" dilemma "

[COP RUNNER]

I TOOK A LOAN TO BUY MY MAX , I HAVE JUST OVER 3 MORE YEARS TO PAY ON IT . BUT WITH THE ECONOMY THE WAY IT IS , IF ME OR MY WIFE GET LAID OFF , MY MORTGAGE IS 1,700.00 A MONTH & MY TAXES ARE 6,400.00 A YEAR . AND I HAVE A 5 YEAR OLD SON , THINGS WOULD BE VERY TIGHT TO SAY THE LEAST , DOES ANYONE GOOD WITH MONEY THINK I SHOULD PAY OFF MY MAX WITH A CREDIT CARD CHECK SO IT CANT BE REPO'D ? JUST INCASE , THE INTREST RATE ON MY CARD IS LOWER THEN THE RATE ON MY LOAN . AND THERES NO INTREST FOR THE FIRST YEAR & THEN ITS STILL LOWER AFTER THAT & FIXED RATE ! I'VE PUT SOME MONEY INTO MY MAX & SURE DONT WANT TO LOSE IT ! OR HAVE TO SHOOT ANYONE ! :rofl_200:ANY IDEAS ?

 

[vmaxinID]

Sell Weed.

 

[maxcruiser]

Hey CP, sounds like a good plan to me - you have to do what it takes to keep the max and keep the lights on - Hopefully, the economy doesn't get bad enough that you have to make that choice.

Good luck in your decision.

Mike

 

[naughtyG]

Not 100% on how it works here, but here's what I did in the UK:

I could not afford my taxes (self-employed) for a few years, so I got a brand new credit card that gave me a year's worth of 0% interest, and paid my tax bill with it. Then paid off as much as I could monthly until it was all gone. Of course by the time I got near paying it off, the next tax payment would be due, so it started all over again.

Whenever the credit card would get near running out of 0%, I started another new credit card (0% again for 9 or 6 months), made a balance transfer (free) to the new card, and canceled the old one.

I carried on like this for at least four years, after which I got a good spell of work and managed to pay it all off.

It's totally legal, and if I'd been paying interest I would never had been able to pay it all off. You don't get any bad credit record as long as you're paying at least your minimum payment monthly, so there's never any problem applying for a new card.

Only thing I don't know, if whether you can get many 0% interest offers over here as I've not needed it yet.

Hope this helps..

 

[gamorg02]

I TOOK A LOAN TO BUY MY MAX , I HAVE JUST OVER 3 MORE YEARS TO PAY ON IT . BUT WITH THE ECONOMY THE WAY IT IS , IF ME OR MY WIFE GET LAID OFF , MY MORTGAGE IS 1,700.00 A MONTH & MY TAXES ARE 6,400.00 A YEAR . AND I HAVE A 5 YEAR OLD SON , THINGS WOULD BE VERY TIGHT TO SAY THE LEAST , DOES ANYONE GOOD WITH MONEY THINK I SHOULD PAY OFF MY MAX WITH A CREDIT CARD CHECK SO IT CANT BE REPO'D ? JUST INCASE , THE INTREST RATE ON MY CARD IS LOWER THEN THE RATE ON MY LOAN . AND THERES NO INTREST FOR THE FIRST YEAR & THEN ITS STILL LOWER AFTER THAT & FIXED RATE ! I'VE PUT SOME MONEY INTO MY MAX & SURE DONT WANT TO LOSE IT ! OR HAVE TO SHOOT ANYONE ! :rofl_200:ANY IDEAS ?

i'm young and not as experienced as you guys, but if you have a lower fixed rate, just do that up.... u'll be paying less in the long run plus it will be off the books as anyone having a lein on it. u can then pay down the CC and if you HAD to, you could sell the bike and wouldn't have to worry about the lein. i know u don't want to do that but desperate times hit us all.... just a worst case scenario.

so to sum it iup. i'd put it on my cc.

 

[RagingMain]

Yo Coprunner
Two things you need to do first if you havent already
1. All your credit cards and your other loans should have some sort of credit protection. Call them and see what it is per $1000 of credit. Usually it is pretty competitive. They usually cover in case of getting laid off.
2. Get something like Aflac in case you get hurt. Trust me on this one. Both my self and my mother have used it and it is worth it.

And by all means if you can get a lower interest rate that is fixed for your max then do it. Who cares if it is a credit card.

Cheers

 

[COP RUNNER]

MY BIKE LOAN IS 8.9% , MY CREDIT CARD CHECK WOULD BE 6.9% UNTILL ITS PAID OFF , BUT IF I DEFAULT ON THE CARD , YOU NO THE INTREST WOULD GO UP TO 26% , & THAT WOULD ADD UP QUICKLY !:confused2::ummm: BUT AT LEAST I'D STILL HAVE THE MAX !unk:

 

[COP RUNNER]

i just cant believe , that at 45 years old , been in my house 15 years , and have always had great credit my whole life , can go into anywhere and buy just about anything with no money down , that i'm actually posting something like this . If the worst case happens .

 

[vmaxride06]

Sounds like you are just being safe and planning ahead Tim. In this shit economy, anything can happen. I have been in just in case battle mode for the last 6 months. We are a Tier one supplier to the Big 3 and Overseas BMW and Mercedes. I know what your saying. I say Pay the bike off with lower interest rate avenue.

