Our nation’s financial infrastructure has a few things that really concern me. One of them is the fact that we’re willing to allow lenders to provide loans to people at astronomical interest rates. As things are, if I really need to I can walk into any cash advance store and find myself a loan at a whopping 1000+ percent interest. These stores of course know how to package their supposed no credit check personal loan and make it look super sexy, in fact they’re able to make it look like they are providing a valuable service to the community. After all, these people don’t have any other options right? If they have bad credit, it’s the only chance they have at a loan.

Since when does our nation allow us to provide and engage in acts that are highly addictive and extremely destructive? Providing loans to people at interest levels this extreme sets them up for HUGE financial issues and allowing this to happen in our nation isn’t too far away from allowing people to use drugs that are also addictive and self-destructive.

There should be a cap on interest for loans in our country and that cap should apply to every type of loans – including no credit personal loans like payday loans and cash advances. Otherwise we’re taking money from the poor and re-distributing it to the rich because people really struggle to pay back loans of this type.

There are currently eight states that agree with me and have therefore outlawed this type of loan. I wish that more states would follow because that would protect the people who this practice hurts. In my opinion, the fact that we allow these loans to be provided encourages the misuse of credit. People know that they can always get loans, even if they have absolutely abused creditors in the past. Removing these crazy loans will help people to take more responsibility because they won’t have these loans to fall back on.

Many of you may believe that this view is extreme but I believe in it. I would like to see better financial education programs so that people can understand how their financial decisions affect them and I would like to see destructive programs fall by the wayside.

The current economic circumstances in our country have exposed quite a few flaws in our financial system. The primary causes for the downturn were excessive speculation in the real estate market and banks providing too many mortgage loans for poor credit. In other words, banks took too many risks on individuals that have reputations for not paying their bills on time.

A bank is taking a huge risk when they decide to create a mortgage loan for poor credit individuals. If you think about it simply, these people don’t pay many of their bills and the bank has to hope that they will be the exception – for a 15, 30, or 40 year time period. As you can see, this risk didn’t work out for many banks so we saw the bankruptcy of a few large banks like Bear Stears and Merrill Lynch.

While it’s obvious now that these risks were a huge mistake, it wasn’t so obvious two years ago. Banks probably felt like they had to offer the same loans as everyone else to compete in that climate. The ones that survived are the ones that made better decisions by limiting or eliminating their exposure to the sub-prime market.

I suspect that it won’t be too many years before things turn around and banks start making the same mistakes. It might take ten years before real estate starts to move again but when it does, I’m guessing that banks will start losing perspective. A few banks will have spectacular earnings again because they will allow people to take out mortgage loans with bad credit and other banks will follow – again.

The truth about mortgage loans for people with poor credit – they’re BAD for our country. I don’t believe that it’s a human right to own a home and there’s nothing wrong with paying rent. People that make smarter decisions can buy a home and the others can rent. I have rented for years and years. I’m not ready to buy a home but it has taken a lot of time to prepare. I had to rebuild my credit and work on my professional skills. I have now done all of that and feel like I’m ready to purchase a home.

Our nation’s obsession with giving anyone the ability to buy a home is very unhealthy. It puts pressure on financial insitutions AND on people. I would like to see our nation as a whole back off on the pressure to buy a home.

Personal loans are by far the easiest type of loan to get on the planet. Why? Because the interest rates that companies are charging on most of these loans is out of this world. It’s easy to lend money when you know that you can charge insane interest rates.

Would you loan me $5000 today If I would pay you $7000 in a few months? The crazy thing is that interest rates can be that high on some of the personal loans that are out there. A very common question that I see people ask is whether there’s such a thing as a low interest personal loan.

Honestly, there aren’t that many options out there unless you have some collateral. One of my close friends went into a bank not too long ago because she wanted to have some plastic surgery done. She thought that she would need a personal loan for that but figured out that taking out a loan on her car was a lot cheaper. The unsecured personal loan would have cost about 11% and she only ended up paying 7%.

While most personal loans carry interest that’s quite high, there are still some reasonable options out there. Most signature loans from banks will cost between 12% and 19%, depending on the loan market. They are going to run five or six percentage points higher than home loans (which are considered to be the most affordable loan-type that most people can get).

Low interest rate personal loans are going to usually run at about 15%. That doesn’t look that great when you compare it to an auto loan or a home loan, but looks REALLY good if you compare to a payday loan. Payday loans typically cost more than 1000% APR – ridiculous and should most definitely be illegal in my opinion.

Your best option is definitely to walk into a bank with collateral. If you have that option, you should. If you don’t, take a look at signature loans. I personally would highly encourage you to stay away from payday loans. The interest is ridiculous and will only hurt your chances at having a stable and secure financial future.

I have personally had two different types of no credit check credit cards. Since opening credit card accounts is crucial to building credit, I thought that I could help a lot of people by telling a little about the cards that I was able to get with no credit.

Student Credit Cards

The first card that I was able to get with no credit was a student Visa card that I got during college. I started getting card offers in the mail and finally sent one in (today’s equivalent of accepting online). I was approved and given a card with a limit of $500. After I had that card for a few months I was offered a second card from another bank. The limit on the second card was $750.

When I got the first card, I definitely didn’t have any established credit. I think that some card companies assume that since you’re in school, your parents will be giving you money or you’ll take out loans and that allows you to make your payments.

The interest rates on my student credit cards wasn’t that great but it was definitely nice to get them without putting down a deposit. If I remember correctly, the interest rates on the cards was about 19% (the first one might have been barely over 20%).

Unfortunately, I ruined my credit with those two credit cards because I let them max out and stopped making payments. That was REALLY stupid but honestly I didn’t have the money to pay them off and this was the main reason my credit score was under 500 the first time I checked it. That meant I had to dig out of that hole and for that, I used another type of no credit credit card:

Secured Credit Cards

Since I ruined my first two credit card accounts, I no longer had the option of using student cards – I couldn’t get approved for them anymore. I needed to re-establish my credit history but it wasn’t going to be so easy. I did a ton of research and figured out that I could get a secured credit and rebuild my credit that way.

