Personal Finance Notebook: Ideas, education & motivation for personal finance

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 Loan Officer:  “Ma’am (or Sir), your application  to borrow $5000 unsecured has been approved.  Your payment is going to be $xxx.xx for 2 years at a rate of 11%.  I’ll just need your signature and you’ll receive your funds.  Thank you so much for doing business with us.”

Customer (like a deer in headlights):  “11%?!?! I thought the lowest rate was 9.5%?  Why so high?  I always pay my bills on time.”

Every one of us have had or will have to cross this path to get access to funds we need, but don’t have readily available.  Whether it be through loans obtained at banks/credit unions or by using credit cards, our goal should be to get approved and pay the lowest interest possible.  That way we keep the cost of doing business down to a minimum getting the best possible deal and saving money for other uses.

Let’s go ahead and discuss some of the major reasons why our cost of doing business becomes expensive.  Last week, I asked the question – “Why Do You Think We Pay High Interest?”  I’m happy to share the great responses I received along with my elaborations and additional reasons. 

Reason #1. “We don’t know any better…” -Gina, Gina’s Bookkeeping Service

Ignorance is not bliss.  If you’re not familiar with credit, credit scores and current interest rates, you can be told and sold ANYTHING.  The key is to negotiate (if possible), ask around, and check the internet for companies that track what the current rates are for a specific area of business (credit cards, auto loans, mortgage loans, etc).  There are also financial professionals waiting on you to ask them for their advice.  An educated shopper is a smart shopper.

Reason #2. “It depends on what you’re borrowing against…” –Daniel, Casual Kitchen

There are two different types of loans:  secured and unsecured.  A secured loan is when a borrower uses assets as collateral to decrease the risk assumed by the lender.  An unsecured loan is a loan that is not backed by any collateral.  It is just your signature and a promise to pay back the loan.  The risk for an unsecured loan is much higher than for a secured loan so you can expect to pay higher interest.  BUT you need to know what the interest rate ranges are for your level of credit (see Reason #1) to determine if you are getting a fair deal.

Reason #3. “Interest Rates fluctuate with the economy and status of the Federal Reserve Bank …” –Lakita, Personal Finance Journey

You can attempt to predict future rates by paying attention to what’s called the federal funds rate which is set by the Federal Reserve Board (the FED).  This is the rate that banks charge each other for overnight loans and is an early indication of the trend for longer term interest rates.  It’s basic supply and demand.   When the FED feels the economy is growing too fast, the rates are raised making it more costly to borrow money.  When the economy slows, the rates are lowered making it less costly to borrow money.  So if you can start noticing the trends of the federal funds rate, you can choose the right time to borrow money.

Reason #4. “We cannot wait…” –Eric, Eden Journal

Hmmm…impatience.  Yes, this is a great reason.  We can avoid the whole issue of paying interest just by saving up and using cash.  I do realize that this is a hard concept to apply to the large dollar amount purchases, but what about all the small purchases that we pay for with the swipe of a card.  The small purchases are actually the ones that do more damage because we pay for them over a longer period with compounding interest. 

Reason #5. “How much credit we have available and how often we use it…” –Susan Liddy, Secrets to Ultimate Living

This is actually funny, but when I was young, I used to think that having a lot of credit cards meant that you had lots of money.  But I think this concept was sold to me by television commercials.  If I remember correctly, weren’t there commercials on television that used to promote having many available sources of credit? The portrayal was of a consumer with a credit card that was not accepted, the spin was that the consumer would just pulled out another card to be used for the purchase.  The message was that it was “cool” to have many credit cards.

Well, those days are long gone.  The amount of credit available to you actually hurts your credit.  The risk is that you will use the available credit and not be able to afford to pay it back, which could then lead to a loss to the lender.  This has also led to many lenders closing accounts that have been inactive for a certain period of time.

Additional Reasons:

Reason #6.  Late pays, delinquent accounts.

This is an obvious cause for paying highly for the cost of credit.  Late pays and delinquent accounts appear on your credit as a “warning” to new lenders that you are a risk.  This new lender knows that you have the potential to default on repayment which prompts them to charge you the higher interest rate.

Reason #7.  Too many inquiries.

Another red flag to lenders…you’re shopping.  The inquiries show up on your credit immediately, BUT there is no way for the lender to know if you have been approved or denied which takes us back to Reason #5 – the total amount of available credit.  Lots of available credit equals a huge risk to the lender.

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As stated before, when it comes to borrowing money most times we cannot avoid the payment of interest.  We do have the luxuries of maybe using the “0% down” or the “Same as cash” plans, but that is credit dependent and a whole different animal.  The purpose here is to start making corrections in our credit profiles to lower our risks to the lender which lowers the amount of interest we pay.  $10 here, $20 there per month adds up to a lot of money over time.  I’d prefer to keep more of the money I’ve earned. 

It all boils down to this:  The higher the risk to the lender, the higher the rate for the borrower.

So, what say you?

• Do you pay the high cost of credit (high interest)?  Does this information help you to understand why?
• Have you overcome paying the high cost of credit?  What did you do to turn it around?
• Comments are encouraged and welcome!

Special thanks to the commenter’s who contributed to this article.  You guys are awesome!  And thanks to ALL OF YOU for reading.  I appreciate the time you spend here and I send you lots of love.

Don’t forget that education and knowledge about money is powerful so don’t forget to pass this message on to your friends. 

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