Okay, so we got to 2009, economically worse than previously, but not to our dismay. Although we all have less financial abilities, there are more opportunities that are getting tuned to our troubles. We consumers are not the only ones suffering here; in fact large businesses and credit agencies are also feeling the slump. This is only natural as we make up their profits, so if we don’t have anything to spend on their products and services, they, we, don’t make any profit.

In 2009, we entered the largest bad credit borrowing period ever. Used auto loans became very hot as there weren’t a lot of us that could actually get in on the new car trend, which was not too hot. Yeah, we saw the cheaper new cars come out, those even offering great savings in the fuel department, but where are we going to get the financing to afford to save gas—a bit redundant, huh?

As more of us were part of the used auto trend, more lenders had to accommodate the trend in order to have any real business. Big secret here: even if there are a few big spenders, businesses follow the flock, not the few! Used auto loans even prevailed through the Cash for Clunkers phase that went through, but for some of us really didn’t make much sense-I mean we are having difficulty with our finances so you propose we help businesses out by getting further in debt? Many of us just couldn’t afford to get into another car payment in return for our paid off cars.

The real answer for most of us was to get rid of the gas guzzling, more expensive car and opt for a smaller, more fuel friendly used vehicle, that would allow us to keep some profit from selling the better car; it made some of us cry, but sacrifice creates opportunity, and some of us have already benefited from the transaction. Bad credit lenders took dominance in the lending market as so many of us have lost our credit through the recession and various factors; this gave many of us the financing needed to get the used car that would benefit us the most.

The largest and most significant trend to us as consumers-mostly because we needed it-was the decline in interest rates during 2009. By the end of the year, interest rates on used auto loans were down to 7.34% from 7.67% a year previous. Not a large change, but as a trend usually goes on for a while, we are hoping to see it a bit lower for our sake!