Using secured cards is a little annoying, but looking back it was worth it. It cost me $300 to get started (with secured cards you have to put down a security deposit). That security deposit becomes your credit line. You still have to pay interest but after a year of on-time payments, they’ll return your deposit.

The idea here is to use the secured card(s) to re-establish your credit history and after that you’ll start getting card offers again. For me this took about six months. After that I was able to get regular, unsecured credit cards without any trouble.

Honestly this was all a huge hassle and I wish that I had never ruined my credit. Fortunately for me, I learned from my mistakes. I now have a credit score that’s just short of 800 because I’ve been paying my bills on time and keeping my balances low on my credit card accounts.

Hopefully this lesson has helped you to learn how you can use a no credit check credit card to better your financial position. It certainly helped me.

So right now you have bad credit and you would like to buy a home. This lesson will teach you some of the things that you’re going to need to know in order to make this hope a reality. There are a lot of different options that you can look at and we’ll try to help you to determine which one is the best for you.

Find A Lender Who Specializes In Bad Credit Home Loans

To tell you the honest truth, this isn’t an easy task. The problem with going to a lender that specializes in this type of loan is that your loan will be extremely expensive AND a lot of these lenders bit the dust in the recent economic down turn. The ones that didn’t bite the dust are going to be a lot more conservative than they were even last year. That probably won’t change for a few years – lenders will remember these difficulties for quite a while.

Find A Cosigner

The easiest (and sometimes most difficult) way you can get a home loan with bad credit is by finding a person who will cosign for you. It’s easy because the bank will be a lot more likely to approve you, and it’s harder because it’s hard to get a person to cosign. This process can be a little embarrassing – I personally have a hard time asking for stuff like this. However, there’s a lot of risk there for the lender if you have bad credit. They are going to want to hedge that risk by getting the name of another person on the loan.

Fixing Your Credit

You should actually take a hard look at your credit to determine how bad it really is – and whether it can realistically be fixed within a reasonable amount of time. I have met a lot of people who thought their credit was probably ruined, only to discover that their 10-day late payments don’t affect their credit scores.

There are quite a few easy ways to improve your credit within a few months so if you’re not in a huge hurry you might be able to improve quite a bit. If you’re interested in that, follow these simple steps:

1. Pay down the balances on your credit cards. This aspect of your credit score is a huge percentage and you can make the most difference in the quickest time period this way.
2. Start paying all of your bills on time.
3. Make sure to have three or four open revolving lines of credit (unsecured or secured credit cards).

If you currently carry a large balance on credit cards, that’s probably hurting your score more than anything else. Make sure to pay that balance down now and that will fix your score a lot during the next 30 day cycle. That will really help you to become a better candidate for a home loan and you won’t have to ask me questions like, “How can I get a home loan with bad credit”.

There are some extremely expensive loans out there. I remember a comment that someone left on one of our other articles that asked if we could offer low interest rate personal loans. It seems like that’s almost impossible these days. Even signature loans at banks are going to cost 11-12%.

There are also loans that are quite affordable. I know a few people who only borrow money through a home equity loan. If they need to buy a new car, they get a home equity loan. If they need to improve their home – they refinance their home equity loan or their home loan. As long as you leave some room in your mortgage and can afford the payments, it’s not a bad way to go. It also makes your car payment almost insignificant.

I’ve given a lot of thought to how people can get low interest loans and thought that today I would help out by providing some solid advice. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comments. I’ll do what I can to help you out.

Step 1: Improve Your Credit Now

It’s not possible to get loans with low interest rates unless you have awesome credit. Unless you’re going to ask your mom and dad for a loan this just isn’t going to happen. Lending money and staying in business is all about risk management and if you’re a bad risk, you’re going to have to pay a lot of interest to get a loan from anyone that’s smart enough to survive long term.

The most important factors in improving your credit score are paying bills on time, paying down your credit cards, and maintaining multiple lines of credit. I personally have four credit cards and am smart about how I use them. Right now they all have zero balances because I pay them off each month. This gives me an on time payment and a low revolving credit balance. These three factors make up more than half of your credit score – don’t slack on any of them.

Step 2: Evaluate Your Financial Position

If you own a home, take a look at how much equity you have. Borrowing with your home as collateral is going to be the cheapest way to borrow money in most cases. Low interest  rate mortgage loans are a lot more common than most other low interest loans. Banks have an asset on their books (your home) that protects them in case you get lazy and default on your loan.

If you don’t have equity in your home, your loan is going to be a lot more expensive and you should plan accordingly. A cheap signature loan is still going to cost you 10%, but that’s probably your best option if you don’t have an asset that can be used as collateral.

Step 3: Choose The Cheapest Option

Home loans will be the cheapest loans out there, followed by home equity loans and then auto loans. After that you’re looking at signature loans followed by a lot of BAD loans. Make sure to choose the cheapest option that’s available to you.

Bonus Tip:

Student loans are often the cheapest loans. However, you obviously have to be a student to get them.

I have a close friend who does a lot of work with payday loans. Apparently they’re all the rage in my state. What kind of makes me laugh is that he says that he’s in the ‘payday loans bad credit’ market… I of course have to tease him and ask him if that means ‘as opposed to the payday loans for good credit market’?

If you have good credit, you should never get a payday loan. They are designed specifically for people with bad credit and should only be used in case of emergency. I personally would do everything in my power to not use a payday loan. Why? The interest rates are out of this world. You can expect to pay over 500% interest on a cheap payday loan and triple that on a bad one.

When my friend tells me about his bad credit payday loan business, I laugh in his face and tell him to stop charging 8,000,000% interest.

Instead of taking out these loans, do everything in your power to restore your credit. Get a secured credit card. It won’t take you that long until you can get a real credit card and the interest rate on the credit card will be WAY better than it will be on any payday loan out there. Most credit cards are going to carry about 23% interest if you have bad credit and much less once you re-establish your credit rating. I personally pay about 13% interest on my cards – about the same as a signature loan from a bank.

