Originally Posted by billt460
Originally Posted by Mad_Hatter
I'm not excusing personal responsibility but I think lenders are also preying on the "low info" consumer and the sub prime credit people. If you can't pay off a car in 5yrs or less, then buy a cheaper car more in line with your income and debt... that is what the finance guy should be telling people but obviously isn't. I've always said when the finance guy is able to do one of these loans where he's rolling thousands of negative equity into the new one...he gets to eat lobster for dinner that night....
These finance people have one job. And one job only. To separate you from as much of your money as possible. You don't loan money at 6% if someone is stupid enough to pay 15%. That is not "predatory lending". It's stupidity based on uninformed, and financially ignorant individuals. If you allow yourself to be financially taken advantage of, you will be. It's as simple as that.
I keep telling people, the last thing to appear on the bottom of the last page of ANY loan application, is your signature. No one is holding a gun to your head to sign. If you don't feel right about any of it, walk away. If you don't understand any or ALL of it, either walk away, or take someone with you who does, and can advise you.
But people don't. And they become victims of their own ignorance. This stuff isn't that hard to figure out. It's all basically simple 4th grade math. You multiply your total amount of monthly payments you are quoted. Then add your down payment. Then subtract the total cost of the vehicle you are quoted from the sum of that. If you wind up with a discrepancy of tens of thousands of dollars. (In this case $18K).... You stand up and walk out the door.
People can only be taken advantage of, if they allow themselves to be. They walk into these places like sheep headed to slaughter. Then complain when it happens. They shop for too expensive of a vehicle in the first place. Then wind up over paying for it, because of asinine interest rates, that create large monthly payments that go on seemingly forever. Within a year they are completely under water, because the thing depreciates faster than a losing lottery ticket. And they can't sell it for anything even close to what they owe.
Right away they blame the banks, credit unions, the dealership, or the salesman. You would think the housing crash of 2008-2009 would have smartened these people up a bit. But it has had the opposite effect. They are all marching right in to do the same thing with houses, cars, credit cards, name it. This is all going to end with another big bang. Even bigger than it did the first time. And when it does, just like the last time, people will be blaming everyone but themselves for it.
Can't wait for it to happen......I'll be there with cash in hand to buy a couple year old Lexus for pennies on the dollar!
