There is one more resource I should mention before I close. If you have a credit card or are a member of a group like USAA you might want to take the time to research the car loans they're offering. But here, more than anywhere else, you need to be aware that the rates you'll find listed on their websites are the optimal rates, offered to those with the best credit scores. The actual rate you're offered may be vastly different, depending on what sort of credit history you have. Since some of these companies are subprime lenders, the actual rate offered can be significantly higher.

Right now Capital One is offering 5.54% on a 48 or 60 month new car loan or 6.44% for a 66 or 72 month loan. Used vehicle loans are 6.44% for 48 or 60 months and 7.19% for a 66 or 72 month loan. They also state that with their "exclusive Blank Check you can negotiate like a cash buyer at any Franchised dealership." They then go on to define what a franchised dealership means. Essentially you can use this service if you buy your used car from a company on their list. If you're buying your mother in law's car, which you know for a fact she drove gently and is selling to you for a great deal, you're out of luck. By the way, despite their claim to exclusivity, I bought my current car through a similar program offered by my credit union. I didn't have to go to a seller on a list; I could have purchased my car from anyone.

Another avenue is any special group you may belong to. For instance USAA (United Services Automobile Association) is offering as low as 5.99%. This rate includes a discount for applying online and for setting up automatic payments. USAA also offers checking accounts and has terrific rates for car insurance, so setting up the automatic payments is fairly painless.

One final word of advice: filling out too many credit applications will adversely affect your credit score, making your numbers drop just when you need them most. Do your shopping before you fill out any applications and don't open any other accounts leading up to your purchase. If the nice lady at the Target offers you ten percent off your thirty dollar purchase just for applying for a Target card, tell her no thank you. You don't want that three dollar discount dinging your credit and costing you significantly more.

We've looked at financing your car through the dealer and via in house financing. Now we're going to take a quick look at some other ways to finance. The general rule of thumb when borrowing money is to get it from your dad for no interest. Of course I'm joking; borrowing money from family can be very stressful for everyone, so the real best choice is to get it from your bank or credit union.

Your own personal financial institution already knows you and has a vested interest in keeping your business. Sure it's nice that you have a checking and savings account with them but they'll like you even more if you start paying them some delicious interest. Your bank or credit union may offer special plans for their customers. For instance I make my own car payment via direct deposit, twice a month, with the money coming out on my payday. I'm happy because my payment doesn't take one big bit out of my one paychecks and my credit union is happy because they're guaranteed timely payment. My memory is a bit fuzzy but I believe they offered me a lower interest rate as an incentive for allowing the direct deposit.

Often you can also get a discount on your interest rate for being a customer, like the plan JPMorgan Chase Bank has now where Chase checking customers qualify for up to half a percent off. Half a percent may not sound like much but it can add up over the life of your loan, especially if you are buying a new, expensive car and financing it for a long time.

Before I go any further you should know that I am strongly biased towards credit unions. That's because credit unions tend to charge lower fees and are more consumer and community oriented than banks. My own credit union has gone to great lengths to assist me when I have had problems.

Credit unions often offer better rates than banks. Right now Navy Federal, one of the largest credit unions in the world, is offering 5.25% on a 37 to 72 month new car purchase loan. JPMorgan Chase Bank is offering 6.24% to 7.35% for the same length and type of loan.

Meanwhile the AFTRA/SAG Credit Union is offering 5.95% on new car loans up to 84 months. That's if you finance the entire cost of the car. If you put down 20% on the car you qualify for 5.45%. Bank of America is offering 5.49% for up to 60 months and 6.39% for 61 - 72 Months.

When we look at the above numbers we see that banks can sometimes beat credit union prices, but not always. So what do you do if you have a bank and don't want to use a credit union? You can try asking your bank if they'll match the rate you can get at the credit union. You'd be surprised what you can get if you only ask for it.

I need to mention that the rates listed above are the optimal rates, offered to those with the best credit scores. The actual rate you're offered may be vastly different, depending on what sort of credit history you have.

Next up we'll look at one last financing resource.

Once you've made up your mind that yes indeed you're going to buy a vehicle and you're going to finance it, you've got more choices to make. The first is what type of lender do you want and/or qualify for. There are four basic options:

• Dealer financing
• In house financing – loans made and serviced through the actual car lot, not the dealer
• Bank financing
• Credit union financing

Dealer financing – This is financing you get from the dealer who is selling you your car. The loan is made there at the dealer with the car manufacturer holding the actual loan. That's who you'll make your payments to; say Ford, GM or Nissan. You may be interested in financing through the dealer for a couple of reasons. It's easy, especially if you’re right there already. You don't have to deal with different companies. It's no fuss no muss. You may have seen a commercial offering fantastic rates – zero percent or two percent and want in on that sweet, sweet cheap money. But there are a couple of things to consider before making this choice.

