Debt Mangement - The Bike That Crashed Me Financially
- Train Wreck Tuesday
- Our Train Wreck series features stories of financial woe submitted anonymously by our readers. Submit your own story, and if selected, you'll win a Mint t-shirt!
Debt management is something that we care about here at Mint. Learn more with great debt management tips in our blog article index.
A year earlier, the motorcycle bug bit me. I’m in college, had no idea about debt management, and the thought of just grabbing that new sports bike and showing it off to all my female accomplices was too cool to resist. I went to the dealership and bought my new bike for $6000, taking out a loan from the dealership at an interest rate designed to bring the student to financial flinders. It was all good until I realized what I had just done.
- I am in college and earning less than 300 bucks from my part time job.
- My parents are paying the tuition and not my living expenditures.
- Gas prices have gone up.
Nonetheless, I was determined to pay off the loan in due time. However, I lost that part time job and had nothing to give back to the loan. I wrecked my credit history and the thought of running away and living on an island, away from the bank calls was being engraved in my mind.
I finally had to ask my parents for help and was bailed out by my dad.
The lesson learned: No matter how much some things may tempt you during college, if you have to borrow money to buy it, you can’t afford it right now. Unless you have a firm and guaranteed plan for paying it all back, practice debt management .
Mint’s Takeaway:
Sure, it’s common knowledge that college is an especially important period to live on a budget — especially if you’re going to be paying off student loans for tuition. But the college atmosphere also hides the darker side of that social climate: whether you’re aware of it or not, peer pressure can severely affect you in your financial decisions.
When your dorm buddies or sorority sisters are going out every night or buying new toys to occupy their time, it can be tempting to follow suit. It might even turn out that you have the budget to do so, but stop and think first. Consider your budget before leaping into new purchases.
Mint can help you keep on top of your spending. With alerts to unusual spendings and methods to see your spending patterns, you can better keep on top of where your money is going, so you can direct it to where you really want it to go.
For long-time Mint readers:
What past Train Wreck stories does this college student’s plight remind you of? What did he learn that others may not have?
Train Wreck Tuesdays are a weekly post of horrible financial mistakes. They are posted anonymously. Submit your story; if you’re selected, you get a free personal finance book. The best comment gets the same prize! Check out past Train Wreck stories here.
yeah, I have a similar story. I bought a bike back in 2003 for about 6k. Drove it for about 4 months, then wrecked it on the freeway. It was awesome while I had it and I used it for my primary transportation, but in the end (since insurance agencies suck): I was 3k in debt after my payout and had 15k in medical bills. It’s now 3 years later and I just recently took care of the last bill related to that incident.
What I learned:
If I can’t afford to break it, don’t buy it ^_^.
If your going to buy a bike, especially a first one, while you’re in college, buy a cheap one instead. Try spending $800-$1200. The ladies won’t know the difference if you clean it up. They’ll still wanna go for a ride, trust me. At that price you won’t need full coverage insurance, which liability on a bike is about $100/year!! It’s still fast, fun, and gets attention, but you don’t have that sick feeling in your stomach like you were just payed $400 for one of those plated gold coins on QVC.
Well guys… the story above is from me. I’m not really ashamed of coming out and admitting that the bike bug bit me so hard that it left a bruise :S Although since then, I keep track of all my spending and spend responsibly… http://www.expensr.com helps out to a certain extent… until mint comes out
PS: Can i just have a mint invite, instead of the promised personal finance book?
(trust me, ive read a few after i hit the financial low I describe in my story 
, I’d consider it my birthday present which is in 2 days 
Hey Avner,
Thanks for submitting the train wreck story. I’ll follow up with you through email.
P.S. Happy early birthday!
Hey Cap.
I was just invited to join http://www.geezeo.com ; looks like someone’s stalking these blogs
Anyhow; I was wondering if you guys were aware of what they are doing and right now it seems to be the only genuine competitor to mint (which i havent tried yet, but only read about so far).
they seem to have teamed up with cashedge and integrated accounts, which is pretty sweet and one of the prime mint features, i presume.