BY ED D’ALESSIO from Morning Consult

Even before the coronavirus pandemic that has challenged our nation’s financial system, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) called attention to the fact that over 60 million adults in the U.S. are either unbanked or underbanked (PDF). This figure, which equates to nearly one-third of all U.S. adults, demonstrates that despite the public policy emphasis on banks as the panacea for every financial need, there remains a mismatch between bank products and the needs of everyday Americans, many of whom choose to use non-depository financial providers.

Whatever the reason for the numbers of unbanked and underbanked Americans, it has taken the current crisis to demonstrate that in order to truly provide financial inclusion, and to ensure that all Americans can maintain their financial lives, the financial service center industry must be fully recognized as an “essential” branch of our nation’s “critical infrastructure.”

These local, financial service centers process over 350 million transactions annually, employ tens of thousands of Americans, and are located in the neighborhoods where their customers live and work. Being of and from the community ensures that customers are treated with respect and, importantly, in their native tongues.

As the coronavirus pandemic degrades our economy and stretches thin the budgets of millions of families who are confronting health care and childcare needs, rent, utility and other bills, and other existential financial challenges, it is critical that consumers have access to as many safe and reliable financial service options as are possible. Licensed financial service centers provide just that — safe, reliable, convenient, and regulated financial services.

Thankfully today, thousands of financial service centers remain open and operating, providing regulated financial services while following all CDC guidelines and ensuring the health and safety of customers and employees, and continuity of financial services in all communities. In fact, governors and other public officials from across the country — including in California, Illinois(PDF), Kentucky(PDF), New Jersey and New York, to name a few — agree that neighborhood financial service centers are critical, designating these businesses as “essential” in meeting the needs of Americans. These financial service centers remain open, despite the closure of scores of other businesses, including other financial services providers who have simply elected to close.

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Car Capital Financial

Car Capital offers title loans at competitive rates, regardless of your credit score. If you’re interested in a title loan and live in Southern California, call Car Capital at 1-888-500-9887 and you could have cash in hand within 30 minutes. We are open weekdays from 8am to 5pm, and Saturdays from 9am to 1pm. We can get you the money you need today!

Life is spontaneous, and it’s impossible to plan for everything. That’s why it’s smart to have a backup plan when life throws you a curveball. Sometimes, the only thing standing between you and your goals is a lack of cash. Whether you’re looking to expand your business, finance your honeymoon, or simply need a little extra spending money over the holidays, an increasing number of Californians are considering personal loans vs. title loans. The accessibility of these loans makes them a convenient choice for anyone in an immediate cash bind.

How is a Title Loan different from a Personal Loan?

But while personal cash loans are helpful in their own respect, there may be an even better option. If you are the owner of a motor vehicle, you may want to consider taking out a title loan. These loans are backed by collateral (in this case, your vehicle), so they tend to be larger and set under more relaxed terms. They are also just as convenient as a personal loan: in most cases, you can have cash in hand within as little as 30 minutes. In many cases, people who choose to take out title loans are able to borrow more money with lower interest rates and fewer background checks. The choice between a personal loan and a title loan has the potential to save you thousands of dollars.

Unsecured Loan Drawbacks

A personal loan is considered an unsecured loan, since you’re not offering up any collateral for the money you’ll be borrowing. Because of this, lenders tend to loan out smaller amounts, which reduces their risk of you defaulting on their loan and running with the cash. To qualify for a personal loan, you’ll have to supply proof of income, such as a pay stub or bank statement, for approval. This shows the lender you have a plan in place to pay back their loan. You may also be required to verify your credit score or run a credit check. It’s possible to get a personal loan without having your credit checked, but this may lead to lower loan amounts and higher interest rates.

Accessing the value of your pink slip

In contrast, a title loan is what’s known as a collateral loan or secured loan, because you temporarily swap your car title for the money you are loaned. Obviously, you’ll need to own a motor vehicle in order to take out a title loan. However, it’s not always necessary to physically hand over your car — in fact, eligible borrowers only need to relinquish the title of their car. This means you can continue to drive your car, but it will be legally owned by the lender until you pay the money back. These loans are usually larger than personal loans, but the amount of your loan will ultimately be based on the value of your vehicle. A lender will typically factor in the physical condition of your vehicle, as well as its year, make, model, and mileage. Because of the collateral used, there are generally fewer credit checks involved, making title loans a primary option for people with low credit scores or anyone looking for a quick and easy way to borrow money.

It’s important to fully understand the terms associated with different types of loans. Keep up your expectations, but also be aware of your limitations. Remember that a loan is not a permanent fix, but merely a temporary one. In any case, title loans are one of the most popular options on the market, and for good reason.

Car Capital offers title loans at competitive rates, regardless of your credit score. If you’re interested in a title loan and live in Southern California, call Car Capital at 1-888-500-9887 and you could have cash in hand within 30 minutes. We are open weekdays from 8am to 5pm, and Saturdays from 9am to 1pm. We can get you the money you need today!