That way the bike is safe.

My .03 cents.

Chris

 

[dannymax]

Don't be bummed about posting this, nothing's happened that is forcing you to make a decision. Hell, you're just looking at a 'worst case' possibility and setting up a plan of action. I say that's damn smart thinking!!

The lower interest sounds like the way to go, IMO.

 

[COP RUNNER]

I JUST NEVER THOUGHT I'D BE 45 YEARS OLD & LIVING PAY CHECK TO PAY CHECK EITHER ! BUT I'M SURE I'M NOT ALONE AM I ? :confused2:

 

[naughtyG]

You sure are not my friend. I'm not quite 45 yet, but I'll be joining you in just a coupla years...

 

[Bawls]

I'm 22 and living pay check to pay check. San diego is an expensive place to live. I want my family to have a nice place to stay in a safe neighborhood since I deploy so I'm in military housing and forfeit my housing allowance. All of my utilities are covered in my payment, but it still sucks paying 1800/ month for a 2 bedroom 2 car garaged town house (even though it's pretty much brand new and really big). I just found out that my housing allowance is going up by 200 in january and I won't get to see a penny of it. I'm trying to decide if i find a cheaper place or keep the one that I have. I know that I could find one for probably 1400/ month, but it might not be in as safe of a neighborhood. If all goes well I'll be completely out of debt in the next year though .

 

[EvilD]

tough call. I'm 40 and live paycheck to pay check, have my whole life. Don't ever see that changing.

 

[COP RUNNER]

tough call. I'm 40 and live paycheck to pay check, have my whole life. Don't ever see that changing.

me either & it sucks , i just did'nt think that after i wrote out my bills every month , i'd only have a couple hundred dollar$ to my name !

 

[COP RUNNER]

i'm young and not as experienced as you guys, but if you have a lower fixed rate, just do that up.... U'll be paying less in the long run plus it will be off the books as anyone having a lein on it. U can then pay down the cc and if you had to, you could sell the bike and wouldn't have to worry about the lein. I know u don't want to do that but desperate times hit us all.... Just a worst case scenario.

So to sum it iup. I'd put it on my cc.

the thing that sucks about credit cards , they can raise the intrest rate anytime they want , & if your late they screw you , thats what i'm worried about ! But i still may do it !

 

[82ndCowboy]

I'm on the same boat...
Hey we should all go fishing while we're here.

Cept I got rid of all my credit cards except one. It's always best to go for the lower interest rates Cop Runner.
I paid off 4 credit cards by transferring the balances to the lowest interest rate one first and then paying off the highest ones. And then cutting up and canceling them bastards.
Now I have one with 6.9% and I'm whittling that one done by making the interest plus 100 bucks every month.

So I would definitely switch it to the CC. Even if it was just for the piece of mind of not loosing my Max.

About The only way to stay afloat is to establish a budget which allows you to pay more than just the interest and reduces your principle, on every credit card and loan you have. And at the same time put a little bit aside for savings for an emergency.
It will be hard and you'll have to make sacrifices and in some cases even get a second job. But in the long run you'll be able to survive that way and keep your Max.


Good Luck Cop Runner. And Remember, your not the only workin man amongst us.

 

[Chaos]

I will be the least popular guy here for saying this but if you are switching your loan to a credit card just to avoid a posssible repossession that is a very poor reason. If you are doing it to save on interest then no problem....go ahead and do it but remember to make regular payments, don't get into the habit of making minimum payments (that will end up increasing your interest which is what you are trying to avoid) and make sure your rate will remain better than what you have on your current loan.
For example lets assume you owe $8k on your bike. At 8.9% over the next 3 yrs you will pay approx $1144 in interest. At 6.9% it will be approx $879.
In a poor economy we might not be able to keep all of the toys we have become accustomed to but that is no reason to "screw" the bank/credit card company to keep your bike. Don't get me wrong as I remember living pay check to pay check but you still have to maintain integrity.
My opinion may be somewhat slanted as I am the branch manager of a bank so take it for what it is worth.

 

[one2dmax]

Don't forget that the credit card companies have every right to come after any assets purchased with that card. Most of the time they don't bother. If you do move it over and can keep making the same payments you will be money ahead. If you get behind even once they will jack your interest way up too.

My day job is in the aircraft industry and is very up and down. When I first started in the "day" job I got the same loan protections that Fargo mentioned. The first time i was layed off, they worked quite well and paid the bill for a solid year (terms they cover will vary). I ended up making more that year being layed off then I did working the previous year since I had to claim the payments as income. Either way I was happy. had all my bills paid for a year, went back to school to finish my degree (which was also paid for), and had unemployment to boot.

Sean

 

[richwrench]

I also think you should go for the lower interest. One year ago I had a chance to buy my basket case VMAX for $2800 , but I had no cash. So I got a cash advance on my credit card & immediatley transferred it to a zero interest card. Then I sold my other bike & did some side jobs & had my VMAX paid off in 6 months & paid NO interest at all. I guess I also live paycheck to paycheck, but I always pay my credit cards off asap & use my credit as my emergency fund ( AND my MVAX fund ). :biglaugh: