0% Financing Can Cost You Money

Nowadays people are holding onto their cars longer and longer but at some point it becomes more expensive to keep repairing them rather than biting the bullet and just buying a new (or used) one.  Just ask my husband who spent months paying close to $1,000 a month to keep his 2003 car alive rather than just finance a new or used one paying only $200-$300/month…lesson learned.

This seems to be the time of year when the dealers LOVE to lure in with their 0% offers. It’s usually a 0% financing (and usually for a short term like 36 months) OR cash back type offer and IF you qualify for 0% you have to make the decision to take the 0% rate OR the rebate amount.  That 0% may look mighty appealing, BUT if you look at the big picture taking the 0% over the rebate actually can COST you more money in the long run. Let’s take a real simple example – you find the perfect car and negotiate the price to be $20,000. There is a manufacturer rebate of $2,500 OR 0% offered AND you qualify (congratulations you must have pretty good credit).  You also have a trade-in valued at $1,000 and you even have an extra $500 to put down.  For simplicity sake we’ll keep the term the same – 36 months, here’s how it breaks down:

	0% Dealer financing	Credit Union financing
Price of car	$20,000	$20,000
Down payment	$500	$500
Trade-in	$1,000	$1,000
Manufacturer rebate	$0	$2,500
Amount financed	$18,500	$16,000
Number of months in loan	36	36
Loan interest rate	0%	3.00%
Monthly Payment	$514	$465
Total cost	$18,500	$16,751
Total interest paid	$0	$751
SAVINGS	$0	$1,749

Not only are you saving money every month on your payments, but you end up paying nearly $2,000 LESS than if you took the 0% financing offered through the dealership.

The best way to handle your options to make sure you’re getting the best deal is to research your options. Get pre-approved at the credit union BEFORE walking into the dealership so you are armed with the power of knowing exactly what you can afford and how much it will cost in the long run.  Remember TropicalFinancial Credit Union is here for your best interest – it’s part of our mission to put people first so you feel Right Where You Belong!

^Amy

Budgeting Strategies for 2013

Happy 2013!

While you’re working on your New Year’s resolutions, make some time to take a fresh look at your budget. Here are some real-world tips to help you get started.

Determine your monthly income

For most people, income isn’t one-dimensional. To find out how much money you have to work with every month, factor in your monthly salary (after taxes), interest you earn from a savings account, money from your parents or investments, and any other regular and reliable source of money. Do not factor in your line of credit, or any work or money source you plan to have in the future. Focus on what you have right now.

Track your purchases

Don’t start budgeting by making a list of stuff you want to buy. Instead, track the things you’re already buying and see how much you’re currently spending each month. If the total amount you’re spending is more than the amount of money you have coming in, it’s time to cut back.

Discover your priorities

Bills and living expenses come first. Everything else is secondary. No exceptions! This is the only way to avoid debt. You need to pay your rent and put food on the table, but you don’t have to go to a concert. Don’t panic: no one’s asking you to stay home every night. Just remember that fun isn’t the foundation of your budget.

Don’t ignore your splurges

Everyone splurges on something. Maybe it’s fancy coffee, craft beer or another pair of shoes you don’t technically need. You may like to think you’ll never splurge again, but don’t kid yourself. You’ll be much better off if you’re realistic about these purchases and include room for them in your budget. Splurge responsibly.

Leave some wiggle room

Include room for “miscellaneous expenses” in your budget, too. Even if you’re the most diligent person in the world, we guarantee you’ll have surprise expenses once in a while. Life happens. You may have to pay a parking ticket or a medical bill, and ideally, you shouldn’t have to dip into your savings for expenses like this.

Use credit cards wisely

Credit cards let you make purchases quickly and easily, but that convenience comes with a price. You’re more likely to make purchases without thinking them through. To avoid this, plan ahead for your credit card purchases to make sure you can pay them off each month. When you make your payments on time, you can also take full advantage of your rewards points.

There’s an app for that

Are you a smartphone user? Consider downloading a personal finance app to help you track your purchases and keep your finances organized. We really like Expenditure, SplashMoney, MoneyStrands and Adaptu Wallet. Play around with a few and see which one like best, then make a point to use it regularly. If you don’t have a smartphone, try downloading a free budgeting worksheet. You can also use Tropical Financial’s budgeting calculators.

Guest Blogger: Laura Edgar is a senior writer for NerdWallet.com, an unbiased financial comparison website.

When Was The Last Time You Updated Your Browser?

What do you do online? If you’re like most people, you use the web to access email, shop, for social networking, banking, finding directions, or just plain research.  These are the most common uses for using the Internet.  To access the internet we have several options of browsers – the most common is Internet Explorer or IE (that little blue “e” on our desktop screen that we are just plain used to clicking to get to the Internet).

BUT according to recent security software surveys – nearly 25% of all browsers that consumers currently use to surf the net are out of date.  We all have experienced that pop up that tells us it’s time to update some program or another and if you’re anything like me, you’ve gotten into the habit of clicking that little box that says, “not now” or “remind me later.”  But ignoring those popups to update your browser can actually put your computer at risk to serious breaches in security.  It also is slowing your computer down AND you are literally depriving yourself of the upgraded experiences the Internet now has to offer.

Software engineers spend countless hours developing websites and programs to give the viewer more enjoyable and interactive experiences, but with outdated browsers you are missing out!  PLUS at Tropical we just upgraded our own security to give our members the best protection available, but with older browsers our members are running into all kinds of difficulties accessing their accounts.  It’s not JUST the browsers, but the add-ons as well: when was the last time you upgraded Flash or Java?  Even if you make all the upgrades you still have to clear your cookies, allow for popups and clear your cache so your computer is rid of all the “bad stuff” that was preventing you from having the best experience possible.

To try and give you step-by-step instructions on upgrading every browser out there in this blog would make it more into a novel SO we created a list of exactly how to do that for each browser on our website, you can access it here.  There is also a wonderful resource that explains all the different browsers and their benefits from Smashing Magazine.  To update individual add-ons like Java or Flash, you’ll need to go to those individual websites and download their latest versions.

ALSO make sure your computer is protected with security software like McAfee or Norton and be sure to download the extra security software we offer our members for free, Trusteer, which gives you a secure portal to any website to which you need to enter secure information.

We want to be sure that your online banking experience is easy AND secure along with helping give you the best experiences the web has to offer, but to do that we ask that you help us help you by updating your browser and add-ons.

If you’re still having problems, contact us at e-CommerceDept@tfcu-fl.org and we’ll walk you through the process to get you back on track; right where you belong!

^Amy