Have you been shopping for new mini ATV’s lately? You might be in for a shock at how much they cost. You can easily spend $4,000 or $5,000 for one. Now, here’s the problem that most people have once they get over the sticker shock; they’ve already promised their kid they would buy him one!

As a parent, you know that once you make a promise like that there is no backing out of it. Your kid will be on you like flies on… well, anyway, until he’s sitting on that new mini ATV. You can’t say no once you’ve said yes – you just can’t. So, how are you going to pay for that mini ATV since you only put back $500 for it?

You have a few choices. You can put it on a credit card and then make monthly payments. You can get a loan for it and make monthly payments that you will actually be able to pay off in a reasonable amount of time. You can borrow the money from a friend or family member (grandparents can’t say no either, you know).

If you put the mini ATV on a credit card you will be paying a high interest rate on a revolving credit account. This means that unless you make much higher monthly payments than the minimum payment due, it could take you 20 years or more to pay off that mini ATV. Plus, by the time you add up the payments that you’ve made over those 20 years, you will have paid more for that mini ATV than you did for your new car.

There are several ways to get a loan to pay for your mini ATV that won’t set you back like a credit card will. You can finance it through the dealer if they offer financing, but be sure to read the fine print and get a good interest rate before you sign for that loan. A better option might be to shop for a secured personal loan, both with your local lenders as well as online. There are some great loan deals out there, all you have to do is find them. Then you will be able to walk into the dealership with the money in hand to pay for the mini ATV, or at least a pre-approved loan of your choice, and the dealer won’t try to fast talk you into using their financing, which, by the way, the dealer gets a nice cut from.

As for the parents, try not to borrow money from family, it just never turns out good.