Deals on Cars, Furniture Seem to Be Exploding

Boy I’ll tell you, if you’re a bargain hunter at heart, like I happen to be, then the economic turmoil that has turned everyone into a barterer, businessmen and women and consumers alike, then you are in bargain heaven lately. And you’d better enjoy it while it lasts, because I have a hunch that after this year is over, we’re not going to be seeing such cheap prices on consumer goods, coupons, special events and incentives like we’re seeing now since the economic recovery is starting to show some tiny glimmer of hope for the current situation.

My boss at work got a terrific deal on a used car, with low mileage, that was fully loaded. It was a black SUV that is a great brand name, and she got it for a bargain basement price because the dealer really wanted to unload it. She turned in her leased vehicle so that she could buy a car this time (always a smart move since leasing usually makes you lose your shirt at the end with the over mileage fees and the fact that you don’t own anything when the lease is over). She really made out, and I must say that since I paid full price for my SUV four years ago, I had a bit of envy.

However, I had a huge wave of relief when I was able to pay my car off finally this past month. It was great to get that title in the mail, saying I’d paid off my debt on the car and that I would be free and clear of any forceplaced insurance (which wasn’t something I’d had anyways). Furniture is another consumer good that we are seeing excellent prices on right now .

For example, we are heading out today to a local furniture store that does a fairly good business in the northeast Ohio market, because they are having dramatic price reductions on a lot of their furniture, and they are also having about fifty percent off of high end mattress sets. I could have never gotten these deals when the economy was moving along smoothly, especially on the higher end furniture they are selling, so I figures that although money is tight for us right now, I can take advantage of their zero financing for a year and finally get our guest bedroom furnished so our guests don’t have to be sleeping on a twenty year old bed anymore

Deals to Be Had in Recession

While a recession and prolonged finanical hardship in the economy are obviously not a desirable thing, there are some silver linings around those deep, dark clouds that the media seems to constantly like to remind us of, even when we are almost in the midst of forgetting, at least for the time being, that the economy may be at the beginning of deep and prolonged plunge, and our jobs could be in jeopardy.

The silver lining around the recession and credit crunch cloud is that we may soon start to see LOTS of good deals, in almost every sector, to be had, as merchants try to drum up business and lure us in by offering reduced prices on everything from appliances to financing on larger electronic items as well as makeup, clothes, foods, restaurant dinners, entertainment, and more.

I’ve already seen numerous ads that entertain the idea that they are reducing prices for this hard economy, and have wished I could take them up on all of it. Heck, we’ve even been thinking of putting a deck on the back of our house for quite some time now, and around now would be a great time to do it since most contractors are also offering lower prices in fear of not getting enough business because people are holding on to their pesos around now.

If only we weren’t also afraid for our jobs, one of which is based in sales which is mostly recession sensitive, we would have taken most merchants up on a lot of deals on things that we’ve been thinking about purchasing for a while anyways. They say even the rich are watching their money right now, for fear that even their businesses may suffer during this economic downswing.

However, if you truly believe you will make it through this just fine without a scratch, you really may want to consider diving into one of the great deals you see. It may just be a once in a lifetime deal!

Toyota’s Offering a Zero Percent Deal

Auto makers have had it just about as rough as home builders over these past few turbulent months on the stock market and in the general economy, with new car sales going down by as much as thirty percent at many dealerships since consumers are a little jumpy about the state of the economy, and there have already been some job losses seen from this unprecedented economic recession time for the US (at least in my lifetime and the lives of most baby boomers).

In reaction to that fact, Toyota, one of the most popular foreign imports here in the US along with Honda, and also being reputed as an excellent make of car as far as dependability and lastingness, has started to offer a nice little deal on their car’s financing, making it a zero percent deal for those who qualify. So basically, you are not paying any interest on the vehicle, you are just paying for the car itself – imagine that!

Toyota was among one of the first auto makers to realize a steep decline in car sales, so they wanted to act quickly to save their US sales, and although simply offering great financing won’t make everyone jump out of their seats to go grab one (although it really does save the buyer thousands in the end when it’s all said and done), there will be some more interest conjured up in buying these high quality, low maintenance cars from people who really know their financing and want to get a good deal on it while the getting is good, so to speak.

I know that when I bought my Honda three years ago, another foregin import with an impeccable record for quality and dependability, I had options as far as financing went, and they were offering 1.9, zero, 2.9 and 3.9 percent financing depending on (of course) your credit score when they ran it.

At the time I didn’t qualify for the zero percent, but I did qualify for the 1.9 percent financing, so I went ahead and took that, and I’m happy with it – not as happy as I would have been with zero, that’s for sure! That makes a big difference in the time it takes to pay the car off and I may already have had it paid off if I would have gotten that deal.

