dj.ctwatt

There is no minimum for an auto-loan, since they are the most secure type of loan.

But given the age of the vehicle, you will probably won't get $5 approved. Also given your credit score. . . it will be VERY tough. Unless you need money to SAVE YOUR LIFE, I wouldn't take out ANY MORE credit. Like mike said, 25% is insane, and even on a small loan, you will be paying back TONS of interest. Generally, for a sub-prime refi of a car (good luck finding someone even willing to do that nowadays), the car has to bee less than 10 years old. Most financial institutions stick to 7-8 year old cap. You can easily get an auto loan for $500, but it will depend on the percentage of it's value (usually the lowest trade-in NADA or blue book value).

SaintNexus

Ok, so I got some news on some stuff.

First off, I don't think that my mileage is that bad. I think it's only bad, cause I'm driving 1 mile UP HILL with bumper to bumper traffic when i go to work (sometimes), and I'm driving 3 miles UP HILL with bumper to bumper traffic when I home from work (happens almost all the time). Stuff like that is whats messing up my mileage.

Anyway, this is what I've figured out. I spent $15 for gas yesterday. Which is about 4.3 gallons. I drove a total of 96.1 miles with that amount of gas (not sure how much was in the tank before i filled it up, but id assume it was really low!) This equals out to be 22.3 miles per gallon. Which is great! I might have been able to go an extra 2-3 miles, but I didn't want to risk it.

I filled up $67 worth of gas today, which was 19.1something gallons, and when I removed the nozzle it overflowed, so I'd like to assume that my LS400 has a tank of 19 gallons (instead of the 22.5 gallons that I've been reading online).

I'll let you guys know the amount of miles I get with it sometime this month. I'm going to be using my car mostly for work now (Gonna bike to school for exercise, save gas, and money for parking tickets), so the miles I put on it will be mostly highway. So, here's hoping that I get better than 330 miles in a full tank.

As for my credit card, I don't have the exact writing here with me, I can't find it, so I went to my chase online, and i submitted a request for my Cardmember Agreement. Once I get the paperwork, I'm going to look up where it says what it said. I'm going to call Chase, and ask to speak with a Manager directly (not even going to waste my time with a representative). Once I get a manager on the line, I'm going to ask him "When did my Penalty APR take in effect? When did you start the 29.99% Penalty APR?", I'm sure that he has the answer to this, and I'm pretty damn sure that it happened sometime in late 2009. I know for a FACT that it has been over a year of me having this, and I'm going to him "And according to your records, I have been making my payments on time since [date he tells me], right?", Again, I'm sure he's going to say yes, and he should have the answer to this.

I'm going to count 6 months from that month, and I'm going to ask for credit towards my credit card (both of them) for the past 6+ months that I've been overpaying the interest on, also for my APR to be lowered to what it was originally.

I think the reason to why they said they couldn't lower my apr, is because of the economy or some ****, but that's all bull****. I've been doing the right thing for months, and I've paid HUNDREDS of dollars towards interest. Last year alone I've paid over $600 towards interest. I get charged about $80 of interest every month, it's ridiculous.

Also, I don't have $250 a month for a car. I mean, I don't think I do. I just said that number, because I think I might be able to afford a car that costs that much.

I pay around $500-$600 worth of bills towards my Credit cards and my phone. This isn't including money for gas, for food, or hanging with my girl.

I make around $1000-$1300 a month, depending on the number of hours I get. Lets say I have $500 left over from paying bills, then expect $60 towards gas a week (but it's going be even less from now on, because like I said, I'm going to be biking to school).

Anyway, I'm just going to keep the car I have, and I'll keep you guys informed on my situation. I know I wrote a lot, but I had a lot to say.

dj.ctwatt

Best strategy I used to tell my clients. . . DO NOT do consumer credit counseling as it docks your credit report. . . you might as well have a bankruptcy on there.

Pay the minimums on all your accounts, except the one with the smallest balance. On the account with the smallest balance, pay the HIGHEST PAYMENT you can afford to pay until you wipe that sucker out. Continue to the next card. Hit your installment payments last (ie home or car) because they will have the least interest (generally). Installment accounts rarely have their interest compounded, and can't change terms as easily as credit cards. A credit card issuer has the right to change your rate anytime they want; even if your score goes down or you are late by 1 day for a payment. . . or even if you are late for a payment to a different creditor. That is, unless Obama's credit laws went into effect, I'm sure nothing has changed since I left the USA about a 1.5 years ago.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

glad you made the right decision!
oh and don't overflow your gas - didn't the pump handle click off? if you kept trying to fill after that you shouldn't have. it's designed to allow room for expansion in the tank.