Now that graduation season is upon us, many grads are walking across the stage and receiving their college diploma, but many are wondering how they’re going to pay for it when they need to pay off student loans.

For those graduates fortunate enough to have lined up a great job, you may be riding high right now, but fast-forward a few months and student loans could quickly begin to dominate your financial concerns.

You are not alone.

Paying off student loans is no easy task, and it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to do it quickly, but there are some excellent ways to shorten your repayment period by months or even years! How? Try one or all of the methods below and you could end up saving thousands of dollars!

Make a plan

The first thing you’ll need to do is draft a budget, create a spending plan, and determine just how long it’s going to take to get your loans paid off.

If you’re not satisfied with the results, it may be time to start making cuts to your expenses. Lop a little money off the spending side, and you could start spending more on paying down that debt.

Stop going out with friends, don’t throw away any more money on grabbing the latest tech gadgets, cut your cable bill and don’t partake in any more shopping sprees.

Start Paying Immediately

If you qualify for a six month grace period, don’t wait until it expires to start making monthly payments.

You’ll end up owing less in interest if you start paying down the debt right now, and it’ll help you get into the routine of allocating enough funds toward your monthly payments, rather than spending them on unnecessary expenses.

If you’re disciplined up front, you’ll set up some positive habits and end up being far ahead of everybody else. If you’re still in school, any amount you can contribute to your student loans could end up helping greatly.

Schedule Multiple Payments Per Month

It’s common knowledge that you can pay your mortgage off more quickly by making two payments per month, but many people don’t realize that you can do a similar thing with student loans!

Making two payments per month will end up reducing the amount of total interest you accumulate, allowing you to get out of debt sooner, and at a lower cost.

Also, by making payments every two weeks, you’ll end up making more payments than you would have made on the monthly plan, since paying every other week equals 26 payments per year!

While that’ll cost you more money in the short-run, it’ll save you tremendous amounts over the lifetime of your loan.

If you can’t afford to make extra payments in full, then send in whatever you can manage to divert with each payment, as even an extra $5 or $25 per month will add up to some big savings over time.

Remember, every dollar you allocate toward your payments now could save you hundreds of dollars in interest fees over the course of the loan.

Make Sacrifices & Cuts

The more you can cut expenses, the sooner you’ll be out of debt.

Whether that means dropping your overly expensive cell phone plan, reducing the number of nights you go out each week, or skipping out on a big vacation, whatever you can do to drop your expenses will allow you to allocate more cash for those monthly payments.

Set a strict monthly budget for yourself, and don’t just stick to it, but aggressively cut any absolutely unnecessary monthly expenses. Figure out exactly where all of your money is going, then reduce the amount being spent on frivolous purchases so you can free up more cash for your loans.

If you’ve never set up a budget before, look for online advice about how to create one. Write it all down, or build a spreadsheet and make sure to keep it up to date. The more you watch your spending, the more costs you’ll cut and the sooner you can get out of debt.

Take Advantage of Discounts

Are you aware of all the ways you can reduce your debt?

Signing up for automatic monthly payments or consolidating your loans could earn you an interest rate reduction, saving you some serious money.

Most lenders will offer you an interest rate reduction of 0.25% just for enrolling in their autopay program, so get signed up now and you can start saving today!

Tackle High-Interest Loans First

Your high-interest rate loans are costing the most money, so you need to pay them off first.

Just like you’d do with credit card debt, you’ll want to focus on paying off your student loans that come with the highest interest rates, which will reduce the amount of money you end up having to pay over the life of your loans.

Getting rid of your high-interest rate loans first could save you thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars, so don’t neglect this essential, important tactic.

Any extra money that you can come up with each month should be directed toward the payment for your highest-interest loan.

Make Extra Income

Have you looked into taking on a second job? Looked for freelancing opportunities? Are you aware of all the weird ways to make additional money?

You might be surprised by how much money you can raise by taking on additional responsibilities, like filling out surveys, writing reviews or doing simple manual labor.

Ask the neighbors if they need help with chores, look for extra work on the outsourcing websites like Odesk or eLance, and be sure to watch for opportunities on your local Craigslist job board too.

Consolidate Student Loans

Student loan debt consolidation is convenient and free of charge for federal loan holders; however it’s not always in your best interest to consolidate.

Any time that you can consolidate private loans to get a lower interest rate, that’s probably worth pursuing, but be cautious with your federal loans.

Some federal student loans come with amazing financial benefits, and consolidating them with a direct consolidation loan could wipe out your eligibility to take advantage of them.

Be careful too, because even though a consolidation might reduce your monthly payments, it typically also ends up making your loan more expensive over the long-haul, since it stretches out your monthly payments to last for more years, giving interest more time to accumulate.

Student Loan Forgiveness Programs

Public service workers and government employees, educators and nurses are sometimes eligible for student loan forgiveness programs.

