Still no offers in the mail

[bkmaggster]

Could you guys scan some of your offers and post them here as JPG's? Like put them on one of those free sites for JPG hosting like FLICKR or whatever.

Sorry, I shredded them all. I get 2-4/week since filing. They all say that I can buy a car before discharge. I'm sure the rates are at 25%.

They won't get me. I'm riding the bus and taking my bike until I can buy a clunker with cash.

[debtmonster]

You're lucky to live close enough to everything to ride a bike. It's not fun picking up groceries for 4 people when you have a bike, though.

Can you afford $300/mo. payments on a car?

[coffee]

I understand you dont want to buy a beater car but if you bought one until a better car came along(or financing for said car) you could turn around and sell the beater for close to what you paid for it since not much time elapsed. Or trade it in to the dealer to go towards the new car. You only need an errand car right?

Other option is a friend or relative with an extra vehicle that you could "rent" for the remaining time until bk is discharged.

Search for 722 redemption. US Bank does it. You can get a car through there while in active bk. I dont know if you can get other financing until it's discharged. Good luck.

[bkmaggster]

You're lucky to live close enough to everything to ride a bike. It's not fun picking up groceries for 4 people when you have a bike, though.

Can you afford $300/mo. payments on a car?

I agree, I am lucky to live close to things. When we picked the rental we purposely picked a place within walking distance to a grocery store and a bus hub. My husband is riding through on his car until my job starts, and then we will surrender it and buy a clunker.

I can't afford $300/month car payments, and even if I could I wouldn't want them. We were paying ~$700/month in car payments. We used to think we "needed" and "deserved" new cars. We were wrong. I'm all about learning from my mistakes.

[coffee]

I can't afford $300/month car payments, and even if I could I wouldn't want them. We were paying ~$700/month in car payments. We used to think we "needed" and "deserved" new cars. We were wrong. I'm all about learning from my mistakes.

I completely agree. We are going through this Bk to get a clean fresh start not to rack up new debt if it can be helped. I will drive a beater to get from point A-B if that means no more car loans. It's just a car. I'll save to get a better one in CASH later.

[Amy26]

Why exactly do you care about if you're getting credit offers or not?

[debtmonster]

It's not needing or deserving new cars, it's not having transmissions, engines and A/C units fail on you while you have the car. Most people I know are not picky when it comes to maintaining their vehicles. So when they are all racked up with miles, you certainly DON'T WANT THEM.

I had 3 beater cars prior to the ones we have now. All 3 of them left us stranded. I will never do that route again. We found a beautiful Hyundai Accent for $800 bucks. Everything ran great. Then 2 weeks after buying it, the A/C went out. The belts would not stop squealing even when putting new ones on. The bolt from the alternator broke off in the engine block and the engine had to be pulled out of the engine bay just to get it out. Then the car died in traffic many times with electrical problems.

I don't want those hassles anymore. I want a car that is no older than a 2007 or 2008 with less than 30,000 miles on it for my next car. I need something with low enough miles that I can put Amsoil in right away before any real damage starts.

The money you put into repairs, you don't get back when you sell the car. So if you buy a $3,000 dollar car, put $2,500 into it, you can only sell it for $3,000.

My sister just went down that route. Her car is worth $3,500 on KBB. She went to CarMax and they also confirmed in writing that it's only worth $3,500 (she paid $22,000 for it brand new in 2003.)

In the past 4 months or so she spent over $2,000 fixing problems with it. After all that money was spent, she went to go to the grocery store with her baby. She put her baby in the car seat and loaded up the car with whatever stuff, then the car would not start. It turned over for a second and then made some clunking sound and then would not start after that. There's nothing wrong with the battery since they just put a brand new one in not long ago.

Now she wants to dump it and get a nice Toyota Sienna van and I don't blame her. She starts work again in a week or so and can't be telling her work that she's late because he car is dead. Those are great excuses for people to fire you in this new, bad economy.

It would be nice to be able to buy brand new cars for under $10,000 like they used to have in the 1990's.

[debtmonster]

Why exactly do you care about if you're getting credit offers or not?

Because if you're not getting at all, then there's a good chance it will be very difficult to get financing after the discharge.

I know if I am getting a flood of offers in the mail, there's probably a good chance I will have at getting a car loan. But if I am getting zero offers, then even with an $8,000 to $10,000 down payment, I still probably won't get approved for a $17,000 to $20,000 dollar car.