Overall I would recommend to those of you that are thinking about taking out a payday loan to proceed with caution. These loans aren’t cheap and can put your finances into a really difficult place. Do everything in your power to rid yourself of debt. Most things aren’t really worth buying and debt can cause a ridiculous amount of stress on your life.

How To Restore Credit So That You Can Get Better Loans

1. Commit to pay your bills on time from now on.
2. Don’t skip credit card payments EVER.
3. Pay down your revolving balances as soon as you possibly can.
4. Maintain 4 credit card accounts with low balances.

Restoring credit can be tough for some people because you have to change your habits. Changing a habit isn’t easy to do. However this is one of the best things that you can do to protect your financial future. With bad credit you will always need to make a lot more money to live the same lifestyle.

As many as 25% of American adults can’t qualify for a regular car loan. That means that those of you who struggle with bad credit aren’t alone and it also means that there are a lot of options for you. However, these loans aren’t like regular loans. Auto loans for bad credit are structured differently to protect the people that are actually lending the money.

For example, 100% financing isn’t going to be an option if you have bad credit. In most cases, you will be expected to come up with a down payment for at least 20% of the value of the car. This protects that bank/lender and provides them with an easy out if you default on your loan.

Another aspect of using a car loan with bad credit is that the interest rate won’t be the same. Right now people with prime credit can get car loans at around 7% interest. You should expect to pay a lot more if you’re going to use a bad credit loan. Most of the time you’ll be paying between 10-15%, depending on your credit and how much you’re willing to put down on the loan.

Additionally, you can expect a shorter term on your loan. Prime borrowers can generally do five to seven year loans and those with bad credit will generally only be able to do three year loans. This means that you can expect higher payments but will also finish the term of the loan more quickly. Of course, if you have prime credit you can naturally opt for a three year loan.

What To Watch Out For With Bad Credit Car Loans

There are a lot of shady techniques that bad credit car dealers will try to use to get your money. The biggest tactic they’ll use is that they sometimes inflate the price of the car. You can save yourself a lot of expense by researching the value of the vehicle on your own. Kelley Blue Book is an online resource that you can use for free to find the estimated value of a vehicle. This can protect you from overpaying a shady dealer.

You should also be careful with the financing aspect of this business. You shouldn’t be paying 25% interest for bad credit used car loans no matter what you’re credit looks like. Between raising the price of the vehicle and charging ridiculous interest rates, some dealers are able to get thousands of extra dollars out of your pocket.

It might not seem like it, but you actually have more options than you think, even if you have bad credit. There are plenty of online lenders that specialize in this type of lending, you simply have to take the time to find them.

Warning: you may not like what I have to say in this article.

There aren’t a lot of reasons why you would want to use an auto refinance when you have bad credit. For one thing, the whole point of refinancing a loan is to get a better interest rate. However, I can think of one good reason and here it is: you might simply want to lower your payments by extending the length of your loan.

I’ve been paying on my auto loan for more than three years now. I took out a loan of about $25,000 and now only owe $10,000 on it. I’ll be done paying it off in a little less than two years. Since I only owe $10,000 on the vehicle I could refinance for a four or five year term (the bank would probably want me to do four) and lower my payments by quite a bit. I would of course have to make the extra payments.

My payment right now is almost $500 but I could probably get them down to about $200 with a refinance. Of course my credit is solid so I would have a good interest rate. If you had to use bad credit auto refinance loans you would have a higher payment on the same loan amount.

Securing An Auto Loan Refinance With Bad Credit

The method that you’re need to go through to secure an auto refinance will depend entirely on how bad your credit is. If you’re above 650 you’ll be able to secure the loan by yourself. Most banks would be glad to have you. Those of you that have a credit score below 650 will have to have some help to be able to secure the loan.

Finding a cosigner usually isn’t the easiest thing in the universe to do, but it can definitely be done. Ask family first because they will be the most likely to be able to and want to help.

If you aren’t able to find a cosigner, you’ll need to get your credit cleaned up. One of the most damaging things to your credit score is when you have high balances on credit cards. 30% of your score is calculated by looking at the balances you carry on your lines of revolving credit. That means that you could lose over 200 points if you have maxed-out cards. Paying them down in this situation will make a huge difference to your score. That way you’ll be able to walk into a bank and secure an auto loan on your own.

Students generally don’t have awesome credit – they don’t have established credit history. They also don’t have a ton of money and paying for school isn’t easy. I remember trying to pay for school and wondering how I was going to make it work. I also remember thinking about credit and knowing that there’s no way I had a good credit score.

Fortunately, there are plenty of options out there for students. This guide can help you to learn about the options that you have and which ones are available for people in different situations.

Subsidized Stafford Loans

Stafford loans are the ultimate no credit student loans. The federal government created the program and backs the loans. What this means for you is that you don’t have to worry about your credit score. The government assumes the risk and your credit isn’t checked with this type of loan.

Interest rates for these loans also isn’t determined by your credit history.

The aspect of subsidized Stafford loans that sets them apart from every other type of loan is that the government pays your interest while you’re in school. This means that you don’t need to make any payments until after you finish your education, in fact you don’t make payments until six months after you finish your education.

If you look at the total interest that you pay for a loan, these loans will beat anything else, especially if you factor in four to eight years worth of no interest.

Unsubsidized Stafford Loans

The unsubsidized version of Stafford loans are a lot like the subsidized version, except the government doesn’t make your interest payments while you’re in school.

Qualifying for these loans doesn’t rely on credit because the federal government also backs these loans. Student loans with no credit don’t get much easier than Stafford loans. Your credit isn’t checked with either type of Stafford loans.

If you’re looking to get these loans, you’re going to need to fill out a document that’s called a FAFSA. You can fill out this form online or you can get one at the financial aid office at your school. Your approval will be based on need – if you need the loan you’ll be able to get it. There are only a few things that could stop you from getting the loan. If you or your parents have enough income to pay for your education it could cause a problem. Additionally, if you have defaulted on a student loan in the past it will cause a problem.

Perkins Loans

Perkins loans are also backed by the federal government, taking the credit approval process out of the equation. Perkins loans are also based on need and require more need than Stafford loans. Only students with extreme need will be approved for Perkins loans.