Dealers can make just as much on financing as they do on the sale of the car so the deal may not be as sweet as it first appeared. The financial person generally works on commission only so they have a strong vested interest in getting you into a loan, which means your best interests may not be their focus.

You can't take advantage of more than one offer from a dealer so if you have a choice between a rebate and low interest you may be better off taking the rebate. Do the math before you visit the dealer and see what's going to work out better for you. It's entirely possible you'll save money with the rebate instead. The low interest rates are also usually only good for very short loans, two or maybe three years. Can you afford to pay your loan off in only 24 months? If not the low interest offer is not going to work for you.

Something else to think about if you're considering financing through a dealer is the credit crunch. For years dealers have been able to give you generous loan to value (ltv) ratios when purchasing a new car. You could borrow not just the full value of the car but sometimes up to 140% of invoice, which allowed you to buy the new car and pay off whatever you owed on the old vehicle. With credit in short supply manufacturers can't afford to be so generous. You may still be able to finance more than the cost of the car, but not much more so if you owe a lot on your current ride you should look into this before falling in love with a new vehicle.

In house financing - In house financing come with a lot of warnings. In my opinion it's something you should keep as a last resort. It's probably better to cast your pride to the winds and borrow money from a relative before turning to one of these companies and I'll tell you why.
• The interest will be very high. These loans are essentially subprime loans. They are viewed as high risk so you pay more since the chance of defaulting is higher.
• The terms can be uncomfortable. Since the lender is making money on late fees and repos they may actually want you to be late and may make payment difficult. You may need to pay weekly. You may have large prepayment penalties designed to prevent you from paying the loan off early.
• I've heard of more than one shop that requires payment not just on a weekly basis but actually in person. You have to take the time to go to the lot to make your payment and if you are one day late, which could easily happen if you had to stay late at work or your baby was sick, they repossess the car. They give it right back to you after socking you with a hefty repo fee. These lots make a tremendous amount of money from fees.
• Poor selection. What you see is what you get as the lot will have a limited number of cars available. They know you're fairly desperate and that you'll have to take what they have, unlike a new car dealer who is competing with every other manufacturer out there.
• They may try to stick you with extra fees. Some shops will tell you they won't finance the car unless you purchase extras such as rust proofing or the VIN etched on windows. Since the car got rust proofing at the manufacturer and you can put the VIN on yourself for very little money these expenses are not something you want to have to shoulder. It's even more annoying that you're financing them and paying interest on them also.

Next up we'll take a look at the kind of funding you can get from banks and credit unions.

M.J. Rose is giving away the first book in her Reincarnationist series through Halloween night at midnight. (I know it's not much notice, I just found out about it myself. Sorry.)

You can get it in PDF, for the Kindle or the Microsoft Reader. More information, including the option of signing up for Ms. Rose's newsletter and entering a contest to win a signed copy of The Memorist, next in the series, can be found here. http://mjrose.com/books/reincarnationist_free.asp

Enjoy!

A long time ago, when I was getting ready to buy a new vehicle for the first and only time, my parents gave me this bit of advice: you always pay cash for your transport. Never buy a car on credit, it just isn't done. It took me several years to realize just how terrible this advice can be. I'm going to save you all that heartache now by explaining why buying a car or truck on credit can be one of the smarter moves you can make. In the next installment of this series I'll give you some thoughts on how to navigate the dizzying world of financing options.

We all come into this world with a clean credit slate. Some of us end up with great credit, some of us poor credit and some of us no credit. Maybe we just pay cash for everything, then one day we find out that we're a poor prospect for a mortgage because we don't have a credit history. Or we didn't pay attention and made some late payments on our credit cards, or maybe someone in the family was very ill or unemployed and we had to run up some hefty balances on our cards, all of which can ding our credit.

There are a number of things you can do to fix up your credit, including always paying more than the minimum balance, keeping your balance below 35 percent of your limit, and avoiding late payments but my secret lending source says there is one thing you can do that has the potential to really bump your credit score. My source, who we'll call Deep Thought, has twenty plus years of experience in the world of finance and his advice is quite valuable.

Lenders want to see a pattern of borrowing and paying back on a steady basis. I don't mean that they want to see you run up your credit card and pay it off every month. Anyone who is thinking about lending you a big sum of money over a long course of time wants to know that you've done it before. They want to see that you can borrow x amount of money and have it paid off in y number of months.

What's the best way to do this? You could buy something ridiculously expensive, like a pumpkin made of diamonds and pay it off over time. Or you could buy a car and pay that off over time. Deep Thought says this can raise your FICO score (the numbered rating system used throughout the lending industry) by as much as 100 points. With credit drying up you may be having trouble qualifying for a mortgage. By buying a car and paying with credit you might be able to bump your numbers high enough to snag the mortgage and get the house you want. It doesn't have to be a new car; a used car will certainly do the trick.

