Secured Loans

Have you been daydreaming about buying a boat or completely redoing your dream kitchen? Do you have large, recurring medical or tuition bills coming your way?  Would you like to consolidate your credit card debt and make a better plan to pay it off?  If any of these situations sound familiar to you, you may...

From movies to groceries, you can get almost anything you need online from the comfort of your home. But there are advantages to doing things in person. A 70-inch flatscreen still isn’t as big as the silver screen of the movie theater, and there’s quite a difference between hand-selecting your own produce and letting a...

If you’re shopping for a car, you’re probably trying to figure out the best way to pay for it. Unless you have tens of thousands of dollars in cash in a bank account, you’ll likely need an auto loan.  But where should you get your loan? Does it make more sense to get a loan...

Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein have both been quoted as fans of compound interest.  While compounding interest may not be E=MC2 or the Declaration of Independence, it does speak to an understanding of how math can affect our view of the universe. This is especially true when you’re dealing with two commonly seen but often...

Debt can be a confusing part of life, especially when your options to pay it off sound similar but are totally different. Settled in full and paid in full are two debt repayment options. In both cases, your balance decreases to zero, and your account is closed. But each option has a different impact on...

In news that will surprise no one: Banks are businesses. And like most businesses, they want to make money. But banks can’t keep the lights on or pay their employees by ATM fees alone. So, how do banks make a profit? When you break it down, banks make money off of your – and other...

Lots of people share a common dream: to live in a mortgage-free house or drive a car that’s fully paid for.  Let’s say you’ve got a car loan or personal loan, and you’ve been making on-time payments for several years. After crunching a few numbers, you realize that you can pay off the rest of...

Buying a new car and driving it off the lot is thrilling. But once that thrill fades away, you may start to wonder if you got the best deal on your auto loan.  If your answer’s feeling like a no, refinancing your loan is always an option – which is great – but how long...

Things are changing fast when it comes to how we buy cars and what we want in them. One thing that hasn’t changed? The importance of knowing how to get a car loan that doesn’t speed off with all your money. Car Loan Basics: What They Are and How They Work When you need a...

Buying a car can be an exhilarating experience, especially if it’s your first car, first new car or the first car you’re buying without help from your family.  Unless you can buy your car with cash, you’ll probably need an auto loan. Before any auto lender decides to give you a car loan, they’re going...

Personal loans come in all shapes and sizes and can be used for a wide variety of reasons. And by reasons we mean everything from planning your first getaway to having a little extra cash on hand to finance your first car. But it’s tricky to get credit if you don’t have credit in the...