Personal Finance & Money Stack Exchange
Personal Finance & Money Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [loans]

This tag is a generic tag to be used when asking a question on Loans / lending. If there is a specific question the other related tags like home-loan, student-loans, etc should be used.

1158 questions
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15 answers

Spouse wants to pay all debt in a month but I don’t. Is this a good idea?

Between both of our student loans and car loan, we are in the hole about $48,000. My spouse is adamant about paying off all debt in the next month or two since we currently have about $55,000 in the bank. The issue is that I don’t see why we need to…
jo13
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85
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10 answers

Why is being "upside down" on a mortgage so bad?

For the longest time (especially during/after the housing crash in the US), people would speak in hushed whispers or terrified pleas when they talked about being upside down on their mortgage. While I understand that an asset suddenly losing a huge…
WannabeCoder
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73
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1 answer

My friend cosigned for a defaulted loan. Should he declare Chapter 7 bankruptcy?

Background: My friend Abe co-signed an auto loan for about $25k with his "friend" Bella, in the USA state of Maryland, about 4-5 months ago. The car was for Bella's use. The deal was that Bella would make payments on the car and when it was paid off…
President James K. Polk
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70
votes
12 answers

I cosigned for a friend who is not paying the payment

I cosigned for a loan for a friend. He has now moved away and is not making payments. I have been asked to pay--they even called my job--and I need to keep my credit. The payments are too high for me to manage. If I pay off the loan to keep my…
Leslie
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60
votes
9 answers

Why are 30-year mortgages seen as unwise, if you can pay off the loan in a shorter period of time anyway?

I'm slowly working towards buying my first home (yay!), and have been playing around with the numbers. As far as I can tell, there's literally zero advantage for getting a 10 or 15-year mortgage since I can just get the exact same mortgage in a…
user44315
59
votes
5 answers

Borrowing money in one country to pay off debt in another

I'm currently living in Germany and can borrow a substantial amount of money at almost no interest, effective 3.4%. In my home country I have several mortgages, basically at the moment funding themselves almost completely via rental income. The…
Cillier
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57
votes
12 answers

Should I pay off a 0% car loan?

I'm ahead on 0% interest car loan. I don't have to make a payment until October. I currently owe $3,000 and I could pay it all off. Should I do that or leave that money in my savings account that earns 2% interest?
Steve
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50
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12 answers

My mother co-signed for my car. Can she take it away from me if I am the one making car payments?

My credit is in the low 500s and I was unable to get a car loan. My mom cosigned for me and I've now had a beautiful car for three months. I've been making on-time payments, the registration is in my name, and the insurance is in my name as well.…
Megan M
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48
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4 answers

Would using an expensive car as collateral for a small loan to get cheap parking work?

There's a rather old joke which is being told in many variations and my question would be whether events narrated could actually happen in real life. I'm not in the US so I don't know all the details of how banks work in the US. The joke goes…
sharptooth
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44
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12 answers

Should I buy a house now before prices rise even more?

We rent an apartment in Frankfurt, Germany and we are contractually bound to it for another 1.5 years. We are 33 and 35 years old and there will be children soon. We make around 110k € annually (after taxes) and we have no debt. We are thinking…
8192K
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43
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3 answers

Can I take out a loan and invest it at higher interest?

I noticed today that my bank is offering small loans of up to £15000 at 3.3% interest. Meanwhile, services like Zopa and RateSetter are offering over 6% interest on investments in their platforms. I feel like there must be some catch here, but what…
MHG
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43
votes
14 answers

Hypothetically, should I pay off the smaller + higher interest rate loan first, or the larger + higher absolute interest cost?

I have this hypothetical situation on my mind and I am not sure which is the best solution. Given: Loan 1: $340,000 at an interest rate of 1.69% per year Loan 2: $40,000 at an interest rate of 3.6% per year I have a fixed amount available to pay…
user99451
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43
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14 answers

How can I support myself financially as a 17 year old with a loan?

I'm a 17 year old Ohio high school student who makes ~$160 a month working minimum wage. I have a $3500 loan (4 year duration) to pay off for a car with ~$2880 left. Monthly payments are ~$80 for the car plus an additional $70 for part of insurance…
CMew3
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40
votes
6 answers

Can a car company refuse to give me a copy of my contract or balance details?

I have an auto loan with a car company that after looking at all possible amortizations, doesn't match what my payment should be. I'm talking with 40% interest rates, adjustable interest rates, shortened terms, etc; none of it matches my…
Anoplexian
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40
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7 answers

Why use credit when you have the cash?

I've heard several people state that they get loans even when they have the money to cover the cost in the bank, and it befuddles me why they would pay interest instead of using their own money. This seems especially true in small business where I…
C. Ross
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