ericdwong

First let me tell you a little about myself, I'm 19, I attend community college, I work about 30 hours a week, I live with my parents. My expenses are cellular phone bill, about $30 a month, gasoline, and just screw off money. I live with my parents right now, so I dont pay rent, nor do I pay for school. The Maxima is completely paid off, and I dont pay the insurance either. I have 2 student credit cards with ridiculously high interest rates, and not so high credit. My credit is in excellent condition. I was able to get a Verizon Wireless cellular phone in my own name without a security deposit. My mentality now, is I'm gonna have fun to rice out my car, while I still have the ability to do so. When I start paying the mortage, the electricity and the water and gas bills, then I probably will have to put the car on the back burner.

To cut to the chase, I applied for a personal loan today from the local federal credit union and I was approved for $1500. This is my first loan. First, I went to Bank of America first, but they said for such a "small" amount, to just use a credit card. Anyway, the terms are 36 months, around 11% APR, $49 payment each month.

So anyway, I have about $1500 to play with right now. The payments and the APR is negligible and its nothing I can't handle. Even if I stretch it out over 3 years, the extra $350 or so in interest wont be too bad over that long a time.

Here is where I need advice. I hear that theres a possibility that the APR is going to be dropping in the near future. I'm not too concerned as what I came up with today is probably the best I'm going to be able to do anyway.

Next, I need some advice on where to steer this money. I know I know, I thought about the supercharger, but to be honest its way out of my leaugue right now. Its $3000+ not to mention the other costs, such as labor to install, clutch, tires, etc due to the extra power. So I'm putting that off for a good few years.

This brings me to my next set of thoughts. I'm seriously considering getting the Cattman coilovers. I'm not sure if the "new" versions are out yet, but hopefully they are, and wont cost too much more then the old set, and if they do, hopefully the old set will be discounted. I used to drive around in a lowered car before (90 camry) and I miss the super stiff ride with the car slammed to the ground. But having all the adjustability just makes it so much more appealing. I thought about coventional springs and struts... but I'd only get Koni front struts, and I dunno what in the rear, but I definately need something that WILL NOT sag in the rear cause I got a humongous 130 lb subwoofer box back there that makes the back end low as *****. I've heard so far all the conventional springs sag (eibach, intrax, HR) in the rear, and I guarentee my case would be worse. Also, the koni's need work to put in, as would the conventional springs. I lowered the Camry myself and it has struts all around. What a pain in the ***. I also like how the Cattmans are totally assembled, no strut assembly dissassembly or any of that BS. Also, none of the conventional springs will drop as low as I want to go. I want to be able to slam the ever living F outta the car, but also be able to raise it back up incase of snow. All this adjustabilty just gets to me. I'm more worried right now about making the car handle better then I am straight line acceleration. I think in the straightaways the car is fine. I'll get the Y pipe, B pipe and Y2k muffler eventually.. just not yet though. Thoughts??????

NickStam

iTrader: (3)

I don't see how taking out a $1,500 loan is going to help you. Since you have barely any bills, you are netting a pretty large chucnk of your gross pay for your car. Let's assume that you make $10/hr. That's $1200 gross per month. So let's assume that you lose 30% of you pay to taxes (which is probably high). That leaves you with $840 per month. Minus your cell phone bill, that leaves you with around $800 per month. Do you really need the extra money? $800 spare dollars per month would be enough for me. Just a thought....

Dave B

I strongly advise from getting yourself into debt this way. You don't need the money. With that much extra money you should have left over every month, you shouldn't have to take out loans to mod your car. If you hardly have any money to do mods and you aren't saving it, what are you spending it on? Once you move out of your parents house, you may get hit hard with reality and realize you can't live like a rockstar for long on an entry level salary.

If your car a paid off then your already a big step ahead of everyone else. This is my moto, "if you don't have the money right now, then you can't afford it." Just save your money. If you get in the habit of pulling out loans and running up credit cards bills, you are gonna dig yourself deep into debt like the rest of the country.

I bought my Maxima and wife's Altima with cash and we have no credit card debt. The only loan we have out is on our house. Even though my wife and I make about 10-15% less than my friend's, on the average, we live a much more comfortable life. Why? Because we don't buy stuff unless we've got the money to do it. All my friends are wrapped up in status and have big loans to accomodate their need to impress. Another way my wife and I save money is by cooking nearly every night and we don't waste our money going "clubbing" 4 nights a week like my friends. On the average my friends spend ~$250 a month going out to eat and ~$300 a month drinking and having a good time. It doesn't make sense to me. Hell, I want to retire young. Then I can really play.


Dave

nismomaxse97

iTrader: (4)

Here is some financial advice. Do not do this. Why because you need to learn the value of a dollar first.
It will feel so much better to earn your mods as you go along. It is called delayed gratification. The car is paid off and you have no insurance payments to make. Sounds like heaven. You do not have to have debt to be like everyone else. If you are working and only have a cell phone to pay for, you can be fully modded by the end of next year. Now would you really want to pay all that interest on these aftermarket parts. Especially if you are going to buy anything from Stillen. The prices are high already and then you want to pay interest on top of that. Basically you will end up overpaying for all your mods.
An alternative if you want to do it is to apply for a subsidized government loan. This loan would be interest free until you get out of school or have a leave of absence.
Subsidized loans are payment deferred also. If you are going to do this do it this way instead. Do not pay interest.

good luck