Your credit card company may have lowered your available credit, but why?  If you have been watching the news lately, most of the major headlines revolve around the credit crunch and foreclosures.  Banks and lenders do not want to leave themselves exposed to unecessary losses.  A few months ago Washingotn Mutual lowered my home equity line over 75%.  I had never even used the thing.  The banks are worried that when times get tough, people are going to tap into their equity lines and then default.  The bank just wants to hedge their bet and cover their losses by removing excess credit from people.  This is done in the form of closing credit cards, cancelling home equity lines and lower available credit for credit cards. Continue Reading »

People in this country are in debt.  I get asked questions all the time about negotiating credit card debt.  Now I am getting questions about negotiating on a car loan.  For starters you can negotiate with credit card companies once your are behind on the bill.  Credit card debt is unsecured debt.  Car loans are different.  A car loan is secured by the asset, the car.  If you quit paying on your car loan, the repo man will come and get it.  My suspicions are that they are getting more car repossessions now more than ever. Continue Reading »