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You’re ready to buy a new car.

You’ve done all your homework.

You know your three FICO credit scores.

You determine that your highest FICO credit score is from Equifax (also known as your BEACON score).

So, you find a car dealer who uses your highest score (which increases your opportunity to get approved at a good rate).

You get to the dealership and ignore all the salespeople by going directly to the finance director’s office.

But as the finance director reviews your credit file in front of you…you can’t help but think something is wrong.

Sure enough…the dealer says your Equifax/BEACON score isn’t high enough for their lowest interest rate.

How can this be? You just checked your FICO credit scores through www.myfico.com/12 a few hours ago. It’s possible—although unlikely—the information on your credit report has changed and that your scores have decreased since you last checked them. Remember, your credit scores are dynamic and will change whenever information on your credit reports changes. Read more of this >>

Q: What is a private investor and how do they differ from a hard money lender or a subprime lender?

A: A private investor is an individual who lends out their own funds to borrowers who are unable to obtain a loan from a traditional lender such as a bank. It is also possible for private investors to pool their money into a fund that lends out money on a larger scale. Private investors are often wealthy or retired individuals who want a better return on their investments than they could expect to make in the stock market or other investment vehicles.

A private investor is essentially the same thing as a hard money lender. A private lender differs from a subprime lender in that the latter still funds loan through a lending institution such as a bank, although the interest rate is higher than a traditional conforming loan.

Q: Why would a bad credit lender fund my loan when traditional banks would not?

A: Hard money lenders, sub prime and bad credit lenders are often referred to as “high risk lenders.” These lenders have a unique understanding of specific types of real estate situations and markets. As long as the lending situation fits into the lenders comfort zone, they will usually make the loan. It isn’t that a bad credit lender gravitates towards overly risky loans or situations. Rather, there are additional safeguards in place for a bad credit lender. Namely, a borrower must have a 20% or higher equity stake in a property to qualify for a bad credit loan — the loan is therefore secured by a larger property ownership portion than many traditional loans. Read more of this >>

While shopping for auto insurance, an individual always aims for lower cost of insurance. In that case a good credit score may help to lower the cost. Credit score is a statistical method of evaluating an applicant’s credit worthiness. Companies are always trying to pool that part of the consumers which will provide the maximum profit with minimum loss. So they try to judge the rate of an insurance policy against the actual amount of claim. It has been found that almost all auto insurers use the credit information to decide whether to issue a policy. They even set the premium level on the basis of the credit score.

The companies generally do not look at the actual credit report. They just look out for the credit score. In fact they receive the credit score from any of the three major national credit depositories – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Credit scoring is a method to determine the likelihood that credit users will pay their bills.

Credit scores are prepared by analyzing a borrower’s credit history. The factors considered while calculating a credit score are:

• The duration for which credit is used.
• The amount of credit used versus the amount of credit available. Read more of this >>

A car with bad credit, just like any other car, will give you the ride you want. Okay, they might not be served on a platter but if you need a car…. but they are worth the ride. Customers suffer from bad credit circumstances do not mean they are bad people. It only means things happened! And every loan lender that is providing you with bad credit car loans do understand that. With car loans for bad credit you not only get the car you want there are added surprises on the runway.

Chances that you are getting Bad credit car loans are extremely bright. Banks, credit unions, finance companies all are providing loans for bad credit. People who would not qualify for bad credit car loans just five years ago can now easily meet the criteria.

When a borrower has bad credit, it will be a good start to begin with credit report. Every borrower is assigned credit score based on his performance with previous loans. It is a three digit number that most of the lenders use to evaluate the risk while lending you car loans. Each one of the credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian and Trans Union will have a copy of your credit report. Most lenders use Fico score which ranges from 300-850. Fico score 580 -500 and less means bad credit. This means you are heading for bad credit car loans. Now knowing your credit score is important for many lenders can take advantage of your ignorance.

Okays, assuming that you do know your credit score – let’s talk about bad credit car loans process. There is not much difference, yet there is a significant difference. Interest rates and down payment is the place where real difference shows. Interest rates with bad credit car loans will be higher as is the case with any bad credit loan. So there is no escaping that. Interest rates for Bad credit car loans would vary with credit score and will range from 5%-26%. Read more of this >>

A car is a necessity for most of us. It is difficult to make a living without having a reliable means of transportation. You can take the bus or train, but the convenience of a car allows you to accomplish more in an efficient manner.

People with bad credit, often find it difficult to finance big name purchases such as homes, cars, furniture, appliances, etc. Having repossessions, bankruptcies, charge-offs, liens or judgments on your credit report identifies you as a credit risk and creditors are likely to be reserved when, it comes to extending you credit.

These obstacles however should not prevent you from owning what you need. Yes, it is true that you will probably have to make your purchase at a higher interest rate than someone with a good FICO score and you will have to shop around longer to find reasonable interest rates – but all is doable. If you have bad credit and your are trying to purchase a car, follow these guidelines and will drive off the lot in your own car:

Get your credit report

If you suspect that your credit leaves something to be desired, the first thing you should do, is understand your credit situation and how creditors view you. The only way to do this, is to get a copy of your credit report. Get your free credit report to find out your credit score. Read more of this >>

If you want to get approved at the best possible terms when buying a car, it’s important you know a car lender’s credit guidelines before you apply for credit…especially if you’re bankrupt.

It will save you time and frustration—but more importantly, it will help you avoid credit inquiries that may lower your FICO credit scores up to 12 points per inquiry.

Step 1 in making a lease or buy decision is to determine a lender’s credit guidelines.

