Texans Are Spending Too Much on Cars

It feels good to have a vehicle that you love, but spending a big chunk of your income on a nice ride creates big personal debt problems. And in Tyler and Longview, we rank among the worst in Texas for overspending.  If you're thinking of buying a new vehicle, you gotta read this!Let's start with the good news.  Tyler ranks in the 87th percentile for overspending on cars, according to Wallethub, and Longview ranks in the 90th percentile.  Not good, but it's not the worst in East Texas.

Kilgore ranks in the 91st percentile, Palestine ranks in the 94th, Henderson is in the 96th, and Jacksonville is in the 97th.  In other words, many of us in East Texas get an A for being good at creating big car payments for ourselves.

To come up with the numbers, Wallethub considered how much we still owe on a car after we drive if off the lot, and they considered how much money we take in monthly.  That creates a debt-to-income ratio, and that number for auto loans in East Texas is pretty shocking when it's compared to the rest of the US.  The debt-to-income ratio for auto loans is 112% in Jacksonville, and it trickles down to 86% in Tyler.  Oops.  A healthy debt-to-income ratio for car loans is about 36%

You can check your credit score for free on WalletHub and use the car payment calculator to figure out an auto-loan payment that's affordable and doesn't put us in the hole too much.

I mean, that ride is impressive, but we still gotta buy groceries after all.