SaintNexus

Well, regarding my MPG.

I first filled 19 gallons of gas, and then added 3 more gallons, and finally 8 more gallons after that (it could be give or take a gallon)

With 29-31 gallons of gas, I was able to drive 658.7 miles, which translates to 22.71-21.24 mpg!

The current 2011 LS460 gets 23-24 mpg, and my 1990 LS400 is able to get 21-23 mpg also, is pretty damn amazing.

I bet if I was driving an LS460, I would be able to push the mpg to way more than 24 mpg, but that's just cause I drive like old ***** (65 mph, cruise control), lol.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

i didn't bother to look if someone has mentioned it, but if you think gs300 has better gas mileage than ls400, you are wrong. the i6 in the gs300 eats gas just as bad as the v8. i had gs400 and is300, i know first hand.

moreover, as someone mentioned, keep your ls400 until you save up enough cash to just buy another used car, if you want. you have to look at the interest rate, after certain point, it just doesn't make sense

OC 335d

With your current salary, it is financially prudent to purchase another car.

Revolving debt does hurt your credit score but you do not need to have them all at zero. Also, never close your credit cards, use them every once in awhile to make sure your credit card company keeps them open. Length of credit history/limits are also important for your credit score.

It's funny, once I purchased a home and had several months of payments, my credit score jumped tremendously. Kinda reverse line of thinking though, my debt increased by obviously hundreds of thousands of dollars and my credit score went UP, not down.

dj.ctwatt

That's because revolving credit (credit cards) are scored differently from installment accounts (car pmt or home). No account needs to be at 0, but if you are near your limits, adding to the debt will not help.

Think of it this way. A secured loan is far less risky than revolving credit. You can stop payments on your credit cards anytime, and suffer minimal consequences (besides a bad credit score and nagging phone calls). They are high risk. Stop payment on your home, and you're homeless. Get behind on your car, and they repossess it. People with secured loans tend to pay for that reason.

Turbinator

Is that pre-tax or post-tax?

Turby

Raralith

FYI, a good read for you, but I'll give you the cliff notes too -> http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cre...20031104a1.asp

- Paying bills (on time, not late, at least minimum), 35%
- Used and total credit available, 30%
- Credit history (how long, your longest owned, your average), 15%
- Varities of credit, 10%
- New credit cards, applications filled, hard pulls, 10%

If you have credit cards, pay them on time, and make sure to pay at least the minimums. Every year, you should ask your credit card company(s) to give you a credit increase, especially if you've paid them off. Also, if you don't use a card, but you've had it for years, make a small purchase on it every few months so they don't cancel it. Having a credit card a long time makes your credit history better. Don't try to apply to a bunch of credit cards either.

dj.ctwatt

^ all that is correct, but remember that long accounts only make up a measly 15% of your score. People all too often use this as an excuse to use their cards for everything.

Used and total credit is where people fail, most of the time. . . and being 30% of your score, it has a major impact. And of course paying bills on time. . . but that should (hopefully) be obvious.

SaintNexus

After taxes.

SaintNexus

So, I'm going to start the Snowball method of paying off my debt starting next month.

I owe around $1,200 for one of my credit cards, and plan to have it paid off in August.

While I'm paying off that card, I'm going to pay slightly the minimum (min=$114, gonna pay around $150) towards my other credit card, $3,100. Once the smaller balance is paid off, I'm going to try to pay off this credit card even faster.

I need to pay off and cancel my credit cards with Chase. The APR they've given me is 29.99%, and I think they're going to increase it to 30.24% sometime this year, which makes no ****in sense! I've been paying over the minimum for my cards for the past year, but these guys are just screwin with me!

Once I pay off my small credit card, I'm going to apply with Bank of America. At least their APR is between 12-20%, and they have NO PENALTY APR, which is amazing.

I plan on applying for them this summer, and hopefully it all goes well.

gengar

That's because a home loan is a secured debt with fixed term of repayment, interest rate (typically), and monthly payment. This is completely different from credit card debt, which is unsecured and is a revolving balance with no repayment guarantees to the creditor. Taking out hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt via credit cards will create an entirely different situation than doing the same via a home loan, even (in a totally hypothetical and unrealistic situation) at the same interest rate.

dj.ctwatt

OMG, you and I think a lot a like. Must be something to it.