Tell my audience about yourself. What made you want to start your website thefreefinancialadvisor.com?

I’d been a television personality for 9 years on local Detroit tv (I was the “Money Man” on WXYZ Channel 7 News. When I left the financial planning business, I missed talking about money. The site was a way for me to stay in touch with an area that I love.

I also think there are lots of practices going on behind the scenes that people needed to know about AND there are ways good financial advisors think about money problems that are different (and more effective) than the way the average person with debt thinks. I called myself “Average Joe” on the blog because I’ve always been an average guy who had to teach himself about money.

Please name some quick and easy ways for a person to improve their credit even if they’ve recently been through a divorce or some type of financial calamity?

The largest driver of your FICO score is to pay bills on time. So, either pay on time or get in contact with creditors quickly to try and keep negative statements off your credit report.

You know a calamity is coming at some point, right? The best move anyone can do right now is to create a small emergency fund. Sock away at least $500 so that when your muffler’s dragging behind the car you don’t have to tap your credit.

When a person walks into a car dealership what are some credit questions you recommend that consumer ask the salesman or finance manager?

Much of the process should take place BEFORE they talk to the finance manager. First, I want to know how my credit looks before the finance manager runs it, so I’ll order a free credit report and make sure it’s clean.

When I’m talking to the salesman I need to have already looked up how much the car is really worth, what my resale value will be down the road, and I should have already looked at my budget to know what payment I cal live with.

The last time I bought a car from a dealer I went to the web first and found out what car I wanted. Then, I test drove one to make sure by visiting a dealer. I told them upfront that I wasn’t interested in buying. I just wanted to drive one.

Then, online, I asked five of the closest dealers to give me their best deal. I was amazed when the quotes came in $1,500 different from each other for the same car! Make sure you don’t give anyone your phone number until you’re ready. Two dealers didn’t want to give a quote unless I came in.

By the time I walked into the dealership, I knew the price of my car, the loan amount, the monthly payment and the duration of the loan. I wasn’t going to ask the salesman or finance manager anything until we arrived at loan fees (there should be no fees and no prepayment penalty. I also received a better interest rate because I signed up for automatic payments out of my checking account.)

How long does the credit restoration process take?

It depends on how bad it is. If your credit is horrible it can take years. If there are two or three miscues but not much else, you could clean it up in hours.

If a person can’t purchase a vehicle in cash, what’s the ideal down payment you recommend they have? Does a larger down payment mean a shorter loan and APR?

If you can’t pay cash, you want to either have as much money available to pay off the car as possible or put down as much as possible. At that point it’s all about interest rates to me. If I can grab as low an interest rate for a four year loan as I can a two year loan, why wouldn’t I take the four year loan? Then, once I have the longer term, I make bigger payments to pay down the loan quickly.

I can hear people asking….why don’t I just take the shorter loan? Here’s a question back: Why do businesses figure out their own debt structure and THEN ask the bank for a loan based on the terms they want? Why do people make good decisions for a company and then make emotional decisions with their money at home? Logically, I want to make sure that if I’m disabled or have an emergency, that I don’t lose my car. Take out the longest loan possible at a low interest rate and then pay it back quickly on your own terms.

If you don’t think you can do this because you don’t have the discipline, you’ll need to solve that problem quickly so that you can start dictating your own financial terms instead of relying on others to babysit you.

In your a first time car buyer and you’ve never shopped for insurance before, what are some tips to get the lowest payment possible? What are some questions you should ask your insurance agent?

Ask about discounts! Agents know some great discounts but often won’t volunteer information…you have to ask. Also, remember that price isn’t everything. People want low cost (and so do I), but I also want to know that when something goes wrong, that insurance is going to be there for me and my claim will be handled quickly.

Besides thefreefinancialadvisor.com what are some of websites/blogs you would recommend our visitors visit while trying to improve their credit?

My friend Dominique Brown at Your Finances Simplified talks about credit a ton. He has a good video series on the topic. He’s on our 2 Guys & Your Money podcast every week and is a blast to work with. It’s a funny podcast, but he makes it funnier.

I also like a number of the blogs about how you think about money. Tie The Money Knot is a nice site for married people to think about money and relationships. I like Budgets Are Sexy for good discussions on earning a little extra income. I Heart Budgets is a good blog about tightening the belt.

Thanks Joe. Please visit Joe’s website and friend/follow him on his below social media outlets.
The Free Financial Advisor
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This is our seventeenth interview in our “1000 Interview Challenge” If your interested in an interview, please contact me.

This interview was conducted by Shane McC. Shane currently is attending RISD studying computer programming. He enjoys traveling and plays hockey. He played for the Boston Junior Bruins of the EJHL during the 01-02 season. You can follow him on Google+