You start by asking if they lend to people with a bankruptcy. If so, on what terms?

That’s right. You have to be upfront that you’ve filed bankruptcy. Don’t hide it. We have to face the fact that some dealers just won’t work with people who’ve filed bankruptcy. So our job is to find the ones that do.

Some lenders will only lease to people with a bankruptcy. Others will only offer purchase financing. Yet still others will only lend using a hybrid of the two—this is especially common in Texas.

Ask the finance director at the dealership to direct you as to what structure the manufacturer prefers.

And here’s a quick tip for you: if your bankruptcy doesn’t appear on the credit report your lender pulls—then, in the eyes of the lender, you’re not bankrupt.

The only lenders I would consider using are:

- First choice: Captive lenders (car manufacturers) Read more of this >>

Most of us are aware of the credit score – a numerical quantity widely used to assess your credit worthiness. But there’s another scoring tool that can debar you from getting credit. It’s the Bankruptcy Risk Score – a supplementary score that most creditors and lenders scrutinize prior to offering credit.

Personal bankruptcy seems to be a major consumer credit problem for lenders and credit providers. Since creditors cannot recover losses due to bankruptcy without litigation, so consumers filing bankruptcy are more costly for them. The year 2005 has experienced record number of bankruptcy filings – at least 31.6% higher than 2004 prior to the new law coming into effect.

But the new law has hardly helped debtors. Reports suggest that only 3.3% of the debtors could get rid off debts using debt management plans. The mandatory credit counseling sessions under the new law proved useful to only a maximum of 5% and minimum of 1%-2% of the filers. Here lies the need for Bankruptcy Risk Score to make debtors more aware of how much credit they can deal with. On the other hand, creditors and lenders get the extra edge over traditional scores, as they are better informed of the consumers’ credit status. This helps them in making credit decisions accordingly.

Creditors assess the score when you apply for a mortgage, a credit card or any other bank card. Before extending credit, banks may also review the score while checking your accounts. Banks need to maintain a standard capital-to-risk ratio, and Bankruptcy score enables them to evaluate the risk within their portfolio. A combination of your credit score and spending habits (how you use credit card, shopping card, etc) helps in the evaluation. Read more of this >>

OK, you’ve filed bankruptcy. Your credit isn’t great, but you need to buy a car.

So you go to the local car dealership and believe the salesman when he says…

“Buy this car today at this high interest rate and we’ll refinance you in 12 months at the lowest interest rate possible.”

Recovering from bankruptcy is easier than you thought! Time to celebrate, right?

WRONG!

Don’t Believe Everything a Car Salesman Tells You

Every day car dealers repeat the “refinance in 12 months” lie to bankrupt people to push them to purchase cars at extremely high interest rates. You may have financed a car through a high-interest lender knowing that it’s not the best choice. But you probably thought it was your only option at the time and you justified it by thinking you could refinance to a lower interest rate later.

But, when you try to refinance the car months later, you find out the car dealer lied to you.

Best Way to Refinance a Car After Bankruptcy Read more of this >>

Credit runs into our lives and has effect on almost every decision we make. Bad credit runs in our credit application and has effects on every loan we borrow. A recent survey has shown that one fifth of the adult population cannot qualify for regular loans. For such a huge loan borrowing population there are specific loan programmes called bad credit loans.

With bad credit loans you can borrow loan amounts of the likes of $5000-$75,000. Repayment term will vary from 5-25 years. Both secured and unsecured options are available for bad credit loans. Unsecured bad credit loans will require no collateral and will suit if you want to borrow smaller amounts. For larger amounts secured bad credit loans are appropriate and would require collateral like home, real estate or car etc.

Start with your credit report and credit score – that will give you a clear idea about how ‘bad’ your bad credit is. Credit score has statistical information which can be used by loan lenders to assess the risk accompanied while lending you money. Different credit score structures are used by loan lenders – however the most common is fico credit score. Fico score ranges from 300-900. Anything below 620 will mean you have bad credit score and will qualify for such loans only.

Bankruptcy, arrears, late payments, CCJs, defaults, foreclosure and any court case are seen as bad credit cases. None of these things on your credit report can prevent you from having bad credit loans, unless you have pretty bad credit condition like multiple bankruptcies. In worst case scenario there will fewer lender ready to take this sort of risk. Read more of this >>

She was beautiful.

One look and that’s all she wrote.

I wanted her and nothing was going to stop me.

I was determined.

Her body glistened in the sun. Her looks could kill.

She was every young man’s dream…

Of course I’m referring to the used, red, Mazda Miata I tried so desperately to finance shortly after my bankruptcy.

She captured my heart…and that was the problem. Common sense went out the window and I began making choices based on wants rather than needs.

It didn’t matter who financed that car for me or at what interest rate—I just wanted it.

That’s the same type of thinking that led me to file bankruptcy.

MISTAKE #1: Allowing emotions to influence your decision-making

People tell me all the time that they filed bankruptcy to save their homes. Homes that they…

…have three mortgages on

…have no equity in

…owe more on than the appraised value

(this is called negative equity)

…are too emotionally invested in

What the @#?! Geez Louise.

Allowing emotions to creep into your credit or financial decisions is dangerous at best.

When my wife and I and I bought our first home after bankruptcy it wasn’t our dream home. We looked at it as an investment. Before every spending decision we made with that home we asked the question: “Will this increase the resale value of the home?”

Same thing when we purchased our first commercial building. Every decision was based on whether it would increase the value of the building.

It’s easy to get caught up in the emotion of the moment and start doing things to (and spending money on) a house or car to make it special just for you. Read more of this >>