Loans That Do Require A Credit Check

Almost all private student loans will require a credit check. This means that you will have to find a cosigner if you’re a person that has less than perfect credit. People are usually liberal in agreeing to cosign for a student loans since it’s a very worthy cause. Private student loans with no credit are going to be very difficult to find.

Most loan companies that provide student loans will also check your credit.

Stick with the federal loan options until they run out. Work on building your credit for your first year or two that you’re in school and you’ll be able to get any loan you want at when it becomes necessary.

You don’t have to search around much to realize that online loans for bad credit are all the rave these days. There are literally thousands of online lenders who will provide loans to almost anyone. The problem is that many of these loans carry astronomical interest rates and get people into difficult financial positions that they can’t escape from.

Most of the people that take out these online loans with bad credit will end up paying interest rates that are at least 20%. This is incredibly high but is nothing compared to what some of these lenders are charging.

Most of these bad credit online loans are actually payday loans. Some of them are carefully disguised and other lenders will just come straight out to say it. Either way, these loans are excessively expensive. If you tried to calculate the APR of most payday loans you’re going to end up with interest rates well over 1000% – yes that’s three zeros.

You don’t want to pay that kind of interest and if you do, your financial position will definitely worsen. You’d be a lot smarter to start improving your credit now so that in a few short months you can take out a signature loan with a much better interest rate.

Advice For Those Considering Online Loans

Before you take out a loan with an online lender, I want to strongly encourage you to figure out EXACTLY how much money it’s going to cost to pay off the loan. Lenders will hide this from you and you need to go into it aware. Most of the time you’ll end up paying double or triple the amount you borrowed to get these loans paid off. If you’re ok with that, feel free to proceed. At least you’ll know what you’re getting yourself into.

I see a lot of people getting themselves into loans without understand exactly how much money it’s going to cost. They are desperate and will do anything to solve their current crisis without realizing that they are making their position much much worse. They refuse to look at the position that they are creating for themselves.

Hopefully this article will make you think twice before taking out a bad credit online loan. If not, I hope that you will figure out exactly what you’re getting yourself into BEFORE you sign on the dotted line.

When you provide people with information on finances, you sometimes get asked about things that don’t really exist. One question that I’ve seen a lot of is whether it’s possible to get home loans with no credit check.

Based on two years of experience with loans, I can tell you that there’s no such thing as a home loans without getting your credit checked. However, there are ways to get home loans with no credit and there are ways to get home loans with bad credit.

No Credit Home Loans

There are actually quite a few ways to get a no credit home loan. The first is by getting an FHA loan, which is a loan designed for people who are buying their first home. Since these loans are backed by the government, banks can lend money to individuals that don’t have an established credit history. These loans are extremely useful for people that haven’t established their credit.

You can also get a home loan with no credit if you can find a cosigner. Not everyone has this option but a cosigner can generally solve most of your issues with getting loans. I personally don’t have anyone who could sign with me so it isn’t an option.

Bad Credit Home Loans

People are often scared to have their credit checked because they don’t have good credit. However, many lenders are used to working with people whose credit isn’t perfect. Your situation might not be nearly as bad as it seems. If your credit score is above 620 and you haven’t been paying your mortgage late, you are probably a decent candidate for a home loan.

The interest rate you can expect to pay on auto loans can very WILDLY and learning about the factors that determine your rate can really save you a lot of money. Since most people walk into the dealership with no plan, they walk out with less money than they should. This guide will help you to learn about a few small details that you should consider when looking for a low interest auto loan.

First, NEVER take out an auto loan at a dealership if you have good credit. These loans will always carry an interest rate that’s higher than what you’ll be able to get at a bank or a credit union. These loans can come in handy at times if you have bad credit (because banks wouldn’t approve you anyway) but they will add some interest to pay a commission to the dealer who talked you into the loan.

Don’t go to the dealership unless you have your financing taken care of. First go to the bank or contact a lender and get a pre-approval. That way you’ll know that your financing is already taken care of and you won’t have to worry about pressure from the person at the dealership.

Also, plan out when you are going to get your auto loan so that you can improve your credit score. Getting low interest rate auto loans is all about keeping your credit score as high as possible. Some aspects of your credit score are very fluid and can be helped almost overnight. For example, if you pay down your credit cards so that you have very little revolving debt, it can improve your score in a HUGE way.

Over 250 credit points are calculated by looking at the amount of available credit you’re using. If you’re using a lot of your available credit it’s really hurting your score. Pay off that debt and it will help you in a huge way.

Your credit report will update every month when your credit card companies report in your debt so you can easily improve your score within 30 days.

To get the lowest interest rates on auto loans, you’re going to need a credit score that’s above 720. That means you are probably going to have to have low balances on your credit cards and very few late payments on bills.

How To Get A Low Interest Auto Loan If Your Credit Score Is Low

If you have found yourself in this position, you need a cosigner. No reputable lender is going to provide you with an awesomely low interest rate when you pose a high risk. You will need to talk to your parents and friends so that you have a cosigner. This provides less risk to the bank and that lowers your interest.

Guys I have to be 100% honest here – this isn’t an easy task. Finding a home refinance when you have bad credit isn’t going to be easy. However, once you learn the rules I think that many of you will be able to get it done.

What’s Your Credit Score Now?

The problem with putting together a resource that will help people to find a certain type of loan with bad credit is that they will have completely different levels of credit history. The only way I know to REALLY help people is by creating a list that you can use while breaking it down into sections, one for each credit score bracket.

Higher Than 720

If you’re above 720 you have what is considered to be A credit and will be able to negotiate a home refinance with any lender and will also be able to get prime interest rates.

Between 650-720

If you fall in this area you still have relatively strong credit and will be able to refinance your home without difficulty. Most lenders would be happy to lend you money but you might be penalized slightly on your interest rate.

Between 620-650

This category presents more risk to a bank, however, you will still be able to qualify to refinance homes with most lenders. You shouldn’t expect to get the best interest rates if you fall under this category.