Things to keep in mind:

• Don't borrow more than you can comfortably pay back. You want to help your credit, not harm it. You also don't want to raise your DTI, debt to income, too high as this has an adverse affect on your ability to borrow. Work your budget out before you go car shopping so you don't crazy and come home with a gold plated Mini Cooper when you can only afford a used Hyundai.
• When you calculate how much you would like to spend on your monthly car payment don't forget to include insurance. If you've been driving a car that's paid off and has liability only you're going to need to set aside a larger chunk of cash as you'll need comprehensive coverage.
• Don't miss any payments. Make sure all your payments are made with enough lead time to give the lender time to process the payment. I went a bit mad with this idea and have my car payment deducted from my checking account every month. That way I don't ever have to worry about being late. The money comes out on payday so I just think of my paycheck as being smaller than it really is. Now, this could be a problem if for instance I was suddenly laid off my job (which pays me via direct deposit) so it's something I'd have to think about if my circumstances changed.

If your house is out of control, a big mess and you don't know what to do about it, you can join the half a million other people who have looked to the Fly Lady for a system to get the house clean, tidy and uncluttered.

She's in the middle of her yearly plan to help you get through the holidays with very little fuss or muss. You can learn more at her website, which can be a bit overwhelming. You may want to check out the holiday cruising information about halfway down the page.

http://flylady.net/index.asp

A member of a support group for a major neurological disorder directed me to the Partnership for Prescription Assistance Program, found at https://www.pparx.org/Intro.php.

The following quote is from the about page on their website.

Who We Are

The Partnership for Prescription Assistance brings together America's pharmaceutical companies, doctors, other health care providers, patient advocacy organizations and community groups to help qualifying patients who lack prescription coverage get the medicines they need through the public or private program that's right for them. Many will get them free or nearly free. Among the organizations collaborating on this program are the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association, the Lupus Foundation of America, the NAACP, the National Alliance for Hispanic Health and the National Medical Association. To access the Partnership for Prescription Assistance by phone, you can call toll-free, 1-888-4PPA-NOW (1-888-477-2669).

Our Mission

Our mission is to increase awareness of patient assistance programs and boost enrollment of those who are eligible. The Partnership for Prescription Assistance offers a single point of access to more than 475 public and private patient assistance programs, including more than 180 programs offered by pharmaceutical companies.

Maybe they'll be able to help you or someone you know. Best of luck.

I believe I was fourteen when I walked into a little shop and picked up my first issue of Elfquest. This was in San Francisco in 1977 and the series was in its infancy. Now thirty years later the creators offer the Elfquest universe for free online. Below is a quote from a press release that I released in March of this year. (I know, it's old but hey, this site didn't exist then so I couldn't exactly post it could I?)

Elfquest's 30th Anniversary Gift: Everything

Thirty years after its first appearance in early 1978, Elfquest is poised to make its biggest online splash ever. Beginning March 14, and every Friday throughout 2008, Warp Graphics presents every Elfquest comic book story from the Original Quest all the way up to 2006's "The Discovery."

With over 6000 pages of material to prepare and upload, the project will easily take the remainder of this 30th anniversary year. The initial offering will start off with an explosion of firsts: There will be the entire first graphic novel, to introduce new readers to the characters and world of Elfquest, plus the first issues of all the spinoff titles produced during the 1990s. Each week will see several more issues added to the collection. Eventually, every published page will make its way to the online archive. A timeline and a catalog of all Elfquest appearances are part of the package, so all readers will be able to experience the complete saga from start to present-day.

The official Elfquest site is http://www.elfquest.com.

Tis the season to send a voodoo curse, but they can be costly. Luckily for us there's pinstruck.com, a free site renowned for the quality of its electronic voodoo doll/curses. http://www.pinstruck.com/ You can even send a sample to yourself, so you know what your victim is getting.

Even if you don't want to send someone a nice cuddly curse, you may want to visit the site just for the awesomely scary toothed face on the entry page.

Benn Ray of the Mobtown Shank announces:

Get a free Wilco/Fleet Foxes cover of Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released."
http://wilcoworld.net/vote/

All you have to do is follow the link and pledge to vote.

That's it. You could also make a small donation, but it's not mandatory.

Wilco's website says:

Such tumultuous times. And in the spirit of giveaways that seem to be sweeping the nation, we've got something free for you. No it's not a pile of cash (sorry) but rather an audio postcard of sorts from a summer's night in Oregon with our friends the Fleet Foxes & a lovely Bob Dylan tune. All we ask is you check the "I pledge to vote in the 2008 Election" button below. If you can spare it, we also encourage you to consider a donation to Feeding America (http://www.feedingamerica.org/). (and please feel free to pass this link along to friends, family members, etc.).

I know some of you have already voted so you can make your pledge without worrying at all about fulfilling it.