You’ve heard it said a car depreciates in value as you soon as you drive it off the lot. In fact, according to ConsumerReports, it’s the biggest cost of owning a car. But even if you don’t care about depreciation and plan on keeping your car until it’s good for nothing except scrap metal, you’ll still be facing the many costs of ownership.
The first step is to download free copies of your credit report from the three main credit bureaus: Equifax, Transunion, and Experian. You can request your copies at annualcreditreport.com
Keep an eye out for factors in the market that may make vehicle trade-in values go up. For instance, natural disasters that affect manufacturing sometimes may increase car values. No matter what the situation, there are always a few things you can do to improve your trade-in value.
“Phishing” involves fraudulent Internet spam, pop-up messages and e-mail that try to lure personal information from unsuspecting victims. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), phishers send an email or pop-up message claiming to be from your credit union or another institution you do business with, asking you to update or validate your personal and account information.
When shopping for a new car, many people overlook one important step: getting preapproved for an auto loan. It's a simple process that can make car-buying go more smoothly and save you money.
A credit score is a three-digit number that is a fast objective estimate of your credit risk based on a snapshot of your credit report at a particular moment. Lenders use this number to make a prediction about how you will behave in the future.