I want a NICE car that I won't be dieing to get rid of right after I buy it. Not a real expensive BMW or Benz... but something really nice that I will be happy and proud to drive around. I don't want somebody else's 2000 to 2004 headache. I want a nice 2007 to 2010 car that's affordable.

All of the people who have their car listed on Auto Trader that have used Amsoil in the car since new all want top dollar for their used cars. So I will have to find one brand new or almost brand new to satisfy my needs. Face it. I am a picky S.O.B.

[bkmaggster]

I don't want those hassles anymore. I want a car that is no older than a 2007 or 2008 with less than 30,000 miles on it for my next car.

You can buy my Suzuki when it goes up for auction. 2008 19k mile KBB ~10k. Still has the rest of the 10-year warranty. I'll be enjoying the bus, and not being in debt.

[debtmonster]

I completely agree. We are going through this Bk to get a clean fresh start not to rack up new debt if it can be helped. I will drive a beater to get from point A-B if that means no more car loans. It's just a car. I'll save to get a better one in CASH later.

The money you spend in repairs can exceed what you'd pay in interest on a newer car.

I wouldn't mind so much getting a beater car with a 5 or 6 speed manual, but my wife will only drive a car with automatic transmission. Automatic transmissions are prone to a high failure rate. In South America, they have wised up to this and that's why over 90% of the cars there have manual transmissions.

All my life I have always done the $0 down or low down payment on a car with 5 or 6 year credit terms. That's what has gotten me into trouble. From now on I want to do a large down payment with 36 month financing at the most.

I agree with this, "Suze suggests not financing a car for more than 3 years, because if you can't afford the 3 year payments, you shouldn't be buying the car."

See: http://oprah.about.com/od/oprahshowr...caniafford.htm

On that web page, scroll towards the bottom to read up.

[debtmonster]

You can buy my Suzuki when it goes up for auction. 2008 19k mile KBB ~10k. Still has the rest of the 10-year warranty. I'll be enjoying the bus, and not being in debt.

No offense to you, but I would never buy a Suzuki. They make great motorcycles, but are horrible when it comes to cars.

These are all on my list of potential cars: Toyota Corolla, Toyota Yaris, smart fortwo, Mazda 3, Mazdaspeed3, Nisan Sentra 1.8S, Nissan Altima 2.5, Volkswagen Golf, Volkswagen Rabbit

No Dodge
No Plymouth
No Suzuki
No Chrysler
No Kia
No Hyundai
No Buick
No Ford
No Mitsubishi
No Saab
No Saturn
No GMC
Pontiac... meh... maybe, if it was a cheap G6, G8 or GTO for cheap
No offense, but no thank you.

[LuciluS]

Hey Debtmonster!

BTW I love my 1999 Toyota Sienna Van. It's around the 97,800 figure in mileage. I've never had anything go wrong with it. In fact was telling Dh this last weekend, I don't think it's ever had Freon put in it. Just a new battery and new tires is all.

Now, to the OFFERS. Have you considered it might have something to do with your mail going to a PO Box. I wonder if mass mailings include those boxes? Just a wondering is all.

Luci

[bkmaggster]

I was kidding about the Suzuki. I know you're way too good for a Suzuki!

Enjoy your car payments!

[music12]

i think DM has a ups box, not pobox. but the address issue could certainly have something to do with it because DM keeps moving. so they might not be able to keep up with him!

[debtmonster]

I'm not too good for a Suzuki. I just want something with good reviews and a reliable track record. Suzuki is not one of those cars. You should have researched all of the forums on Edmunds and other places. The Forenza had lots of negative reviews when I was looking at buying one. Look at lots of 3 to 6 year old Suzuki cars. The paint and bumpers are all faded. The hubcaps are peeling and stuff. They just look ragged out long before they get 10 years old.

It has nothing to do with my moving or a PO Box. The bankruptcy court puts the address on file that you are included. All of the car dealers buy that same address. It doesn't have anything to do with where you lived in the past.

Remember that list of car makers that I don't want? I wish Auto Trader had check boxes to omit those car brands in the search. It's a real pain to have to sift through all of those Kia and Hyundai cars in my searches, not to mention all of the people selling cars with re-built titles that are not allowed to be sold in the US.

I just wish I could check off:
Include:
Cars under $8,000
Cars under 30,000 miles
Automatic Transmission
Cars 2006 or newer

Omit:
Ford, Kia, Hyundai, Suzuki, Chrysler, Dodge, Lincoln (and many more that I don't want)

That would be wicked cool if they did that!!