by Hope
While I was ill Beauty had her driver’s license test. Sea Cadet took her and my car. (We had gone a couple of months ago, but didn’t have the correct paperwork, etc.) She was able to get her license…barely.
Due to her not being legally my foster child and the liability implications, I did not attempt to add her to my auto insurance and would not allow her to drive my car. (This was not a surprise, we had discussed it, full transparency so she understood.)
She has been saving for months to buy a car. The week I came home from the hospital she found a car. After much discussion, and review, she decided to move forward with the purchase.
A Small Loan
Unfortunately, the car was more than she could afford. And while this local used car dealer has a good reputation, I was not comfortable with her taking on debt so young. And as you all know, the financing rate as those places is insane. Not to mention, it would have required her having to pay for full coverage on a pretty old car as a new driver…again, insane cost!
So call it COVID brain, or grateful to be alive brain, I made a spur of the moment decision to loan her the money she was short on getting the car. And she went and bought the car. They called me to pay the remaining balance over the phone.
I loaned her a total of $2,200 with the understanding that she will pay me $400 per paycheck until it’s paid off. That leaves her enough to cover her insurance, gas and have a little pocket money. And it cut her monthly insurance cost almost in half by not having to carry full coverage.
She’s already made the first payment…the loan will be paid off by the end of June.
The Money
Now before you jump down my throat, while I was sick, all my “extra” income just accumulated. So I had plenty in my day to day account to cover the loan. I did not touch my EF or any other savings accounts.
And the loan will be paid off before I made my last payment on my car which is what this would have gone too otherwise.
Finally, we have been helped alot over the years. I felt like this was a small way I could pay it forward.
Hope is a creative, solutions-focused business manager helping clients grow their business and work more efficiently by leveraging expertise in project management, digital marketing, & tech solutions. She’s recently become an empty nester as her 5 foster/adoptive kids have spread their wings. She lives with her 3 dogs in a small town in NE Georgia and prefers the mountains to the beaches any day. She struggles with the travel bug and is doing her best to help each of her kids as their finish schooling and become independent (but it’s hard!) She has run her own consulting company for almost twenty years! Hope began sharing her journey with the BAD community in the Spring of 2015 and feels like she has finally in a place to really focus on making wise financial decisions.
Hope,
Take a moment to appreciate that you are now in a position to help someone buy a car rather than needing help from someone. That is an accomplishment!
As long as the the amount of money you are loaning her is not going to derail your financial goals for the year, and you are confident she will pay you back and are willing/able to lose the amount if she can’t, this seems like a reasonable loan to make. And a very nice thing to do to help her get off on the right foot.
I think that’s a good use of extra money.
I think this is a lovely thing to do. It’s low-risk for you and it’s life-changing for Beauty. It is likely very hard to get a loan with low income and no family to assist. Plus, she’s a woman of colour in the South. It’s tougher for her than for most.
I think this was thoughtful. I am glad you were able to help her and she is being responsible with paying the debt back.
On a completely different note, whenever Hope did something which is even slightly irresponsible, there had been at least 30 negative comments but, none of those people showed up to say get well soon to her on her previous post. Why? I do not understand.
Honestly, I was also expecting people to tell her she was not taking the virus seriously so, that’s why she got sick. That did not happen either.
You’re a good mom, Hope.