Tightening of Credit?
 

Has anyone had difficulty getting a car loan lately or have you had your credit card limit lowered?
The news media claims that credit has tightened a lot lately.
This is supposed to be the big, bad consequence of the subprime mortgage collapse that will cause another great depression.

Also has anyone bought gold lately?
I've been considering buying gold or silver.

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

If you'd have bought gold a few weeks ago, you'd be fixed for life. Now, though, the price has zoomed up so much that it's probably topped out. Better to stock up on whiskey, cigarettes and ammo for your .45. ;)

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

Ahhhh Yes.... Alcohol Tabacco and Firearms... government has a whole dept devoted to them... the finer things in life. They just go well together... dont they?? [8D] [sm=alcoholic.gif] [sm=violent053.gif]

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

I'm also buying a nice cabin in the mountains and learning all kinds of survival skills because the end times of the apocalypse is coming soon. Sell everything, buy gold, buy guns, whiskey, cigarettes. Your cash will be worthless soon. Head for the hills. Set up your perimeter defenses. And lock up your daughters. Soon the mushroom clouds will be rising and it's going to get bad. Only the strong and the cunning will survive. This is it folks. The end is near. That's what they tell me on the TV news and I trust them completely.

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

Oh! We better get explosives, too. They're always good in a pinch!

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

Buy stock in Testors.....

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

Best advice... keep it simple.:)

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

I just read on Wikipedia about the Great Depression. It's a fantastic article. Makes it very clear the reasons why the depression happened and how we got out of it.

Click to read Wikipedia article on Great Depression

Most of the things that caused the depression have also been happening in recent years! To put it in a nutshell, the expansion of money and easy credit caused a temporary boom in the 20's because people had money to buy stuff. The boom continued until people started getting scared that all this credit couldn't be paid back. Then the panic started, which resulted in a severe and rapid contraction of money and credit from the economy. When that happens it starts a vicious cycle of less spending for products causing more unemployment, which in turn causes less demand for products, and on and on. This resulted in over 25% unemployment. Another thing that reduced availability of money was the fact that the rich people got most of the money and they saved it, thus leaving the rest of the people with a lack of money to spend to keep the economy going.

The way we got out of the depression was to tax the upper class more and spend it on the working class, thus giving them money to spend to revive the economy.

So I guess that the people who say that we need credit to be available are right. We need to keep the money supply and credit flowing in order to keep the economy going. It enables businesses and individuals to keep spending money, thus keeping everyone employed.

The national debt is another form of easy credit spending which produces a temporary economic stimulus. It is many trillions of dollars now. It is another big bubble waiting to burst. When the debt grows so big that the U.S. government can't keep up with the payments on it anymore, I think that will be the mother of all busts and will dwarf the great depression, or something like that. This is supposed to happen by sometime between the years 2030 to 2040.

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

Oh another thing, I just read what is the best strategy to get rich during a depression or recession. Now I know exactly what I need to do. The article said that a great number of new millionaires were created during the great depression. Now as long as I prepare myself well, I can make out like a bandit.

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

Huh? As I recall, the ONLY way the world got out of the Depression was a little economic boom now commonly called World War II. ;)

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

Ummm... yeah exactly pretty much what I said on the other topic posted about the "Bail-Out"
The depression was caused by buying "on margin". Just like credit card companies can give you a credit- card not knowing if you have any means to pay the debt back. That's why there tightening up on just handing out credit cards in the last several months, they knew this was about to happen.
So picture this will ya>>>>> say a 100,000 people use their credit cards to buy gas and milk, that's it. They each ring up say a couple thousand dollars in debt.... they can't pay back their debt due to hard times and job cuts high prices and the fact inflation had definatly caught up to us. So 200 million dollars that never gets paid back, that's on a extremly small scale too you could easily multiply that buy ten. Now we can talk about the housing market and forcloseures on homes. Who do you think pays for all this?? Our government, we are screwing ourselves.
In the 20's you could "buy on margin" with Wall-Street... esencially credit in stocks... people would buy stocks with credit. Can you imagine?? Sounds dumb as hell right? But it happend.
What's happening now is in some way the same thing everyone has credit cards it's becoming harder to pay the debt down and people are just forfeiting their debt.

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

Is Billionaire trying to tell us he will be engaging in WWIII... :eek:

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

They had to massively raise taxes to pay for world war ii, which created a lot of jobs, which got the money flowing again. IIRC they didn't have an income tax before Franklin Roosevelt, so rich people got to keep almost all the money they made. The WW2 was the reason taxes were raised, but we don't have to have a war to tax and spend. If we really have an emergency, I guess we could raise taxes on the very wealthy people & wealthy corporations and use the money to create jobs in order to get the money flowing and stimulate the economy. I read that the top few percent of people have most of the wealth in the USA. I think we should at least raise taxes on the oil companies, which are making windfall profits right now.

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

First off... I agree with you totally... next we have been at war for several years and haven't raised taxes which is one of the big reasons for this debt, besides the whole credit issue we've gotten into.
going to Iraq was the first time that we've been at war and didn't raise taxes..

