As they say, “It is only money”. How many times have you heard a racer say that when something bad has just gone down? It may only be money but everyone works real hard to earn it. In these days of low interest rates it might just make sense to take a look at your finances and save yourself some money.

Here in Canada the financial rules will probably be different from the United States but the principles are the same. Low interest rates means it costs you less to finance a loan or mortgage. We all know the total interest on a mortgage is astronomical. If you can save on your interest, that may free up some money for your racing program. The low rates are also being applied in many car dealerships and it may just be the time to take a look at that new tow rig you were thinking about. Now is the time to take a look at your finances, as the rates will probably never be lower. There are many people out there to help you with your finances; we talked to a few of them.

Paul's own Pro Street Mopar

We talked to future Pro Street racer Paul H. Cassidy of RacersMortgageSource.com and he told us “With the rates at an all time low there is no better time to refinance or take out a new mortgage. We have saved people substantial sums of money when we sourced the best mortgage available, for them. Racers always need extra cash, this is a good way for them to have some lying around.” Cassidy also told us “Anyone who recently purchased a house and is paying P.M.I. should get it touch with us, RacersMortageSource.com has some new programs in place that will the customer to get rid of the P.M.I.” RacersMortageSource.com is based in Michigan and focuses on providing racers all over the U.S. with the best deals in financing. Cassidy has clients like the NSCA’s own Doug Holmes and employees of John Force Racing and Don Schumacher Racing. He will even close a deal at the track if that is what is required due to the customer’s time constraints. Scott Koffel of Koffel’s Place, another of Cassidy’s clients told us “ Paul’s creative financing made a big different to our monthly outlay, I would recommend any racer talk to him about their particular situation”

Anna Dalfonso of the Bank of Montreal told us “Any homeowner who has significant credit card debt should look at using the equity in their home to get rid of the debt on the credit cards. Cards can be anything from 12 to 19 percent interest and the lower rates available from the bank will only help customers to reduce their debt load.” She told us homeowners should look into paying penalties to allow them to renew your mortgage earlier. “ It is worthwhile talking to a financial institution about making the change, there are some great incentives out there for homeowners just now”. She recommends people look at the bank's website to see what they are offering and then talk to one of their financial planning representatives about their specific needs.

We recently decided it was time to get the Ford F350 dually we need for towing the RPM Classifieds Project S10 around. With my brother in law being a retiree from Ford it meant we were entitled to Ford’s A-Plan for employees. This knocked a substantial amount of money off the MSRP of the diesel powered crew cab. Our intention was to lease the vehicle for three years and then buy it if it was a good truck. The truck was ordered in January with an eight to ten week delivery time. Ford allows leases to be paid in two ways, the standard monthly payments or a one-time payment at delivery. The difference to the customer is the interest rate that will be applied to the contact. Although the rates had dropped previously, the monthly payments were to be subject a 9.9% rate with the one time deal costing 5.9%. Although it meant spending more up front we went with the one time payment. Ford also allows you to choose what date you want the rate to be applied from, on ordering or delivery. We got lucky, as the rates dropped again before delivery. When we picked the truck up we were going to have to pay a whopping 0.9% to finance the deal! When you throw in the $1,000 dealer cash that also became available, it meant we were saving an amazing $7,500 on the cost of the lease. Lou Machado from Oakland Ford Lincoln of Oakville, ON told us “Trucks have never been better value with the lower interest rates. Ford even has a ‘Custom Truck’ event running to the end of April where customers get $1,000 of free accessories on their new truck. The incentives dealers have available now are the best ever on pickups” We asked Machado if he thought it was better to buy or lease a truck with the low interest rates. He told us; “In my opinion a lease wins every time as a vehicle is a depreciating asset. You also can see whether you have got a good truck or not, circumstances also change, in three years you may not require a truck any more. Just hand it back in and get on with life.” If you are going to buy the vehicle at the end of the lease, you have had the advantage of breaking in your own used vehicle, you know it has been properly serviced and taken care of. On the subject of dealer cash, we were told that all dealers might not offer customers the full incentive to the customer. It is best to check around and make sure you are getting the best deal.

This could not be an in depth article as everyone’s needs are totally different. What we did get from all three people contacted was, talk to people in the know, check around and you most likely will come out ahead of the game! It costs nothing to talk to an expert, do it now and save money!

Sources: www.racersmortgagesource.com, www.oak-land.com , www.bmo.com
Paul H. Cassidy – 1 800 404-4082 (U.S. only) Lou Machado – 905 844-3273 Anna Dalfonso – 905 257-0316