Between 580-620

People who fall under this category will have more difficulty to refinance home with bad credit. This is because they provide a lot more risk for the bank and probably have a history of paying bills late. If you fall under this category and have no history of late mortgage payments you should be able to qualify for a loan. However, if you have late mortgage payments on your credit you may have difficulty.

For the bank, providing a home refinance for bad credit is about risk management. They don’t want to lend money to people whose credit is questionable and yours is questionable if you’re in this bracket. If you aren’t able to qualify for a loan on your own you may have to find a cosigner.

Under 580

If your credit score falls under the 580 range, it’s likely that you will have to find a cosigner to secure a loan. You provide excess risk for lending institutions. If I was trying to refinance my home with bad credit and I was in this category I would fix my credit as soon as possible and find a person who could help me to secure a loan by cosigning.

Many people are unaware that you can REALLY improve your credit score by paying down your credit cards. Your balances on your revolving credit lines account for more than 250 points of your credit score. If you’re carrying high balances, you are definitely getting hit on your credit. The cool thing about this aspect of your credit score is that it can be corrected within 30 days by paying off the debts.

The bottom line here is that finding a home refinance for people with bad credit might take some work. If you’re willing to do it, you can save yourself a lot of money.

When I was 22 years old, my credit score was under 500. I had taken out two credit cards and ruined my credit with them. I basically let them run all the way up to the limits and then couldn’t afford to make any payments. They got way late and my credit score imploded.

I lost those two credit cards and after that couldn’t get approved for cards. It was my fault but I didn’t know what to do to get out of that circumstance. I started to be more responsible with my finances and made up my mind to rebuild my credit. I decided that I would never make another late payment, but couldn’t get approved for any credit cards.

I started doing a lot of research into rebuilding credit and that’s when I discovered secured credit cards. You put down a deposit for the amount you want to have as your credit limit and you then use that amount like a credit card. I personally didn’t want to spend $300 or so to get a card but soon realized that I didn’t have any other choice.

Honestly I was hoping that I could find unsecured credit cards for people with bad credit, but my credit was too weak.

My Secured Credit Card Of Choice

I did a ton of research and decided that the Mastercard from Orchard Bank was my best option. Compared to the other cards out there, it had a reasonable interest rate and a decent annual fee. That’s when I realized that getting credit cards with bad credit was pretty expensive – for me it was $300.

The awesome thing was that after making on time payments for about 6 months, I started getting offers for unsecured cards. I was skeptical about whether I’d get approved but I finally decided to apply for one and was approved. I was then able to take out a few additional cards and now have four.

That was a few years ago but I can now get approved for any card that I want. I pay off my cards each month and have an awesome credit score. I’m approaching 800 now and that’s a huge accomplishment for a person that once saw their score drop below 500.

Advice For Those With Poor Credit

If you have bad credit, I would highly recommend getting control of your finances and then taking out a secured credit card. Pay it off each month and don’t spend money that you don’t have. If you will start to have this self discipline, it won’t take long at all to rebuild what you have lost. It feels a lot better to have good credit. I don’t fear getting denied credit anymore.

Right now I’m looking to buy a house and it feels REALLY good knowing that I don’t have to worry about my credit. It’s something that will make me look better to the bank. A few short years ago it didn’t seem like that was in the realm of possibility.

Getting a new home loan isn’t like walking into a 7-Eleven to buy a slurpee. Buying a new home takes persistence, work, and some smart planning. Planning to buy a home can take a few years, but you can really short-cut the process if you understand what’s going to have to happen to buy a home. I wanted to create a small resource that can help you with this process.

The first thing you need to do is gain employment. Obviously if you already have a job you’re taken care of in this area. Sometimes, however, people have some money because of an inheritence or rich parent and they try to get a home loan. This really complicates the process because most lenders want long term security.

Make sure to file your taxes. You generally will need both pay stubs and tax returns to qualify for a new home mortgage loan. This wasn’t the case a short two years ago but banks have really tightened up in today’s economic environment. There was a huge amount of fraud that went down during the last real estate bull run and it caused a lot of problems.

Save some money. The most liberal loan out there right now is the FHA loan and you will still need to save 3.5% for a down payment. The days of 100% financing are gone for now and probably won’t be back for at least a few years. If you can’t qualify for an FHA loan you will likely have to pay somewhere between 5-10% for your down payment.

Fix your credit now. The biggest thing that can be done to improve credit is paying off your credit cards completely. When you carry a high balance it can really affect your credit score. The amount of debt you carry on credit accounts can affect your score by as much as 255 points. Yikes!

New home purchase loans really aren’t much different than other mortgage loans. The bank really doesn’t care whether the home is brand new or a few years old. The most important thing to the bank is the value of the home.

There are a lot of people who are going to want to shortcut this process but that isn’t wise. You shouldn’t be buying a home if you don’t have a down payment. You shouldn’t be buying a home if you don’t have a job. You should take the time to plan so that you can stay in your home without running into trouble.

Since the fall of Bear Stearns in March of 2008 we have heard a lot of people ask how these businesses can lose so much money from some home loans so we felt it would be useful to go over what happens to your loan after you get it.  We also cover a bit of how these banks and investors were able to lose so much.

After you get your loan the bank will take it and securitize it.  If you get a loan from a large bank like Wells Fargo or Bank of America they might keep it for their own books but most of the time your bank or mortgage company will take the mortgage and re-sell it to a firm that will securitize it.

You see a loan is nothing more then a type of bond that you issue in order to buy a home.  Like any regular bond there is a steady stream of cash flows and principal payments.  Because of this investors will purchase them in hopes of getting their money plus interest back.

Typically not paying a huge amount of interest due to their nature of being asset backed by the house, mortgages are then packaged with other mortgages and securitized.  This means that they are made into a readily traded vehicle that has a rating from a rating agency and has a stated yield.

So that is what happens with your mortgage.  It is sold off, packaged with other mortgages, and then sold as an investment vehicle.  Assuming you pay off your mortgage the investors will get their money back.  If you dont pay it off then you will lose your home and the investor will receive a bit less the they planned on getting.

So how do these investors and financial institutions lose so much money?  In a word, leverage.  By buying massive amounts of these MBS mortgage backed seciurities and then leverging them due to their perceived safety an investor was able to get twenty and even thirty times leverage.  What this does is set you up for potential disaster.

