@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
If I was making $500 a month I would spend it trying to get a job, not on a car. Use public transit and/or uber to get to job interviews. Look into a car once you have the job. Not the other way around.I live in SC, in a medium town and there are no buses here.
To be blunt, this situation is beginning to stretch credulity; while I'm not firmly of the opinion that this entire thread has been designed to troll the community, you need to be looking at 2-wheeled transportion, namely a bike, before looking at anything with 4 wheels that costs more than a skateboard.
I've lived on less than $500/mo during the course of my life, and it simply is not the time to be taking on outsized expenses and that includes an automobile. Find another way, you'll be better off for it and frankly bloody ignore the American fetish for having a car... in some places you have to have one, but if you can get to wherever you need to within an hour's bike ride, it's a far cheaper expense in your situation and don't discount the quality of life improvement from regular exercise as cycling doesn't suck in that regard.
On the assumption you have no dependents you're barely exceeding 50% of the poverty line income with your current benefits, and that's simply not enough to have a car on as a car has all sorts of additional expenses beyond the sticker price as others have stated. Figure out more income, then get a car if you still wish to and need it. Alternatively if you can manage to live in your current goverment allotment, mad props, but skip the car.
@Anonymous wrote:No I am not trolling at all. The point of this thread was regarding my credit score deceiving me or not. I have problems getting out, why would I want to be seen riding a bike? I know I'm around that poverty line and that sucks.
Because when you're at $500 / month it's not the time to be worried about what other people think of you.
I'd make the argument that's a bad way to live regardless of your income level: focus on yourself first; however, the simple fact of the matter is you can't afford a car currently and I would be doing you a disservice on telling you to get one. When you're cash flow impaired it's all about minimizing expenses, and when you're talking easily half or more of your current cash flow in a car, that doesn't leave a whole lot for other things like food, water, and clothing.
I've been there, and making that income level sucks, but figure out income first before taking on major expenses. You'll live riding a bike, or a skateboard, or just outright walking if needed until you can actually afford a car. It just ain't that bad, and it probably would have additional physiological and psychological benefits but I digress.
Worrying about what the neighbors will think arguably was one of the secondary causes of the mortgage crisis at least here in California. If you're trying to fix your income, do that, get 30 days worth of paystubs, then go slap them down on the dealership (or at a bank / credit union / etc) and say give me a car loan and you'll get one... but trying to solve that before you have income isn't a chicken and egg situation, you can suck up riding a bike or similar to get a job + 1 month.
Ultimately you can do what you want, but solving the transportion issue is a temporary problem on the order of 2 months; defaulting on the car loan potentially is a 7 year problem which you just don't need nor want. Be smart, don't worry about what others think of you, and hell, honestly, riding a bike is the new hotness apparently with the millenial generation anyway, might start a trend in your town since it's all over SF and the other style-oriented places now.
