After years of focusing on home mortgage scams, the Federal Trade Commission is turning its sights on what it calls bogus auto loan modifications. The FTC says fraud artists are moving from mortgage loan modification schemes and targeting consumers who are underwater on their auto loans.
With less than a week to go before the nation's borrowing limit must be lifted, the debate over the debt ceiling rages on, with your money hanging in the balance.
Jarrod Holland has a serious car-buying habit. In 20 years, Holland has had 22 different cars. He has never had any car for more than, at most, three years.
There's nothing quite like the smell of a new car, and interest rates are favoring buyers -- well, at least the affluent ones.
General Motors is paying $3.5 billion in cash to buy subprime auto lender AmeriCredit, a move that will once again give the automaker its own finance arm.
As the economy begins to mend, the cost of borrowing money for a big purchase could start to increase.
Question: I'm 29 years old, earn $75,000 a year and have $130,000 in my 401(k), $5,000 in a Roth IRA and $50,000 in a savings account for emergencies. I save roughly 15% of my salary each year for retirement. I currently drive a seven-year-old Honda that's fully paid off, but I've been thinking buying about a new Lexus that would cost $43,000. I'm not sure I can afford it, though. I would put $15,000 down, which I have in separate savings, and finance the rest with a three-year loan. But that would leave me with a rather high monthly payment, so I'm wondering if I'd be better off saving more for a larger down payment or taking out a five-year loan instead. What do you recommend? --Y.S., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Auto dealers are using rebates, discounts, and other incentives to lure buyers back into their showrooms. But once they get customers through the door, dealers are still battling an issue that has troubled the industry for months: a lack of financing.
As Chrysler heads to bankruptcy court today in New York City, it becomes the highest profile failure for the private equity industry and its former owner Cerberus. But there is a slender silver lining for the New York money men.
With consumer credit ratings plummeting, more American car owners could soon be driving around with an electronic Big Brother on board.
Car leasing is a lot like renting an apartment; you pay a monthly fee to use it but don't own it -- and aren't making payments toward ownership. The leased vehicle remains the property of the lessor -- the company that issued the lease.
Congratulations. You've successfully negotiated the purchase price of your new or used car or truck. You've made a great deal.
With auto sales at crisis levels, Washington is trying to figure out how to get Americans buying cars again.
Now that it has received $6 billion in aid from the federal government, GMAC, General Motors' auto financing affiliate, is easing up its terms for writing new auto loans. That means you could have an easier time financing a GM car, but you should still look at all your alternatives.
The Federal Reserve may have cut its key short-term interest rate to the lowest level on record, but that doesn't mean credit will be any easier to get.
Consumer borrowing unexpectedly decreased in October as the weak economy continued to weigh on household budgets.
General Motors dealers are complaining that GM's "captive financing" arm isn't doing what it was set up to do - help them move cars. And if it continues, they say, they could lose their lots.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Wednesday that the government would broaden the reach of its $700 billion bailout plan to support non-bank financial institutions that provide consumer credit, such as credit cards and auto loans.
Auto dealers are hungry for customers: Worried consumers are putting off buying big-ticket items, and buyers on the market are finding it harder to get a loan. So if your credit is solid, now is a great time to say, Let's make a deal.
If you want to see how America's credit crisis is hitting the streets of your hometown, go to your local car dealer. Auto dealers depend on credit. They need it to run their stores and their customers need it to buy their products. From every angle, credit trouble hurts.
A massive pile-up in the credit markets is causing serious congestion for new car buyers who want financing, according to industry observers. But some dealers say they're still able to work out deals.
The nation's automakers aren't the only companies suffering from higher gas prices and weak vehicle sales. Auto lenders are feeling the squeeze as well.
Just when motorists were starting to adjust to exorbitant gas prices, they face the prospect of much higher costs, fewer choices and a dearth of financing options if they want to lease their next car
With so many auto financing companies getting out of the leasing business, you might think they don't want you to lease anymore.
When Lehman Brothers reported a stunning $2.8 billion loss Monday, it was just the latest sign that bad mortgage loans continue to be a problem for the financial markets and the economy.
You can spend hours negotiating the price of a new car, but even after you shake hands, the wheeling and dealing is far from over.
The credit crisis appears to be spreading beyond the housing market into the market for auto loans, according to a report released Thursday.