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

I don't think its the raising of taxes as it is the demand for product. Supply and demand. That is one principle I am familiar with. Credit can be good but its a very dangerous waltz. We as americans for the most part... live beyond our means. Houses and cars I can see, electronics and comfort items don't make a lot of sense. And here we are.

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

If people have more money to spend (from jobs and loans or whatever) there will be more demand for products, which creates more jobs. And the reverse is true too. After black tuesday in 1929, everyone severely cut their spending because they were scared to death.

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

No problems here. I bought the car late in the day on a Saturday, and didn't finally sign the papers until just after 5 PM. The banks were already closed, but the dealer let me take the car home that night anyway. The loan was huge because there was no trade in, and I only put $5000 down. So I thought for sure I would be getting a call from the dealership on Monday. I had also heard about how tight the banks were getting with loans. On Monday I did get a call from the dealership, but it was because the bank had given me a better interest rate (3%, instead of 3.75%) and they needed me to sign the new credit application for the lower amount. I guess the credit mess isn't as bad as you would think by watching the TV news every night.

MoparToYou

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

Geez! The news reporters are even bigger liars than I thought. They're all saying that credit is totally frozen and nobody can get a loan anymore, including those with good credit histories.

Guess what? My sales are still good too. I mean they showed retailers on TV saying that their sales were down, but mine aren't.

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

Been seeing 8% sales gains this year over last years sales here. Not quite the gains we saw last year but respectable none the less. Just hope people don"t get too scared from all the media hogwash and we continue to see this kind of growth. Time will tell...

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

Seems speculation drives alot of the gains and losses. I hope that all who have the means and can repay it will get the opportunity to do so. I have no credit cards and have dealt in cash for most of my purchases. House being the only exception. Hard to come up with that kind of cash:D I got rid of the credit cards when I learned how dishonest they are in their dealings. I do not regret getting rid of them. My life is kept as simple as is possible. I have been blessed with good health and pray I stay this way. To eneryone out there beware of those who lend, but do try to keep even kealed on the economy. I would not panic and continue to move forward with my financial plans... albeit very causously;)

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

Good message lear. Wife and I learned our lesson years ago. $12k in credit card debt and a mortgage to pay... back when $12 k was a lot more money than it is now. We decided it was time to end the crazyness and pay off the debt. We both became mortgage liscensed... life and homeowner insurance licensed and securities licensed just to learn how money works. Took a few years to pay off the credit card debt but never charged on a credit card since. Mortgage is the only thing we have had since. We pay cash for all our major purchases including cars. Only exception is 12 months same as cash type deals... we will still use them strictly for cash flow purposes knowing that we can pay them off at anytime if we need to. We"re not rich folks... but have learned to leverage the creditless ways in our favor.

The credit card scam is probably he biggest money loser of all for the American consumer. Its a shame more people don"t understand how money and credit cards really work.

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

Well put. Glad to see you overcame creditcard debt and pray so many more Americans can move in that direction.

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

Agreed Lear... sad part is that my wife and I have seriously tried to explain it and show people we have known... and unless they are REALLY ready for a change they are happy as can be with status quo. We have tried to explain budgeting... paying off credit cards... consolidating debt to make it more manageable to pay off... showed them where thier money is really going... and how to save money... real money instead of feeding the money machine. Some people I have talked to are so far into hock it"s a precarious juggling act to keep things rolling and one little bump will blast them over the edge. But most just can"t see it...

You know what they say about leading a horse to water...

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

I locked in my loan 2 months ago.

I read that the economic situation will result in 20% of dealerships going out of business. I wonder what would happen to purchasers' deposits on ordered cars?

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

Aren't most deposits "non-refundable"...[&:]

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

Depends on the deal you work with the dealer. Mine was fully refundable... the dealer would have loved to have kept the car and sold it to someone else... for higher than MSRP... ;)

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

Money/Loans are still out there for those who have "good credit". Regardless of what the news people keep telling us. However, if you don't have a good credit rating you are going to have a tough time getting a loan.....but isn't that how it should be anyway? If your credit rating is poor, then you should be working on paying off debt, not appling for new debt/loans.
Most of us have learned that living above your means has it's drawbacks...no extra cash to take that weekend trap, buy that [whatever] you've always wanted....etc. The lucky ones learn their lesson the first time...others take a few times before they learn.
And, don't count on others [dealers] to keep you from over stepping your financial limitations...they are in the market to sell cars, and if you are willing to sign on the bottomline...they will sell you a car if they can whether you can make the payments or not is not their concern...just the sale.
When I started looking for my new Challenger, the first dealer wanted a "non-refundable" deposit to hold the vehicle, then the story changed to "can't hold the car for any amount" but you can sign a binding contract to get the vehicle if you would like, before it's sold (they had a dozen people who were going to buy it...funny thing is they called me later in the week to see if I was still interested...wonder what happened to the dozen?) I left that dealer and never went back.....
I have my SRT Challenger purchased from another dealer at a better price and was treated better as well....I got it because I have good credit...
Did I need the new Challenger...no (well, maybe)...did I want it...OH YES!

