Should you consider a PayDayLoan or a Title Loan?

Posted by

Everyone needs some cash at times, whether it’s for emergencies or just to have some fun. If you don’t have a good credit score though, most banks won’t give you the time of day. If this applies to you, consider a title loan on your car.

A Title Loan Is…

Many people have heard of a title loan, but don’t know what it really is. With a title loan, you are getting a loan using your car as collateral. You might point out that you need your car, but that is not a problem. Working with Texas auto title loans, you get to keep your car, as long as you pay off your loan. The car is just collateral in the rare case that you don’t make your payments.

My favorite thing about eTitleLoan is their mobile loan agents. Sure, you might need money, but driving to a loan store, doing the paperwork, etc., takes time, and often more time than you have on a lunch break. This is even more important in the case of an emergency need for cash.

With eTitleLoan though, you just give them a call, and they send their loan agents to you. Not only that, but they will tell you right on the phone everything that you need to have with you to process the loan. None of this garbage where you think you’re getting the loan, but end up not having all the paperwork they need so they just send you on your way, still broke.

Obviously no one wants to need emergency cash, but if that day comes, definitely consider giving eTitleLoan a call. Their whole business model, with their mobile loan agents, makes the process as easy as possible, and gets you the cash you need quickly. I highly recommend it.

John In Houston

(Note: Of course, if you don’t keep up payments on your title loan, you may risk losing your car! Now that might be even more inconvenient than not having a little cash! And don’t forget to check the interest rates! Some of these loans have high interest rates, much higher than typical bank loans.)

Cyprus Govt. steals savers money & rewards incompetence

Posted by

While the Cyprus government may sequester this money (it’s not a tax), the consequences of doing this will be profound and may damage the very foundations this deal was aimed at creating.

In a radical departure from previous aid packages, euro zone finance ministers want Cyprus savers to forfeit up to 9.9 percent of their deposits in return for a 10 billion euro ($13 billion) bailout to the island, which has been financially crippled by its exposure to neighboring Greece.

1. Who would leave their deposits in Cyprus, knowing that the greedy eurocrats could easily turn around and say ‘sorry, that didn’t work!’ we need more?

2. Capital outflows will massively erode the foundations of these banks themselves. It’s hard to believe new capital would enter Cyprus when the govt. has shown its eagerness to levy this. If I were an oligarch, euro-expat, or whatever, I would certainly cross Cyprus off my list of favored tax havens.

3. If the locals withdraw their cash, the foreigners remit their cash away, and new deposits dry up, it’s hard to see how those banks will survive anyway. How can they not breach their capital ratios? How can they not be insolvent?

Lastly, the threat of contagion may be minimized for the moment by the hints that this is not going to be repeated. But who can’t forget the admonitions of the prime ministers of Ireland, Portugal, Spain & Greece that they didn’t need bailouts. Really they didn’t. Honest, guv.  Let’s count how many times this is denied as well.

Steps to Renting: Becoming a Landlord

Posted by

2

If you remember my previous post about generating additional income, it was quite a long time ago in which I wrote:

My wife and I have talked about renting out our current apartment to generate additional income. But we encountered three problems that have so far prevented us from making any success on this:

  • 1. we like it here and we don’t want to move yet;
  • 2. we still wouldn’t make any residual profit from renting our house out without paying off part of the mortgage principal (something we don’t have enough cash yet to do); and
  • 3. we can’t decide where we’d like to live other than here. Contribution $0. Potential contribution estimated at $100.

So if you like a rental income property (and who doesn’t?), what do you need to get started? Mmm… it’s hardly like we’ve made a start. So let me list the things that I think I would need:

1. Renovation:

We seriously need to do the tiling work in several rooms: the bathroom, where the tiling is beginning to separate from the walls due to the contraction and expansion of the concrete in summer/winter, and the poor workmanship when the place was finished. I also suspect that we need to replace one of the air conditioners in the study.

2. Redecoration:

We’ve got walls painted in a variety of colors, and it’s been a few years. It’s likely that our tastes aren’t exactly the same as our renters. So we’ve probably got a bit of painting to do, as well as other minor repairs.

3. Insurance:

Not sure how to handle that. I know that you can get landlord’s insurance… but what happens if the tenant absconds or worse? Can that be claimed?

4. Finances:

Since our property is mortgaged, the yields are just not very attractive since rents are fairly low in this neck of the woods. We know that we would have some gross profit, but there’s also a landlord’s tax of 10% on the income. So not sure how that would work. I think the only solution would be to pay off some or a lot of the principle. Still a good return on money invested.

5. Renting:

Finding good tenants would be a priority. The neighboring landlord rents his apartment, the tenants there have been anything but reliable. Dirty, filthy,… with problems paying rent. I think tenant screening would be essential to prevent this, even if it meant the apartment being empty longer.

With a sound plan, it might work. Still a few kinks to work out. I do know that the area is very desirable, with lots of chances to find tenants. Of course, that means we’d have to move! A chance to find a new area.