The Brogue Hog

Getting bad credit can be just a matter of missing a few payments or as much as having to declare bankruptcy. In either case, having bad credit means more hurdles in getting auto financing. Auto financing with a bad credit history is very possible though, albeit just a little bit more complicated than having a good credit rating and report.

While getting auto financing with bad credit was virtually unheard of many years ago, the boom of online auto financing e-commerce companies has made this all possible. Internet based auto financing companies has paved the way for people with bad credit to get the car they need.

Everything is possible online, and auto financing with bad credit is just one of the conveniences you will find. But as with everything that involves money, it is best to be wary of bad deals. Do your research and investigation first before signing anything. A financing deal can cost you if it’s not done right.

While many financial institutions and credit unions know that some people can be quite desperate if they have bad credit, this does not mean that you have to pay more than you have to. While it’s true that people with bad credit don’t get the same good rates and lower interest rates, there are steps to making your credit rating look better for future purchases.

With some research you can find ways to get a fair deal with bad credit auto financing. What you need are ideas to make your chances better in getting good auto financing with bad credit. Here are some guides to get you started.

• Get a copy of an updated credit report.

While a credit report is pretty solid and can’t be changed legally overnight, it is a great tool to precisely know what your credit standing is and what to expect with bad credit auto financing. Be sure to review it carefully and have it updated. You can have lots of ideas with this information and help give you better timing on when to get auto financing. This could also be a chance for you to understand why you have that kind of rating and you can explain yourself to your creditors. Some of them take under consideration certain circumstances.

• Get a co-signer.

Having someone with a good credit record will boost your chances of getting the good rates and deals. Auto lenders don’t only look at your records, they look at your co-signers as well. But this does not mean both of you have to pay, it is still your loan, your co-signer is just a guarantor. It is best to find a family member or a partner. The person who has the better credit rating can apply for the auto financing or act as a co-signer.

• Get rid of all your debts and accumulate assets.

The more debts you have the more undesirable you are for bad credit auto financing. Lenders will always investigate your financial situation. If they see you have so many debts to pay, they could be afraid that you could not handle them all. Also, if you have good flow and assets, then this is a great sign meaning you can afford to pay off your loans.

• Do not hide anything.

Be completely honest when you disclose your actual financial situation when you apply for bad credit auto financing. If a lender or a credit institution finds out that you are not completely honest with them, they will be afraid you may have other skeletons in your closet that may lead to nonpayment.

Dean Shainin is the owner of http://loans.deans-knowledgebase.com View his recommended free sources for the best auto loan companies online. Get free loan quotes from several recommended lenders.

Get free online loan quotes from lenders for Auto Loans Bad Credit online.

Your lens is an essential element to good photographs. It’s not just your camera. People spend thousands of dollars on a good camera and neglect the lens.

Change that around! Make sure you buy a good camera lens when purchasing a camera. Buy a good camera as well, but don’t neglect a good camera lens.

Why? Your camera is just the ‘holder’ for the photograph. The lens is what your camera sees all your shots through. A good lens is essential to clear and sharp photos.

With most compact digital cameras, you can’t change the lens. So in that case, don’t just buy a good camera, ensure it also has a good lens.

Avoid a plastic digital camera lens because it doesn’t have the clarity of a glass lens.

What model of lens?

Stick with camera lenses from well known manufacturers like Nikon, Canon and Pentax. Ensure you purchase a lens that works with your camera too. A Nikon camera lens usually won’t work well with a Canon camera.

There are specialty lens manufacturers like Carl Zeiss, Leica and Leupold. If you’re a beginner, don’t worry about these lenses until you are more advanced as they come with very high prices and it’s hard to justify the price for the small increase in quality.

Types of Camera Lens

The most common lenses are : Wide Angle, Normal and Telephoto. The type of lens is determined by the Focal Length of the lens. See below. A Zoom Lens is simply a lens that can change Focal Length from a Wide Angle to a Telephoto (or somewhere inbetween).

There are a number of things to look for when purchasing a camera lens.

Lens Focal Length

The Focal Length of a lens determines the amount of magnification and angle of vuew the lens can see. The Focal Length is measured in mm. It’s the Focal Length that determines if the lens is a:

- Wide Angle; small magnification, wide angle of view. 20mm to 35mm

- Traditional, or Normal; 50mm

- Telephoto; high magnification, narrow angle of view; 105mm to 300mm.

- Zoom; A Zoom lens can change it’s focal length to zoom in. A Zoom lens might have a Focal Length of between 50mm and 150mm.

Some lenses are interchangeable between film cameras and digital cameras, but you need to be aware that the effective focal length CHANGES between film and digital. The focal lengths I describe above are for FILM cameras and need to be multiplied by 1.6 to get the effective focal length on a digital camera. So using a film 35mm lens on a digital camera has an effective focal length of 56mm.

What does this mean for you? It means that you won’t get as wide angle on a digital camera as you would on a film camera using the same lens. A 35mm lens which gives a medium wide angle on a film camera acts as a traditional lens on a digital camera

This is a complex subject, so I can’t go into too much detail here. If you need more help, the best person to speak to would be your local camera store’s resident expert.

Lens Speed

The ’speed’ of a digital camera lens also defines a lens. The speed is determined in f-stops and is similar to the f-stop aperture setting on your camera. Faster lenses are more expensive and usually heavier.

Focusing Distance

This is the minimum distance from the camera lens that a subject must be to be in focus. Don’t worry about getting a camera with a close focusing distance. Concentrate on a telephoto instead.

