Financial Articles

When it comes to contracts with financial institutions, this includes banks and finance companies, remember it was written by them to insure their best interests were covered, not yours. The contracts are designed to extract every available penny from you. It really does come down to a case of ‘buyer beware.”

Just because you’re in debt or don’t have a lot of available cash on hand doesn’t mean are still in a position of power. After reading over the contract or what they prefer to call the ‘paperwork’ you have to have the feeling that you are getting the best deal possible. If not, you may have to go to another lender to get a good deal. There are a couple of things to watch out for. Lets start with your current lenders. If you got a “don’t pay till next spring” situation, beware you don’t hold off sending the payment just before the date. It won’t matter when you dated the check; it only matters when they received it. If it arrives even a day late you’ll be charged the entire interest. Trust me, they will have a clause in the contract saying it is not their fault if the mail is slow. Or they can also have a penalty for early payments, that is really dirty pool but some companies do it.

Some tricks the new lender might do is: a low interest rate for a few months then it goes up and can even lock you into payments for a period of time. They can charge a service fee to cut a check to all of your current lenders. They can have other service fees they don’t explain fully.

It is the old thing; do not sign it if you cannot understand it. They can always try to make you uncomfortable and just sign it and get it over with. Remember how uncomfortable you will feel when they kick you out of the house because you signed a bad deal. Take your time and understand what you are signing.

Ignorance isn’t bliss