We all know what it means to be upside-down in the physical sense. The blood rushes to your head and it's hard to breathe, all because it's not the natural state of the human body. In vehicular terms, being upside-down is a completely different, yet equally unpleasant phenomenon. When it comes to your car, truck, minivan or SUV, being upside-down in your car loan is not a physical problem, but a financial one.
With all those cool cars at the Detroit Auto Show, it's tempting to start your search for a new set of wheels. But before you step foot in a dealership, you need to know how to avoid car financing traps.
Auto leasing is, once again, becoming popular. The number of car leases is up 21 percent compared to last year, according to data from the automotive Website Edmunds.com.
Few of us have the means to write a check for the full amount of a new - or even used - vehicle.
With Americans seemingly overwhelmed by mortgages, credit cards and automobile loans, it seems like everyone has something to say about the state of consumer debt in America nowadays.
I've been having a debate with my wonderful wife. We owe $10,000 on a home equity line of credit and we have a car loan with a balance of about $16,000. I would like to borrow more from the home equity line to pay off the car loan since interest on the home equity loan interest is tax deductible. My wife would rather use some cash we have to pay off the home equity line and continue paying the car loan. She's uneasy about having a second mortgage on our home. We almost always see eye to eye on things financial, but here we disagree. What do you think is the best course?
The financial challenges for General Motors' GMAC finance unit may not go away, even if a majority stake in the operation is sold, as is widely expected.
New car buyers are taking out longer and longer loans to finance their vehicle purchases, according to data from the Consumer Bankers Association. More than half of new car loans made by the group's member institutions were for five years or longer.
Maybe you need a car. Maybe you've found a car you really love. But whatever you do, don't compromise your financial health to buy it.
The American consumer has long enjoyed a healthy dose of borrowing, but the sustained low interest rates of recent years have launched consumer debt to near-record levels.
Dear Armchair Millionaire: I recently found out that my credit score is not as high as I'd like it to be. What should I do to improve it?
And then there was one.
Auto dealers financing cars through a division of Ford Motor Credit have been discriminating against African-American and Hispanic customers by charging them higher interest rate mark-ups than others, according to an announcement by the Consumer Federation of America.
HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE FREE OF CREDIT-CARD DEBT? To have a financial cushion to fall back on? To know you have the skills to save and invest for any goal—and to guarantee your financial future?
Refinancing your car loan is much easier than refinancing your mortgage.
Low and zero-interest rate loan offers from automakers are getting more attractive without changing at all, due to the rising interest rates available on other lenders' car loans.
Edmunds.com, an automotive data Web site, will soon begin displaying 5-star depreciation ratings for cars.
My husband and I would like to help out our son financially. He has about $14,000 in school loans with a 10-year term and a 4 percent interest rate, and has also just bought a new car that will cost him loan payments of $300 a month for the next five years. We're thinking of paying off either the school loan or the car loan. Which do you think we should do?
Three numbers in a row, from 300 to 850: How harmful can they be? Plenty. You probably already know that those numbers--your credit score, often called a FICO score, after the popular model develop...
Americans are up to their you-know-whatsies in credit-card debt. We owe, on average, nearly $9,000 per household, the largest amount ever, and hold an average of 16 different cards.
What was the last thing you bought? Whatever it was--a bottle of wine, a sweater, insurance, a car, a mortgage--chances are you spent time wondering whether you could've gotten it at a better price...
GANDER MATTOX GRANDVIEW, MO.
Talk about a double whammy. For weeks investors have been pummeling Ford stock, which is down 55% since May, partly on concerns about its underfunded pension plan. But now the company's bonds are b...
Mortgages aren't the only loans you can refinance. In today's falling-rate environment, car and student loans have become candidates as well--but only for certain borrowers. Here's what you need to...
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Eileen Horwath of San Francisco bought her new Honda online. Eileen Horwath is among the new breed of Web-savvy car shoppers. Looking for a Honda Civic that fit her budget, the 24-year-old San Fran...
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We're not going to lecture you. You know all about the downsides of debt. You know you shouldn't run up a credit-card tab for a trip to Tahiti, and you know that such behavior has helped push bankr...
THIS MONTH: --A better way to pay bills --High-paying CDs for small savers
THIS MONTH: --Getting help with your debts --The best rates for CDs, loans
So you hope to take out a mortgage, tap the equity in your home or borrow to buy a new car in 1997? Relax. Interest rates don't figure to rise nearly as much as your weight might over the holidays....
In May, I went to a Toyota dealership in Marina Del Ray to purchase a car," says soft- spoken Theresa Witt, 50, sitting at her cluttered kitchen table with a mug of coffee in hand. "They had a huge...
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ALL RIGHT, SO IT'S NOT A MULTIMILLION-dollar lottery prize, but the year-end bonus you're expecting next month (or the tax refund you'll be getting next spring) does open up some intriguing possibi...
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Attention, car shoppers: Wonder what that is going through the moon roof? It's car and truck finance charges, which shot up 7.3%, to an average rate of 8.2%, in the five months that ended in late J...
The balloon car loan has been floating around for decades. But most big car makers have added a new twist that may make it worth a fresh look. The main appeal of a balloon loan has always been its ...
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Vice President Al Gore is so tickled about today's low interest rates that when he gives a speech, he often asks for a show of hands from those who have recently refinanced their mortgages. ''Usual...
If you are shopping for a car loan and you're among the 50% of adult Americans who either belong to a credit union or could belong, you might make the credit union office your first stop. As nonpro...
There's something novel about this new-car season, and it's not just the stylish '93s now appearing in showrooms. This year, finally, the auto industry appears to be Getting It. Manufacturers at la...
FROM TIME TO TIME, DAVID AND PATSY THEOBALD OF Savannah still visit the vacant three-bedroom ranch house that they once called home. David, 45, a $53,000-a- year controller for the local Hershey Ch...
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Joann Long thought it was a prank at first. At 2:45 p.m. on Dec. 18, 1989, her son Ray Jr. -- then a 14-year-old 10th-grader at Barry Goldwater High in Phoenix -- came pounding on the back door, sh...
With auto sales off more than 3% this year compared with last, lenders are dreaming up some oddball ways to get you a new set of wheels. Especially popular right now are home-equity loans, since th...
In the movie Cadillac Man, Robin Williams' character and his car salesmen co- conspirators in sleaze raise their beer bottles in a Chinese restaurant and toast the motto of the dealership: ''Nobody...
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According to the ads, one-stop banking is the only way to go. The promise: sign on with the right bank or savings and loan and never again will you have to spend time hunting for the best deal on a...
Three years ago, Leslie Hamilton of Boston, then 27, went on a diet and lost 70 pounds. As a result, she recalls, ''I had no clothes that fit.'' So Hamilton began a giddy wardrobe-buying spree. Pre...
As the average sticker price fireballed by 85% to $13,932 since 1980, many strapped car buyers have resorted to longer-term loans with lower monthly payments. But it has not helped. A rash of loan ...
Some financial planners suggest car shoppers borrow by taking out home-equity loans whose interest would be fully tax deductible. Sounds logical, but it's bad advice. Even though the monthly paymen...
If you are thinking of buying an American car, your best bet is to take the factory rebate and get bank financing. The rebate lowers the price, thereby reducing your loan and saving you interest. F...
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More bankers are rewarding their best customers with favorable deals, including three listed under Revolving cards. Example: Security Pacific offers California residents 20.4% Visa and MasterCards ...
Newlyweds Stewart and Dana Gordon of New York City are pinned under a $47,000 mess of education debt and may have to borrow $175,000 more by 1988 to finance his dental practice and buy a home. Jeff...
Consumption is the motor that drives all modern industrial economies, and in the U.S., consumer spending is a turbo-charged V-8 engine. When Americans are buying avidly, as they have been since 198...
Consumer-loan rates floated downward during 1986, though they have tended to level off lately. The heftiest drop in 1986 -- 2.04 percentage points to 10.63% -- was in new- car loans. Auto manufactu...
Home-equity loans can turn almost anything you want into something you can afford. -- Seattle bank advertisement Now appearing in newspapers nationwide, ads like this aim to change the self-image o...
The guy next door tools around in a new Mercedes, while you drive that sturdy Plymouth Reliant you bought four years ago. On sunny weekends, his family relaxes on their sailboat; you, on the other ...
Home-equity loans have two major advantages over ordinary consumer loans, such as the car and unsecured versions listed below. First, interest on equity loans will remain fully deductible under tax...
THOSE ULTRA-LOW-RATE financing offers from automakers may be selling cars like never before, but they are a giant pain in the assets to U.S. banks. Their share of the market for car loans has shrun...
Psst! Wanna hit it big in financial services? Then get into the mortgage business. Buying that home is probably the biggest single purchase Johnny Doe will ever make. Be the one to sell him his mor...
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