If too many mortgages default then the investor will blow up due to leverage.  Say there were one hundred regular loans of the same amount.  If five of them default then you may lose five percent.  But what happens if you are levered up ten times?  Yes, you just lost fifty percent of your money.

This is obviously really bad for the investor but in most instances the fault lies with the investor.  If they dont account for the chance of something going wrong then they will lose their money eventually.  You take a decent idea and leverage it up thirty times you will blow up at some point.

So who are the different investors who bought or didnt buy these securities?  Well we know that several investment banks and mutual funds lost a ton of money from the housing mess.  We also know that global macro trader funds and commodity trading advisors made money.  So while everyone can trade this stuff some people did the right homework and some did not.

Believe it or not, mobile home loans are one of the trickiest types of loans out there! We wanted to create a resource that people could use to find out what type of loan is going to be the best for their current situation.

Before we get too far into this explanation let’s cover the two basic types of loans that people generally use to purchase mobile homes:

1. Mortgage Loans
2. Personal Property Loans

Mobile Home Mortgage Loans

In order to qualify for a mortgage that can be used to buy a mobile home, you will need to own the land that the home will be on. You will also need to have a foundation under your home – it needs to be permanently attached to the ground. This means that the wheels and axels will need to be removed.

If you own the land where your home is and it has a permanent foundation, you can approach any lending institution for a regular mortgage loan.

Personal Property Loans

These loans can be used if your home sits on a rented space or if it doesn’t have a foundation. There are plenty of lenders who are set up to provide this type of loan. When you buy your mobile home they will probably want to put you in touch with a lender of this type.

Choosing The Best Option For You

If you can qualify for a mortgage loan, this is almost always going to be the best option. The interest rate will be lower and the terms will be better. I personally would only use a personal property loan if the mortgage option didn’t work for me.

Getting Mobile Home Financing With Bad Credit

In order to qualify for this type of loan with bad credit, you will still have to have a FICO score that’s above 550. If your score is between 550 and 620 you can expect to pay interest rates that are much higher than you would pay otherwise. If you’re between 620 and 650 you will qualify at most banks but will still be offered sub-prime interest rates.

Those that have a credit score above 720 will get the best interest rates.

The lending institution will also look at your income level to determine whether you can afford to pay for the loan.

Improving Your Credit

As always, I would highly recommend improving your credit even if you already took out a mortgage loan with your current credit score. That way in the future you can do a bad credit mortgage refinance and reduce your monthly payments. Many people don’t know that you can improve your credit score by as many as 255 points by simply paying off your credit cards. The score increase can be reflected within a few short months.

Paying for school can be incredibly difficult for many students. I personally didn’t have any help from my parents. They didn’t have a ton of money and believe that each of us needs to pay our own way. That wasn’t exactly convenient for me!

I was fortunate enough to get into a great school that wasn’t too expensive. My tuition was only around $1500 per semester and there are a lot of people in this country that pay ten times that amount. I can’t imagine what it’s like to try to pay for school that’s so expensive.

Even though my school was fairly inexpensive, it was still pretty difficult to pay for. I worked during college but NEVER could have made it without taking out loans. Fortunately for me there are some great options out there. Since I understand the process of getting loans for school, I wanted to offer some advice that can help the students and prospective students out there.

Use Student Loans With Low Interest Rates!

There are a lot of loans out there and each one is different. If you will do your research and choose the loans that have the best interest rates, you’ll be able to lower your payments significantly.

While I was looking into loans, I found that private student loans had the worst rates by far. This is because the government doesn’t help to back private loans so there’s more risk for the lenders. For that reason, I would only take out private loans as a last resort.

Most of the loans that are backed by the federal government provide interest rates that are a lot more competitive. The following list should provide some help. I have placed them in the order that I found to be the best. You’ll find the loans with the lowest interest rates first.

1. Subsidized Stafford. These loans are backed and guaranteed by the federal government. That means there really isn’t any risk for the bank and that’s what makes the interest rates low. If you don’t repay the loan, the government will pay it for you. You obviously shouldn’t allow that to happen but this does help to lower your interest significantly. You also have to consider that you don’t make payments on these loans while you’re in school.
2. Unsubsidized Stafford. The government backs these loans which helps with interest, however, you have to make payments while you’re in school.
3. Private. I would stay away from private loans, except as a last resort. They will carry higher interest and you will also probably have to find a cosigner. Your credit will be checked and since you’re probably about 18 years old, you won’t have the credit required to get a loan of this type on your own.

If you want to take out Stafford loans, the best thing to do is to walk into your financial aid office. They can provide you with a FAFSA (federal application for financial student aid). You will need to fill that form out, return it, and then apply for your loans. This process is usually quite simple and you will be approved as long as you need the loans and haven’t defaulted on previous student loans.

I would also highly recommend checking out Pell Grants. They never have to be paid back! Using student loans with low interest rates is a pretty good deal but nothing compares to money that doesn’t have to be repaid.

Over the last few years, I have improved my personal credit score drastically. The first time I checked my score, it was around 500! I learned all about credit and started taking steps to improve. I now sport a score of almost 800 (and rising). During that process I learned a lot and would like to share a few insights.

30% of your FICO score is based on your outstanding debt. That means that 255 points of a possible 850 is calculated by looking at the amount of debt you currently have. The biggest percentage of that aspect is made up of the percentage of your revolving credit that’s being used.

Examples of How Revolving Credit Affects Your Credit Score

Let’s say that you have $20,000 worth of credit lines by way of credit cards. If you have this much available credit it can be an awesome thing, as long as your actual balance is low. Let’s say that you manage your credit well and pay off your cards each month. In that case your revolving balance would be $0. This would be a huge boost and you could expect to have a very high score for this aspect – probably close to 255 points.

On the other hand, if you carry an $18,000 balance on your cards it will affect you negatively because you would be using almost all of your available credit. You could expect this part of your score to be quite low, maybe around 50 out of a possible 255 points.

