Answers

Your rate is not only dependent on your credit score (which, frankly, isn't too good anyway), but also your income to debt ratio at the present time. I would expect that you would be paying a high rate, yes.

But you shop for money just like you shop for a car, so shop around and see if you can do better at one lender than at another. They aren't all the same.

0

0

Report it

Used car interest rates with your score will be high - but shop around some more. You will be wasting thousands on interest. If you must borrow to buy a car, then you can't afford to buy that car. Consider lifestyle changes and paying cash for a cheaper car, take an auto maintenance class and learn to take care of it. Defer gratification. Pay off your other debt and rebuild your credit so you'll be able some day to borrow at low rates.

0

0

Report it

Tht's good advise morin but not what most people want to hear!

0

0

Report it

Isell, I'm sure you see it every day - but your business depends on people buying what they can't afford.

Those of us above 50 or so had parents who grew up in the Depression and never had a credit card. My parents' only debt was a small mortgage, paid off in 12 years - and my father worked 3 jobs every day almost completely around the clock to maintain that debt-free life. Most people are not willing to make any sacrifices today or defer any gratification. Long before I learned to maintain my own cars, I started my own coin wholesale business at about 11 or 12, then moved to yard care and snow shovelling services when I was strong enough, once shovelling for 22 straight hours. I learned to identify edible wild plants and mushrooms and to barter my tax prep services and deer butchering for supplies of fish, eggs, and wild game through low-income times in graduate school so I would graduate with absolutely no debt. I worked two jobs through college and grad school and tutored French and Organic Chemistry to spoiled pre- med students. I still pack my lunch, have never been in the cafeteria at work for over 24 years, never eat out, and bank my hours for this thing called "vacation". I don't consider any work to be "beneath me".

I should teach self-discipline and self-reliance - but would anyone show up?

Its wonderful living debt free - or knowing that the 12K I didn't use in cash for a car & chose to borrow @ 2.9% for 3 years has already gained 64% in a mutual fund since Feb. That's when its worth borrowing.

Sorry to ramble so off-topic but wanted to explain that I come by my advice honestly.

0

0

Report it

I'm over 55 and I bug my mom for her Depression Era stories all the time. She's frugal, but certainly didn't do without car loans, mortgages and credit cards. We ate out once a week when I was a kid (Mom never liked cooking, and she worked too, so what the hey).

There's nothing wrong with using credit, you just need to use it wisely. 16% car loans aren't a wise use, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

Not to mention that life is short! (especially if you screw up on your mushroom picking, lol).

0

0

Report it

Agree with the life is short & I'm your age Steve. Old habits, learned early and reinforced often, die hard. Life is too short to miss out on some great eating mushrooms too. Took a USDA mushroom identification class about 30 years ago just to learn which are best to eat. People buy the same species in the store that commonly grow on their lawns. When in doubt, stick to the safe bets - those big puffballs (long before they go to spore) are all safe to eat before the bugs get into them. If purple inside, they are not so good, but won't hurt you. You never eat a mushroom if there is any doubt. Learn how to i.d a poisonous Amanita. Morels, chantarelles, oyster mushrooms, and puffballs are wonderful and free. Even when you're a starving grad student, you're rich when you have good health and a nice plate of pan-fried puffballs, lamb's quarter (pigweed) and some tender young pokeweed shoots - all free for the picking.

Actually, 16% for a car loan wouldn't be so bad if you knew in advance that your savings would earn 64%, but the reality is that you can't predict the future, although it did seem painfully obvious that some sectors were a screaming bargain early this year - the only reason why I didn't pay cash for my new subaru in March.

0

0

Report it

My dad told me to save my dimes. Then he up and died at 52, so I figured, why bother? ;-P

But we digress. Enjoy the new ride, Asuhawgfan, but remember at the end of the day, it's just a car, so don't get into a position where you're losing sleep at night worrying about the next car payment.

0

0

Report it

Shiftright used to say "If you can't afford it, you probably won't enjoy it".

0

0

Report it