Need a New Car? Foreign Auto Makers Offer Unique Deals

Posts Tagged ‘auto loans’

Need a New Car? Foreign Auto Makers Offer Unique Deals

|

By Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, The Money Coach

I find it quite interesting that more and more foreign auto makers are feeling America’s pain. And they’re trying to capitalize on the angst of the American consumer too.

Recently, Hyundai announced a new deal to ease the minds of Americans worried about layoffs. Under the deal, Hyundai will allow car buyers who get a pink slip within one year of purchasing a Hyundai to return the vehicle.

Hyundai offers return policy if you lose your job

Today, I heard a radio ad from Mitsubishi roasting the $700 billion federal bailout package for the financial industry. The ad said that while Congress is busy “bailing out Wall Street” and writing a check “with 12 zeros behind it,” the Japanese auto company had a bailout plan of its own for struggling consumers. Mitsubishi is offering consumers a “Zero Down” deal and financing from Mitsubishi to drive off the lot with a new car. “All you need,” the ad said, “is your signature.”

Ad Campaigns Touch a Nerve

Both the Hyundai and Mitsubishi offers are pretty savvy marketing strategies.

Hyundai’s campaign touches a nerve considering 11 million Americans are out of a job and hundreds of thousands more layoffs are expected in the next few months. Today alone, several companies announced major job cuts, totaling nearly 50,000 lost positions, including 2,000 announced layoffs at General Motors.

Mitsubishi offers a "zero-down" deal as answer to consumer bailout.

The Mitsubishi initiative clearly plays on the fact that most Americans did not support a bailout of the financial industry, and many also opposed billions of dollars going to American auto makers. Mitsubishi – in launching this somewhat unorthodox ad campaign – is trying of course to sell more cars. But the car maker is also trying to pose its own answer to the question millions of Americans have been asking, which is: “Where is my bailout?” Needless to say, this kind of in-your-face advertising is also taking an indirect jab at competing U.S. car makers Ford, Chrysler, and GM, all of whom went to Congress asking for money with hat in hand.

So should you buy a Hyundai or a Mitsubishi if you’re in the market for a new car? That’s up for you to decide – given your own personal tastes and budget. But one thing is certain:

U.S. auto makers better act fast if they want to catch up to their foreign competitiors, and tap into Americans’ growing unease about their financial situation.

How did Lynnette Khalfani-Cox erase $100,000 in debt in 3 years?

|

Author: The Money Coach

In my book, Zero Debt, I explain how I got into debt (mainly via overspending), and also what it took to get me out of debt. To pay off my credit card bills, I used the exact same strategies I outlined in my book – getting a budget together, cutting back on frivolous spending (like vacations & dinners out), refinancing my auto loan, negotiating with my creditors for lower interest rates, doubling and tripling up on the minimum payments I was making, and using “windfalls” or “extra” money, like income tax checks and year-end bonuses from my job to pay off debt, etc.

Making Tough Choices

I also made some tough choices, like taking my two older kids out of private school and putting them in a less expensive private school. (They’re actually now in public school, and doing just great). After nearly 3 years of all this, I’d paid off $70,000 in credit card debt. Then in early 2004, my ex-husband and I sold some land we owned and used $30,000 to pay off the last $30,000 of credit card debt we owed.

In your question, you mentioned joining a debt management plan and taking on a second job. I know those were tough steps for you to take. But congratulations for doing so, because they will definitely help you become debt free faster. Lastly, I don’t know if you have a copy of Zero Debt. (The original version came out in late 2004; the updated, second edition of the book came out in 2009). In any event, in Day 25/Chapter 25 of Zero Debt, I also explained three different debt pay-off strategies that you can use to knock out credit card debt. (In my case, I used Strategy #2). Good luck in eliminating those credit card bills!

Can You Bump Hard Inquiries Off Your Credit Report By Monitoring With Soft Inquiries?

|

Author: The Money Coach

“Soft” inquiries – even lots of them – will not bump off or remove “hard” inquiries on your credit reports. This is because all inquiries stay on your credit report for two years, and hard inquiries count against you, for the purposes of calculating your FICO scores, for one year.

What Is the Difference Between a “Hard” and a “Soft” Inquiry?

A hard inquiry in your credit file is a record of any application for credit that you made. For example, if you seek a mortgage, student loan or car loan, or even if you apply for a credit card or perhaps request an increase in your current credit card limit, any of these actions can result in an inquiry on your Equifax, Experian or TransUnion credit files. Other business-related transactions can also produce inquiries: Among them: signing a cell phone contract, launching new service with a utility provider (like a local gas or electric company), filling out an apartment rental application, and – as even using a debit card to reserve or pay for a car rental. All of these activities generate inquiries that are known as “hard” pulls. By contrast, when you examine your own credit report, or when an existing creditor does a review of your credit files, those are called “soft” pulls, and they do not impact your credit score. So let’s say you use a credit monitoring service, and you review your credit report each month – or even weekly or daily. Those “soft” inquiries will be noted on your credit files, but they won’t hurt your FICO scores, and they won’t make your “hard” inquiries go away.

Don’t Allow Excessive Hard Inquiries of Your Credit Files

The American Bankers Association says a single inquiry can drop your credit score by 35 points. According to the formula used by Fair Isaac Corporation (the company that created FICO credit scores), inquiries account for 10% of your score. So think about it this way: If your FICO score is 680 points, inquiries account for 68 of those points. Obviously it’s not that simple, because different elements of FICO’s formula are weighted differently, based on a slew of considerations. And inquiries can have a greater or lesser impact on your score depending on the length of your credit history and other factors. Nevertheless, to minimize the impact of inquiries on your credit rating, only apply for credit when you truly need it. And if you have to shop around – say, for a mortgage or a new car loan – do so within a concentrated period of time. FICO executives say that multiple inquiries for auto financing or home loans are treated as a single inquiry, so long as the inquiries all occur within a 14-day period. The idea, according to FICO, is for them to avoid penalizing consumers for shopping around for the best rate.

Am I responsible for a loan that my husband took out in my name?

|

Author: The Money Coach

Fatal error: Maximum execution time of 30 seconds exceeded in /home/content/34/5332634/html/wp-content/plugins/seo-ultimate/includes/jlfunctions/str.php on line 209

Ask The Money Coach

Posts Tagged ‘auto loans’