Remember that this part of the score is calculated by using the percentage of available credit that’s in use. If your available credit was $200,000, using only $18,000 wouldn’t affect you negatively much.

Debt Consolidation Loans For People With Bad Credit

Using debt consolidation loans can have a huge, healthy affect on credit for people who use them to pay down credit cards. Let’s say that you’re a person who is using $18,000 of your $20,000 in available credit. Using a debt consolidation loan to pay down that debt will really boost your credit score. The loan will show on your credit but that type of debt is much healthier for your score.

Getting Debt Consolidation Loans With Bad Credit

These loans are structured primarily for people with bad credit so this isn’t usually a problem. Most companies that provide these loans are set up for people with bad credit. Generally speaking, these loans don’t have awesome interest rates anyway. They aren’t secured and were designed to improve credit card interest rates. Since credit card interest rates are extreme, the loans don’t have to be that great to offer an improvement.

If used wisely, debt consolidation loans can be a remarkable tool that can really help you to improve your credit. This will improve your buying power which is the name of the game when it comes to personal finances. This will allow you to save more and pay off other debts and obviously that’s a huge deal if you care about keeping your finances in order. It will also help you to be more eligible for future loans and more attractive interest rates.

I had to twist our editor’s arm to allow me to teach about credit cards, but I felt that this lesson was extremely important for people who want to take control of their finances. If you don’t use credit, it’s hard to have a good FICO score and if you have a weak FICO score it’s going to be a lot harder to get loans.

I have personally struggled with my credit in the past and want to help people with bad credit to understand how to overcome this difficulty. I now have excellent credit and you can too.

Getting unsecured credit cards with bad credit is extremely hard in today’s climate. Banks are in trouble right now. My credit card company used to increase my available credit limit almost every month. They won’t do it anymore because like most banks, they are struggling. This affects people that don’t have cards because it’s slightly harder to get approved. I pay off my card in full each month, have a 770 credit score, and make more than $12,000 per month. I guess they want to give their credit to people who are more qualified.

Since credit is a little harder to come by than it was a few months ago, I want to teach you how to play the game. Getting unsecured credit cards for bad credit isn’t the same game it was in the past. It’s something you’ll have to work towards, starting today.

The best shot you have is at your current bank – the bank where you have your current checking account. Step one is to go to your bank and apply for a credit card. If you don’t get approved, I have more options for you. I they tell you that they’ll notify you by mail that means you weren’t approved and you can move on to step 2.

Get A Secured Card First

If you didn’t succeed at your bank, you need to get a secured credit card today. Don’t waste time because with credit, every day counts. The sooner you can open up a credit line, the sooner you’ll be able to get a regular, unsecured line of credit.

When I took out my first secured credit card, I had a FICO score of under 500. Getting my card cost about $400 because I had to put down a deposit of $300 and pay a fee of $100. That card was one of the smartest decisions I ever made. My limit was $300 (the amount of my deposit).

I paid that card off every single month and in a few short months, I started getting offers for legit, unsecured cards in the mail. I took out a few of those cards and the rest is history. It’s been a few years now but my credit score is now almost 800. I took control of my situation and can now get any loans I want, at the best interest rates out there.

Running a business is hard, especially in the current economic circumstances. A lot of businesses are failing because it has become more and more difficult to meet payroll and other expenses. Revenues aren’t matching what they were a short two years ago.

I have several businesses of my own and also have close friends who own their own companies. When we get together to talk, it often becomes a vent-fest because of the difficulties we all face. I’ve been lucky enough to stay in front of my debt, but I’ve helped friends who need loans just to stay in business.

Economic factors have contributed to their lack in sales and this has made it harder to pay the bills. That is going to affect credit scores and therefore the ability to get loans.

Credit Score Required To Get Business Loans

In order to walk into a bank to get a loan, you’re going to need to have a FICO score of at least 650. Since many banks are distressed right now you may see requirements that are more strict than that. Depending on the bank you talk to, you may not be able to qualify with anything under 700.

This means that if your FICO score is under 700 you have some shopping to do. If it’s under 650, you can pretty much forget about getting a loan from the bank and you’re going to need to look at other options. There are some other options out there but you’re going to need to be careful. Taking on additional debt has consequences and you’ll need to create a solid plan and stick to it.

Other Types of Business Loans For Bad Credit

A very common type of business loan that quite a few businesses use is the business cash advance loan. The lender will generally take a look at how much revenue you pull in each month and will offer a cash advance on that income.

Another variety of this type of loan is when the lender takes a look at how much you generally accept through credit cards each month and then make cash advances based on that income. This is pretty common and these lenders can generally be found online.

As a person who has dealt with a lot of people with bad credit, I’d like to offer some simple advice. Before you take out additional business loans for people with bad credit, PLEASE try to improve your credit. Your business is going to suffer from paying extra interest and that isn’t something that any of us wants to go through.

If you decide that you need to get a loan or go under, make sure that you make a solid plan. This will help you to get back on track. If you can’t make the numbers work on paper, they probably won’t work. If you can’t put together a plan that makes sense, you are probably in a lot of trouble.

Since I have dealt with a bunch of these cases, I would highly recommend proceding with caution. Try to get out of debt and improve your credit as soon as you possibly can.

When you have bad credit, you pay more for everything. You pay more for loans and credit cards. You even are often asked to pay more or put down a deposit to get a cell phone or satelite dish. If you have the discipline to take a closer look at your finances you will realize that your credit is killing your spending power.

Since most people who have bad credit are extremely uncomfortable taking out loans, they often stay in the same circumstances – for life. They accept that it will always be hard for them and seldom try to better their situation. This can sometimes mean that they pay a lot each month for interest payments that they wouldn’t have to pay otherwise.

I would like to present to you a plan that can help you to move out of this rut.

If you took out a home loan when you had bad credit, you are probably paying a lot extra. I don’t have the exact numbers on this but I’d say that the average, extra amount I see many people paying is about $400/month. So instead of paying $1400 per month on your home you’re paying $1800, or something similar. Each situation is different and the details don’t matter exactly. The point is that you’re paying extra – you have less buying power.