Special Interest Credit Cards

There are a variety of ways to mitigate your “losses” from using traditional credit cards. When I say losses, I mean the interest you invariably will pay for the right to charge things that you don’t actually pay for up front or in full.

As far as actually “mitigating” your losses, what I really mean is getting benefit, in some form of compensation, for paying that higher than average interest every month. By higher than average, I mean that you are paying that interest on a revolving basis, which means that any balance that carries forward month to month will also be charged interest, not just the initial, or principle balance. Hopefully there are some months you can pay the balance, but we all know that is not always possible.

Perks like money towards flights with the all time popular airline miles credit cards, or even points toward Disney products as offered by some Disney sponsored cards are options. There are also credit cards for gas that will help you build up “points” toward free gasoline, which is quite the hot commodity these days when gas prices seem to be as unstable and unpredictable as the economy.

If you sign up for a rewards credit card, just watch the types of annual fees you are signing up for, as some may be a bit excessive when considering what you’re getting in return. I’d say the higher fees are really only justified by cards that offer airline miles points with purchases, since airline miles are a significant monetary benefit that can really accumulate to your benefit. Free travel is always good!

Gas Deals

I’m not sure if they have this in all states, but sometimes this program really saves me a lot on gas money for my car, which happens to be a small SUV. It is smaller, but it still gobbles a little more gas than your average sedan, so I do try to find gasoline deals whenever I can so I have extra expendable income on things I actually want to buy, instead of things that are a necessity (who likes spending money on that, it’s no fun!)

The card I’m speaking of is the Giant Eagle grocery store chains’ “Advantage card”. It’s just like all the other major grocer chain’s member cards, in that you present the card when you are buying your groceries, or scan it in when you are going through self checkout lines, and it keeps track of how much you are spending with each trip. The bottom line is, for every fifty dollars you spend, you receive ten cents off each gallon of gas at their special Giant Eagle sponsored “Get Go” gas stations.

It may not seem like a lot, but when you have a family or you just consume a lot of groceries, it sure does add up. Once I went to get gas and found that I have a whopping two dollars off of each gallon! Of course, that was after a few months of heavy shopping, but you get my drift – it’s worth having and is probably one of the most genius marketing ploys I’ve ever heard of.

I often wonder how they even make money off of it, but they must somehow, because their gas stations are always packed every time I go to get gas at one of their gas stations. I bet many of the gas credit cards that are out there offer similar benefits, I just have yet to look into that because I happen to have the special Giant Eagle gas station right by me, and a Giant Eagle right by me as well, so convenience is a huge factor in this case.

Another cool thing about the Giant Eagle advantage card and gasoline program is that many times they run promotions where if you buy a gift card through them (they sell many, for many stores from Best Buy to Toys R Us), they will double your gasoline points, so you end up really making out if you end up purchasing your gift cards for people as gifts from them.

The best gas credit cards out there (do your research) are probably the way to go these days while the gas prices are so high, you just never know how much you’re saving until you really sit down and add up how much you spend on gas each week, especially for those of us who have long commutes to work (like me).

“Cyber Monday” Deals?

Are you an online shopper like me for the holidays? I’ll tell you what, I didn’t used to be, until the long lines, and hot malls with overcrowded walkways and even more crowded, stuffy stores, was enough to make me into an online shopper/connisseur quicker than you can say “Cyber Monday”. Anyways, that’s what today is called, or has been cleverly coined by the marketing industry, as a day that people shop online, or the biggest retail sales day of the year – online that is.

I’ve heard both ways though. I’ve heard that it’s just a myth that today is Cyber day, the biggest online shopping day of the year, and I’ve also heard that it’s a myth that Black Friday, that infamous Friday after Thanksgiving when everyone rushes the stores for those early bird specials and other deals, is also a myth, and the biggest holiday shopping day is actually one that is usually closer to the big day itself.

Either way, there were apparently some great deals to be had online if you’re an avid holiday online shopper, but I wouldn’t know what they were because I was at work, and it doesn’t exactly bode well if the boss goes by and everytime sees you on Amazon.com or some other such site.

Keep your credit cards in check, remember, but if you must, at least use something like one of your best airline credit cards, so you can earn those airline miles while making purchases for family and friends, or even better, load and use a prepaid credit card, so that you have all your spending planned out in advance, and this way you can be sure not to go over your credit card spending budget for Christmas, as so many people unwittingly do, uh, including me!

