple the minimum payments required to retire his $23,500 student loan debt within three years of his bankruptcy filing.
"The fact that I had to repay my student loans (rather than having them discharged) might have helped me in the long run," he said.
It's unlikely in the current credit climate, but you may be able to qualify for a high-rate mortgage as little as six months after a bankruptcy. You're probably better off waiting until you can qualify for an FHA loan, though. You can typically get one just two years after your bankruptcy case has closed, as long as you've maintained good credit habits since then. FHA loans have interest rates that are usually only half a percentage point higher than regular mortgage rates.
Just make sure you really can afford a home before you buy one. Many people wind up in bankruptcy court because they stretched too far to buy a house and can't keep up with all the attendant costs of homeownership, said bankruptcy expert Elizabeth Warren of Harvard University. (See "Don't bite off too much house" for more details.)
Video on MSN Money
Video: How's your credit?
Where to go to get free reports -- and how to interpret them when you've got one.Auto loans can also help you rebuild your credit -- just be prepared to pay nose-bleeding rates at first.
"My first vehicle out of bankruptcy (had an interest rate of) 21%," said Chance Nelson of Indianapolis, who applied for the loan just a few months after his debts were discharged. "After paying this for about two years, I went and traded it in and purchased another (at) 13.99%."
Nelson refinanced this second loan a year later at 7.95%. Five years after his bankruptcy filing, Nelson was paying a reasonable 6% rate for his auto loan.
If you go this route, try to make a big down payment and choose a loan that doesn't have a prepayment penalty. That way, you can refinance the car to a lower interest rate as your credit improves.
Liz Pulliam Weston's latest book, "Easy Money: How to Simplify Your Finances and Get What You Want Out of Life," is now available. Columns by Weston, the Web's most-read personal-finance writer and winner of the 2007 Clarion Award for online journalism, appear every Monday and Thursday, exclusively on MSN Money. She also answers reader questions on the Your Money message board.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)