More Advanced Features

More expensive lenses have more advanced features.

- Vibration Reduction. A feature called ‘vibration reduction’ keeps images sharper when shooting in low light. They help to counter any vibration in the camera. Try to find a digital camera lens with this feature.

- USM USM stands for Ultrasonic Motor. This feature of Canon lenses gives you a high speed auto focus but the main benefit is the ‘motor’ is almost silent, so you don’t disturb people around you when your camera is focussing.

- Filter Thread. When purchasing a half-decent lens, it should have a filter thread. This is a thread that allows you to screw on a filter (such as a polariser) to help when photographing difficult situations. Even if you don’t need filters right now. it’s handy to purchase a lens with a thread so you can add a filter later.

You get what you pay for

Generally the more expensive the lens, the better it is. More expensive lenses usually have a higher number of glass elements in the lens, which also makes them heavier.

Final Notes

While it is important to choose good quality camera lens, for beginners it isn’t as important as good composition. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you can only take a great picture with an expensive top-of-the-line lens. A badly composed picture won’t look great with a great camera lens.

I don’t mean to discount the importance of a good quality lens. A good rule is to only add to your lens collection only when you have a specific need for a particular digital camera lens.

Do your research and your homework first, and find the lens that suits both you and your camera.

David Peterson has a great love of photography and has created a series of free tips at http://www.digital-photo-secrets.com/ to help digital photography users everywhere take better photos.

After you’ve filed bankruptcy, you’ll want to start building new credit. This time, you’ll want to make sure that the credit you build is good; if anything is worse than a bankruptcy, it’s a bankruptcy followed by bad credit. There are ways to rebuild credit after bankruptcy, and there are companies willing to offer credit and loans to those who’ve filed bankruptcy. However, before applying for the first offer that comes in the mail, read this article to find out how to rebuild credit after bankruptcy without also building bad debt:

Apply for a Secured Credit Card

The best way to avoid bad debt is to gain credit from your own money. A secured credit card allows you to deposit money into an account and then withdraw it just like you would with a regular credit card. The difference between an unsecured credit card and a secured credit card is that you deposit the amount of money that makes your maximum balance into an account before you begin using it. This means that, if you become unable to pay the bill, you can simply close the account and withdraw the remainder of your balance.

Apply for a Gas Station/Grocery Store Credit Card

Gas station and grocery store credit cards are not hard to get approved for; in fact, they’re probably the easiest to get of all unsecured credit cards. The best thing about applying for a grocery store or gas station card is the lowered temptation to make an unnecessary purchase. Most likely, you shop at these places every week and pay with either cash, check, or a debit card. Instead, you can pay with your store credit card, and then, at the end of the month, you can take the money you would have spent at the store and use it to pay down the balance on the card. Here is a list of recommended Credit Repair Lenders online. It’s important to use a reputable lender online to make sure your personal information is secure.

Wait Before Making Large Purchases

As soon as your bankruptcy is final, you will start receiving letters from loan companies offering you credit cards, car loans, and even mortgages. These lenders do this because they know you cannot file bankruptcy for another seven years, so you have to pay them back. However, there’s a benefit to waiting a few years before making large purchases. After two years, you will qualify for better loan terms and interest rates. Additionally, since you’ve just become debt-free, you should probably stay that way for a while. Allow yourself time to adjust, learn to budget your money, and speak with a financial advisor before jumping into debt again.

Can creative thinking and even spontaneity come from a highly organized approach? Yes! For example, if you watch great comedians closely, you’ll see that they have certain habits of mind. Even the most spontaneous ones get better with practice, because they’re training their brains to find the humor in situations.

In the same way, you can train yourself for more creative thinking. Just start cultivating the right habits in your mind. Why not start training your brain today, with some simple techniques?

Creative Thinking Techniques

Want the mind of a creative inventor? Start redesigning everything you see. Imagine better cars, faster ways to serve food, or better light bulbs. If you do this every day for three weeks, it will become a habit.

Want to be the person who always has something interesting to say? Train yourself to look at things from other perpectives. What would the Buddha say about this? How would a Martian view it? What’s the opposite perspective? The point isn’t to ask others silly questions, but to ask yourself, to see what interesting ideas result. Do this until it is a habit, and you’ll always have something interesting to add to a conversation.

Want systematic creativity in poetry? Put a word on each of 40 cards; 10 nouns, 10 verbs, 10 adjectives, and 10 random words. Shuffle, deal out four cards, and write a 4-line poem using one of the words in each line. My wife has had poems published that were created with this technique. Your mind will find a poetic use for any word if you use this method often.

Solve Problems Creatively

Maybe you’ve heard of problem solving techniques such as “attributes listing,” and “concept combination.” More creative thinking doesn’t come from just knowing these techniques, though. You have to use them until they become a part of your habitual thinking process.

Imagine you want to invent a new bicycle. If you’ve trained your mind in “assumption challenging,” you’ll automatically begin to ask things like, “Are wheels necessary?” “Does it have to go outside?” What if the “bike” was indoors, and pedaling it ran a video screen? You could “steer” through endless different scenes.

You won’t always have great ideas, but you’ll have enough ideas to make it more likely that you’ll find a useful one. This “spontaneous” creativity will be because of your brain training exercise. Why not start developing those habits of creative thinking?

Steve Gillman has been studying brainpower enhancement, creative problem solving, and related topics for years. Subscribe to his free Creative Problem Solving Course, and get a free gift at: www.ProblemSolving101.com