The U.S. Department of Education Federal Student Aid website provides a comprehensive listing of the most common discharge, cancellation and forgiveness programs.

Be sure to look into these benefits, as some of them could dramatically reduce your expenses, saving you thousands to even tens of thousands of dollars.

Car Capital Financial

Following one or all of these strategies will help put you on the fast track to paying off your student loan debt and saving you thousands of dollars in interest accumulation!

However, with these tougher economic times, if your student loans are making it difficult to pay your rent or pay bills on time, then you may need to look elsewhere for assistance.

Before you sign up for dangerous neighborhood loans or credit card cash advances, be sure to look into the affordable car title loans offered by Car Capital Financial.

Car Capital offers secured personal loans in the form of car and other vehicle title loans. Loans do not require a credit check, and cash can be delivered in as little as 30 minutes. Title loans are issued based on the borrower’s ability to repay the loan.

Car Capital Financial has provided safe, reliable and affordable car title loans to residents of Southern California for over 15 years, and can get you the money you want today. If you need money quickly, then please call 1-888-500-9887 now.

 

Due to the recent foreclosure crisis, stories of people sticking out a 30-year mortgage in the same home are becoming rarer by the day. However, this economic crisis has also served as a motivator for people to go all-out in their efforts to become debt free sooner.

If you’re financially secure and free of high-interest debt, then paying off your mortgage early can be a lot easier than you think.

Below are four easy ways to pay off your mortgage early:

1. Make Additional Mortgage Payments

Whenever you can, it is savvy to begin making extra payments. An advantage of these extra payments is that all that money goes toward the principal balance you we (instead of toward interest).

Even just one extra payment per year year can have a huge impact on the total cost of your mortgage. Even better is the fact that you can make this extra payment any time of the year, and oftentimes, in any amount. Whether you want to put an extra $5 or an extra $500 toward your mortgage, you should be able to use it.

Do you receive any additional income throughout the year? Have you already received your tax refund? You may want to consider applying some, if not all of this additional income to the principal balance of your mortgage. What makes this a great strategy is that you will not be required to make a higher monthly payment and you won’t miss this extra money since you didn’t count on having the money in the first place.

2. Refinance Your Interest Rate

Have you thought about refinancing your mortgage to receive a better interest rate? A lower interest rate can help you save thousands of dollars in just one year! The amount you save will depend on the exact figures of your mortgage, but over the lifetime of the loan, that could be substantial. Many people fail to refinance because they think their credit isn’t good enough to do it, but it’s always worth exploring the opportunities, no matter how bad your credit score might be.

People, who refinanced their mortgage rates in 2012, lowered their rate by an average of 1.5 percent. For a $200,000 home loan, that translates to savings of about $2,900 in interest payments over a 12 month period, according to Freddie Mac.

If you decide to refinance your mortgage, you will need to get all financial paperwork in order. That means showing your proof of income, tax returns, assets and any investments to your mortgage lender. Having these financial documents in order will help show your lender that you are able to afford your mortgage loan and thus make it easier to refinance your loan.

3. Cut Unnecessary Expenses

You may want to consider cutting some of your monthly expenses and put the money you save towards your mortgage.

Can you switch to a cheaper cell phone plan? Can you do away with cable TV? Create a budget, list out your living expenses and look for ways you can save money, and then devote that extra money to your mortgage payments.

It may be difficult to cut those living expenses, but it may be worth it considering your goal is to pay off your mortgage and be debt-free!

4. Make Bi-Weekly Payments

Chances are that you are making monthly payments, which is understandable since the average mortgage is structured for you to make only one payment each month. This payment structure is generally a good thing, since you will make the mortgage payment at the same time each month and it will be easier for you to create your monthly budget.

However, have you ever considered splitting that monthly mortgage payment to bi-weekly payments? Surprisingly, making bi-weekly payments instead of a single monthly payment could save you thousands of dollars and cut years off your mortgage.

By paying half of your monthly payment every two weeks, you will erase almost six years off a 30-year mortgage, according to Bankrate.com.

If you decide to use this strategy remember to contact your lender to change your payment schedule and be aware that there may be a set-up fee to do this. You will also need to remember to have enough funds during those 2 months where you’ll be making three payments instead of two.

Car Capital Financial

Mortgage rates today can seem high, but if you follow these tips you can end up with a lower interest rate on your mortgage and with thousands of dollars extra in your bank account.

If you have the opposite problem (too little cash rather than too much) and need to raise some money quickly, then consider taking out a car title loan from Car Capital Financial.

We’re Southern California’s leading title loans company, and we can get you the money you want in as little as 30 minutes!

If you own your car in full, or only have a few remaining payments left, then you are likely to qualify for one of our cash title loans. Title loans are issued based on the borrower’s ability to repay the loan. Call us now at 1-888-500-9887 to find out how much money you can get!