New “Status” Credit Card Appeal

You know, as with everything else, they just had to make credit cards that would appeal to that small segment of the population that wants everything to be a status symbol, and a super-high end testament to the high lifestyles that some of us like to live. Credit cards are no exception. We have “Gold” status credit cards, Platinum status cards, and others that imply that we somehow are a better, more educated and higher faluting card holder than someone who has just a plain out airline miles credit card or some other sort of average joe card.

But now, credit cards are crossing an even bigger threshold in the outdoing factor, and have come out with newer credit cards for the “elite” segment of the population that demands high limits and better quality in these new higher stakes credit cards that offer excellent service, even called a concierge service by some higher end cards, very high credit limits and other perks that are limited only to one’s elite customers. One such card, by American Express, is simply called “Black”.

The black card, which is actually made of titanium (overkill, I know) is a card by American Express that is actually called the Centurion, and it is a status symbol for the rich and high spending everywhere just by the mere production of one such card from one’s wallet. I’ll admit, I wouldn’t know it if I saw it being produced from someone’s wallet from a hole in the wall, but apparently some people keep up on such things!

Here’s the crazy part about the Centurion card by American Express though. You have to have a minimum net worth of five million dollars, and the rules are that you almost must charge at least $250,000 each year to keep qualifying for this coveted instrument that many recognize as the highest stature when it comes to credit cards. No thanks, I’ll stick with my average joe cards, which are the best gas credit cards, prepaid credit cards and airline miles cards of yesteryear. Call me a chump, but I don’t plan on having five mil in the bank for quite a while folks!

Six Months Same as Cash Popular Financing Option for Furniture

We recently purchased a house, and on top of all the abundance of mortgage information, there are other financing options that you have to look into when buying things that are necessities or “home improvements” for you new home. One of those necessities is furniture and electronics such as TV’s, DVD players and stereos, and also outdoor stuff like riding lawn mowers, and gardening tools.

All this stuff really adds up cost-wise, as you can imagine, so most people opt to either put it on a credit card or use an available financing option that the place they are buying the product from either offer in-house, or through a secondary broker.

For example, we purchased a lot of our furniture through a local and huge furniture store that’s been in business for over sixty years, and they offered a six months same as cash financing option that we were more than happy to take them up on, considering the decent chunk of change we spent in the store.

However, when you read the fine print, you realize that you really have to get the thing paid off in six months or else you get charged retroactive interest to the date of purchase, and the interest rate is sky-high for this particular line of credit.

Most of them do work in some way where it benefits the purchaser to definitely get this paid off in that six month time frame, or in the end, they are paying much more interest, sometimes even more than what the actual goods they bought are worth!

You may want to look into balance transferring any high interest debt that’s left over if it’s through a bank of line of credit that a lower interest balance transfer credit card will take as a balance transfer, if for some reason you don’t get it paid in those six months or however long the interest free grace period happens to be. Or, you may want to see if you qualify for a longer grace period if they have the option available, say one year or two years, then you can budget yourself a little better with the payments.

Bankrate.com Offers to Inform Loan Shoppers

This is a website I’ve really come to enjoy lately. It’s called Bankrate.com, and it offers objective information on the latest in mortgage loan news, credit card information and generally keeps a consumer informed of any changes in the huge and often confusing world of personal finance, equity and financial gains.

Among their offerings are a continuous monitoring of mortgage rates, information on the latest in CD’s and other shorter term investments, college loans and student financing, mortgage calculators, and deals and news in savings and loan accounts.

I’m sure they make a lot of money in advertising, but rightly so, since they do provide a myriad of financial news and resources for the average joe who is looking for objective information on these types of things and doesn’t just want to jump blindly into choosing a certain loan, type of credit card, or small investment without having some background information and a working knowledge of the products that are available, and what would fit your financial situation and goals. I’d recommend checking it out sometime, good stuff.

The New “Good Credit Card Debt”

This is an interesting spin on credit card debt. Some people are taking their high interest debt, in the form of high interest mortgages or ARM’s, which are Adjustable Rate Mortgages, which tend to be adjusted to the detriment of the home owner when the financing interest rates are going up in general.

Some people are taking their home equity loans and transferring them to low APR credit cards or special credit balance transfer card offers so they can both save money on their interest rate (if that’s the case, it’s not always the case for every mortgage loan necessarily).

This type of practice may become more common as the prime rate for mortgages shifts and banks and mortgage lenders are forced to increase the rates, especially on adjustable rate mortgages. Heck, if you have an offer for a low apr balance transfer credit card, and you’re looking at a low apr versus paying thousands of dollars in interest, then I can’t blame you for picking the card over the equity loan!