I am hearing that as SOON as you hit junior year (amount of credits) and as long as youre a contracted cadet, you are eligable for a $25,000 Cadet loan through USAA. I am wondering if this offer will always be there, if it is credit check pending or what. Or if it's as simple as if you are a contracted cadet, going into or already into junior year you can sign on the dotted line and have yourself the loan? And I hear you don't pay it back until you graduate. If this is the case, I'm buying myself an EVO.
Similar loans have been around long before I was a cadet in the early 80's. I didn't get one. I bought an used 1971 Mustang II for $1900 and paid for it myself along with the insurance. I assume you have taken economics. What is the payback on a $25k loan + M/R + insurance + fuel for an Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX ($29-$35K car in 2006) over the life of the car? You must also factor in the unpaid one year of interest that accrues during your 1/C year. The bank may let you delay payment, but interest starts the day you sign the dotted line. A rough guess is that your payment/ins/gas/M&R bill will be about $840/mth. A starting O-1 salary is about $2500/mth. Substract Uncle Sam's tribute and your car payment will take over 1/3 of your pay. An house shouldn't take more than 1/4 of your pay. As an Ensign/2nd LT, you will need to spend a lot of money setting up an house/apt and buying the boring stuff that life away from Uncle Sam requires; dishes, bedding, furniture, clothes, telephone, utilities, sewage, water, natural gas, cable TV, DSL, and the most important of all - food. You will learn your generous paycheck will be spent faster than you can imagine right now. Talk to your father or a recent graduate to crunch the numbers on how you will live after you get your butter bars. Good luck, and don't take out a big loan.
Well Sir considering cars are indeed my number 1 love I would like to pull through with it. I would indeed be buying a used one, and I am not going to be on active duty. I have been handling my own finances since I was 17 years old including my cars and for an enthusiast like myself a car is not an investment... it's a love. Just one of those things you can't talk someone out of.
My main question is the option available to take out this loan regardless of debt to income ratio, or credit history... bla bla bla? Or is it as simple as "Youre within a year of your comission, and you have hit the Junior level credits accumulation mark, so if you chose, it is your option"?
I understand entirely that it is NOT the smartest decision ever, however sometimes in life... you need to do some "dumb" things. Besides there are far more unrealistic scenarios . This car is AWD, has 4 doors, amazing brakes, a fat trunk... and is as expensive as a typical new front wheel drive borin' ole sedan. I'm going to go for it if it's my option. But is it?
Keep in mind that in five years, your no. 1 love will hopefully be a women, no. 2 your kids, no. 3 your house, then your car with a high monthly payment will be bumped to no. 4. Baby seats are hard to reach in the back of an EVO. And, you will need a fat trunk for those strollers and baby bags. Just trying to give you some fatherly advice. I drove a Volvo 240 for the first ten years of marriage. See what you have to look forward to.
You are a college student on a limited income. You go to college in hopes of getting a better job. If you take a loan without a steady income of some means, then you are being foolish. A lot can happen between now and graduation. What happens if you don't get commissioned? What about graduate school? Suppose you don't go active duty and the economy is on a downturn? Don't make the mistake the many, myself included, have made. There is no free ride in this world and that goes also with the loan.
Well no idea. Ask some loan expert. Have you tried any personal loan lenders like [url=http://www.militaryloans.com/?utm_source=forum&utm_medium=pv&utm_campaign=homepage]http://www.militaryloans.com["""""/url] for your requirement? Though, I'm not sure about the amount of loan such companies may provide.
No hot links allowed a Military.com.
MDThis message has been edited. Last edited by: mainedawg,
