What is the best way for me to try to get a debt consolidation loan? [more inside]
posted by drjimmy11 on Dec 3, 2009 - 6 answers

How do I get my life on track with high debt and a chronic medical condition? [more inside]
posted by thegreatcokeolympics on Sep 19, 2009 - 9 answers

Can I get a loan or mortgage in any way? We currently live in a building that we more or less own. Technically, we own an LLC, and the LLC owns the building (and that's all it does), so home equity is probably out. We would like to buy a new house about half the value of this one, preferably without selling. However, that would require a loan, and we have lousy credit. [more inside]
posted by lgyre on Sep 17, 2009 - 8 answers

Weighing the pros and cons of buying a car in the near future. Should I? (And if so, what should I get?) [more inside]
posted by LolaGeek on Jul 22, 2009 - 9 answers

How can I get an emergency loan to pay the rent? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Jun 25, 2009 - 21 answers

Scared of going to prison due to tax payments. Need advice... [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Jun 21, 2009 - 7 answers

I've been an irresponsible idiot. My car was repossessed - now what? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Jun 4, 2009 - 7 answers

Best way to improve credit with car loan? [more inside]
posted by willy_dilly on Jun 1, 2009 - 11 answers

Tricky car loan situation. I'm thinking about paying off the remainder of a car loan with my credit card. Is this a bad idea? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Apr 23, 2009 - 24 answers

Buying a house soon: is it better to pay down my credit card partially, or pay off a small personal loan? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Apr 3, 2009 - 5 answers

Young professional guy, late 20s - pretty terrible credit, decent income (~50k) - need a car - is now the time to buy, and if so, can I get financed, and if so, what terms should I expect/ask for? Am willing to buy American - GM etc...
posted by stenseng on Mar 27, 2009 - 11 answers

My Mom’s wages are being garnished by a collection agency. Can we still settle the debt? How much do we offer and where do we get the money? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Oct 29, 2008 - 4 answers

Can my credit union force me to make payments on my loans they hold? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Oct 1, 2008 - 7 answers

How can I refinance my car with my terrible credit? I have awful credit, I just had a credit card cancelled a few months ago, and even a credit union (and their downstream alternative) wouldn't extend to me. [more inside]
posted by rhizome on Jul 30, 2008 - 10 answers

Is it a good idea to take out a 401k loan to pay off unsecured credit card debt, and how do these loans work?
posted by chickaboo on Apr 1, 2008 - 22 answers

Does this make sense? I'd like to use a credit card "convenience check" that is offering 1.99% APR for 12 months to pay down some of our home equity loan that is hovering at 8.25%. [more inside]
posted by tdabbott on Aug 26, 2007 - 10 answers

Repaying Stafford college loans that disappeared from my credit report (due to age), but still collect all tax refunds - what kind of hit might I expect on my credit, reactivating the account by a full-payoff? More importantly, what kind of deal can I propose to avoid all the interest? Anyone have experience with this? [more inside]
posted by ValveAnnex on May 17, 2007 - 4 answers

Cheap Money Filter: I've got a moderate amount of credit card debt right now ($15k), at reasonable but not great rates (13-18%). I'll be making more money in the upcoming year, and the debt load is manageable, but I want to explore trading these loans with an unsecured line-of-credit type loan or some other loan. Advice? Suggestions on where to get a good rate (i.e. got any good junk mail lately)? [more inside]
posted by zpousman on Jan 10, 2007 - 15 answers

I just landed a well paying job in Seattle after having a soul sucking job, where I did not save a penny for about a year. While the new salary will be great, I am essentially broke, and I need a $3000 loan to relocate and get started (which has been determined to be my responsibility to cover by negociation). None of my relatives or friends have this kind of cash, nor do I have a credit card. So how would I go about getting $3000? Can I just take my job offer into a bank and use that as leverage for a loan? Mefites, help me back out of this corner and find the cash to live my dream.
posted by |n$eCur3 on Oct 27, 2006 - 16 answers

How can I Build Credit Quickly? And will taking a small loan out and paying it off way ahead of schedule be good or bad for my credit score? [more inside]
posted by ZackTM on Mar 30, 2006 - 14 answers

One of my private student loans ended up as delinquent (I disputed the repayment status with the lender). Finally, I was forced to settle, because the lender charged off the loan to a law firm who filed suit. (Please read on.) [more inside]
posted by orangeshoe on Mar 2, 2006 - 12 answers

A friend of mine has just taken on a large amount of debt since splitting with his girlfriend. What can he do to keep on top of it? [more inside]
posted by jeresig on Aug 8, 2005 - 20 answers

A friend in college is very anxious to get a loan for around $5-6000. Neither of us knows anything about credit cards, so I'm asking for some advice on her behalf. (*and yeah, this question seems pretty basic, so sorry if I missed it being asked already) [more inside]
posted by jsbww on Jul 12, 2005 - 14 answers

How can a non-U.S. citizen (or anyone without a social security number) get a credit card or a student or private loan?
posted by k8t on Jul 11, 2005 - 11 answers

A cousin of mine, who I was very close with during childhood, has spent the last decade or so since high school in and out of prison, for drug-related offenses. A while back, after being out for a while, and working steadily, he decided that he wanted to go to college. I was the only person in the family with good enough credit to help him get a loan - if I didn't do this, he wouldn't be able to go to school. He spent a couple years in school, had to take out two more loans, and finally graduated. He has since decided not to pursue a career in the field that he studied, and I'm not exactly sure how he's making a living these days.

Earlier this year, I started getting letters from the loan people that they weren't being paid. After many phone calls and a lot of cajoling, we got him a deferment for a while, which ends this month, but I just pulled down a credit report, and now I have three huge black marks against my otherwise pristine credit rating. I guess I really had no idea what was being involved in being a co-signer to a loan like this. This is unbelievably stressful for me. So, my question is, in two parts: how screwed am I? Is there any way that can have these (rather significant, and probably ongoing) dings to my credit removed? If my worst fears are confirmed, and he continues not to pay, do I have any recourse? I am not in a position to be able to repay the loan myself, and the rest of the family has become eerily silent on the matter.
posted by majcher on Dec 3, 2004 - 29 answers

Trying to solve a problem for a dear friend from highschool. She's been ignoring her school loans and came to me out of confidence. They were around 22k about six years ago; She doesn't know how to get herself straightened out. A second job isn't an option (based on her first) as the first job pays well (travel), but is being garnished; She needs a way to get them off her back, but not overwhelm her so much that she drowns trying to deal with them.

I'm ok with money, but I just can't figure out what to tell her.

Are there any counselors who specialize in this that I could send her to? If you're shy about this and dealt with this, please feel free to contact me directly by email.
posted by filmgeek on Dec 20, 2003 - 12 answers