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

Look what YOU Tube tried to ban..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRmB93McZeI
:eek::eek:

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

Amen..I rest my case...............

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

Hey im a dem. I can agree with a lot of that and it is quite shocking but, I say but the last minute of that film is bogus... Nobody tried to give poor people loans to ruin themselves, they tried to give them a chance to have home for theier family.
It theory just as your video states it is a good idea and can help millions of people, but the banks got greedy looking for peanuts and small percentage points it got too cut throat banks cut each others assets off in competion to lend money just to get return on it in intrest. To say Obama is the reason for this, is just like saying Bush and Daddy Bush, and Grand Daddy Bush are the reason for the oil hikes. Grand Daddy had a peice of land that had "Gold" under-neath it. You want to post this video and make a point? Well how is Lil W even qualified to have this job? Please... Dude our politics are so messed up... Lil Bush won on a popularity contest, and their doing it again with Palin on the ticket. I do like McCain honestly I do, but I think a Obama/ Biden ticket makes so so much more sense than a McCain/Palin ticket. The Dems. will fix this I believe so, the Republicans will cover it up, like they've done so many times before...
To say Congress blocked your boy's bills and VETO's is so funny bro... the Republicans have held Congress 10 of the last 12 years... So why can't they pass their own bills??? Come on man...

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

The point is that the then current admiration (Carter’s) at that time forced many banks through legislation, to make loans to people who would be considered high risk. In theory helping “everyone” to own the American dream of home ownership is noble and great, but the realty is, many can’t and will never be able to buy a house for whatever the reason, and to force banks to make loans to those that could not really afford it, was wrong. And, that’s what happened, no the banks are not blameless since I am sure that many had $ signs in their eyes (but then they always do), but in many cases their hands were tried by those in office that were trying to help these "little guys".
I don’t think Obama is the reason for this banking issue, BUT he sure made a lot of money from how things worked out! (The second greatest benefiter in moneys made)
You say that Bush won on a popularity contest…..what do you think Obama has been doing, he is certainly not running on his accomplishments (or lack thereof). Palin has much more experience and has more to offer than Obama. It’s funny how the gas crisis and then the financial problems have all come to a head under a Democratic Congress. And what has the current Congress actually done?? And, no the Republicans are not blameless in this whole mess as they could have done a lot more when they had the power, but didn't.
You are correct, an Obama/Biden ticket does make more sense, IF you like socialism, because that is what they and the entire Democratic party are selling……..no thank you.
Obama talks about change....but it needs to be change for ther better, not change, just for change....and again the change they want to bring is out and out socialism........
(As you may have guessed, I am NOT a Democratic)

(**As a side note, it's threads like this that really should be on other sites, since most members would rather read about Challengers than politics. If I offended anyone with this posting...sorry, but to much of what you get on network news is just out and out wrong.....)

*****By the way.....LOVE my New Challenger!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

Joe... with you 110% on this point and beyond. Suppose it has anything to do with those that choose the Black Challengers? :)

This has been my main issue with the Democrats as far back as I can remember. Home for every American... Chicken in every pot... sound familiar?? While I am all for the concept... human nature makes the ideal impossible to reach. It would be a wonderful world to live in if peace and harmony reigned... if people were loving and kind to others in all counts... if prejudice rooted in fear did not exist... if justice and equality prevailed... but alas, the reality is far from this utopia we all wish would flourish. Greed and selfishness prevail and unfortunately those most motivated by greed and selfishness will find ways to fulfill thier self centered desires regardless of who gets hurt or stomped on while they strive to seek the wealth and fame they desire... and deserve in thier own wicked minds. Who pays...? We all do.

It is a nasty, vicious, wicked, evil, messed up world we live in and where those attributes prevail justice and equality will fail, prejudice will abound, poor will get poorer, rich will get richer, peace and harmony will remain hidden, and self love will dominate.

Socialism is a failed experiment with a utopian goal. The idea is awesome... the reality is problematic because of selfish human nature...

And yes... this probably doesn"t belong in a Challenger forum... but while we"re on the subject... guess I should rant off as well. May peace and prosperity follow you wherever you may go...

(running out of the room... ducking and doging the aftermath...)

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

Thanks, you actually said it better than I did...
And, even if it doesn't have anything to do with having a black Challenger.....thanks for watching my back,
see you down the highway.........

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

Personally, I have always been a little suspicious of mopar. Where have we heard a thought like this before? Does the phrase, "Live Long and Prosper" ring a bell? HE'S A VULCAN! If we don't stop this political discussion now, he'll soon be spouting strange, beatnik ideas about being "logical." [sm=noooo.gif]

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

How did you know? Peace, and Prosperity are 2 hookers that keep stalking me!

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

Shazbat..!! Better keep a lower profile... :eek:

And speaking of suspicion Roswell... what was it again that happened in Roswell New Mexico...?? Does area 51 ring a bell...?? Might want to be careful before you draw a little too much attention from the enquirer to yourself... ;)