Right now interest rates are extremely low and it’s time to take control of your situation. You need to have a plan and execute that plan. The first thing you need to do is find someone that’s willing to help you out so that you can get control of your finances. Since you have bad credit, it’s going to be hard to do a mortgage refinance on your own. With help you can greatly improve your situation. Talk to your parents, but have a plan of attack. Let them know that this move will free up $400 (or whatever the amount is) per month that you’re going to use to rebuild your credit. Assure them that you’re in control and want to make positive changes. Family members will often react well if you have a plan that you’re willing to stick to.

People often hope that they will be able to find a mortgage refinance for bad credit on their own. Unless you’re current interest rate is REALLY bad, you won’t be able to improve it if you have a weak FICO score. If you’re above 700 you can probably handle it on your own, as long as you have steady employment.

How To Refinance Your Mortgage With Bad Credit

Again, the first thing you need to do is find a cosigner. Talk to your parents and lay out the plan of attack. Be confident as you talk to them and assure them that you are ready to take total control of your financial situation. Since you don’t have a reputation for paying bills on time (hence the bad credit score), your parents will need some reassurance that you won’t trash their credit too.

If you aren’t able to find a cosigner, talk to a professional and have them help you to examine the situation. Most people don’t know that they can really improve their credit score in a few short months by paying down the amounts they owe on their credit cards. You could be a few short months away from a huge increase in your FICO score.

I have seen quite a few situations where the right move was to sell a car or other monthly expense in order to raise a person’s abiliy to pay off credit cards. If you want to boost your credit, you really need to pay down your cards and pay them down now. Most people don’t understand that this is a really large part of your credit score and can be corrected in less than 30 days.

As you should be able to see, using a mortgage refinance can improve your credit dramatically if you use the money you save to pay down debts. This will increase your buying power and that will improve your situation.

Some of you may be wondering what on earth does real estate and real estate loans have to do with macro trading?  It actually has everything to do with global macro.  If you are considering the purchase of a first or second home then you should be taking the big picture into perspective before you buy your home.  And before you sign a loan you should have a good idea of what the future holds for you.

If you are not tracking interest rates you could be like one of the poor souls that bought a house in 1982 when interest rates were at 15%.  Can you imagine paying your mortgage with a 15% interest rate?  It would be insane and yet some people did exactly that.  What about when you hear from your real estate broker that rates are at new lows.  Is this true or not?  Most people take what the NAR (national association of realtors) and their broker say at face value but some times the truth is far from what they are hearing.

If you listen to the NAR it is always the best time ot buy a house but if you take a step back and look at the macro, or big picture you will make a better decision on whether you should buy a house, where to buy it at, and what type of loan you should buy it with. For instance where has the 10-Year Treaury note yield been at lately?  What is the trend of it?  If it is headed down then you might want to wait since you will be able to get a cheaper loan in a while if interest rates go lower.  If on the other hand rates are headed up then you would want to get the loan as soon as possible before they rose much more.

If you are looking at where to buy house then you might want to look at the Case Shiller home indexes to see what they say.  The Case Shiller data tracks twenty of the largest metropolitan areas in the country and do a good job of showing you if homes have been going striaght up, straight down, or are moving slow and steady.  You would want to avoind buying in a market that is flying to the moon as it will likely fall quite hard.  On the othr hand if you are looking for a vacation home maybe take a look at some of the areas that have fallen a lot and are now stabilizing.  These areas would represent good value.

Finally look at things such as new home sales and bankruptcy filings.  If new home sales are declining and bankruptcies are on the rise then you may want to hold off getting a home, and will definitely want to avoid paying up as these signs point to it being a buyers market where the buyer has more pricing power then the seller.

Interest rate and housing sale trends can tell you a lot about where and when to buy a home.  So while you may think that you have vry little in common with a macro trader you actually have everything in common as all financial transactions are macro bets.

There are a lot of different loans out there and each one has its advantages and disadvantages. Home loans, for example, carry great interest rates, as long as you have a high FICO score. The downside to these loans is the 15, 30, or 40 year term. That’s a long time to make payments. Let’s get to the point – when you’re evaluating a loan you have to look at its strengths and weaknesses.

Introduction To Unsecured Personal Loans

When you’re evaluating any unsecured loan, the first thing you’re going to want to look at is its interest rate. The best unsecured personal loan that I know of is going to be a signature loan that you get from a bank. If you have a good FICO score and decent credit history you can expect to pay around 11% for a loan of this type.

An 11% loan isn’t considered to be cheap, in fact it’s extremely expensive and that’s what you’re going to have to deal with if you’re going to take out a loan that isn’t secured. Banks are forced to charge additional interest because they need to assume that some people will default. If you make your payments on time you will in effect be paying for other people who aren’t. That’s the world of unsecured loans and there really isn’t anything that can be done about it other than getting yourself into a position where you don’t have to take them out.

When you take out loans of this type, you don’t offer collateral. You sign on the line and take out a loan. Banks rely on your credit history to determine whether you’re a healthy risk. For that reason it will be extremely difficult to take out one of these loans if you don’t have a solid credit history.

Be Careful With Personal Loans Online

There is a huge market for those who free up money by taking out a personal loan online. However, this can often put you in a worse financial position. You can expect to pay at least 15% interest if you use an online lender. I have credit cards with lower interest rates.

There are also a bunch of payday lenders who advertise their services as personal loans. With payday loans you can expect to pay upwards of 500% interest. This will obviously crush your ability to keep your finances in check. If you’re thinking about starting down that road, take my advice: don’t do it. Stop borrowing money and get your finances in order.

Those of you who struggle with your credit histories won’t be able to take out signature loans from a bank and will be forced to use payday loans. Why? Because they are the only institutions who are willing to take a risk on people who have dodgy credit histories. They can afford to do this because of the insanely high interest rates that they charge. They plan on having a lot of people who don’t make their payments and that makes up for all of the people who default on their loans.

My Honest Advice About These Loans

Change your habits and free yourself from this type of debt. You don’t want to pay these high interest rates. 11% is already too much to spend on a loan and many of you will spend even more because of your credit. If you start down this path, you’re only going to make your situation worse.