There has been much controversy about hybrid cars, some of it deserved and some of it not. Hybrids do cost more than the regular version of the same cars. However, a 4-cylinder hybrid car will cost about the same as the V6 version of the same car with almost as much power, but get even better fuel economy than the base 4-cylinder engine. If the base engine isn’t powerful enough for you, then the hybrid may cost you nothing extra over the V6. Examples are the Toyota Camry hybrid and Ford Escape hybrid. An extra benefit of a hybrid is they usually put the same size gas tank as the non-hybrid car, so you can go farther on 1 tank.

Current hybrids do help, but they don’t save as much as they could. Current hybrids tend to have engines that are bigger than they need to be to make the battery cheaper.

In addition, there are Full hybrids like the Toyota Prius, and Partial hybrids like the new Honda Insight. A Full hybrid costs more to make than a Partial hybrid, but gets better gas mileage. The question is which will save you more money. The main difference is a Full hybrid can drive at low speeds without the engine running, like slow & go rush hour traffic. If you do mostly highway driving, then you will not benefit from the extra cost of a Full hybrid. If you often drive in slow traffic, then a Full hybrid will quickly pay for itself because a Partial hybrid must spin the engine even at 5mph, killing your gas savings.

Some hybrids are even performance based and get only slightly better fuel economy than the non-hybrid version of the same car. Examples of performance hybrids are the Toyota Highlander and most Lexus hybrids (except for the models based on Toyota Prius or Camry). It burns a lot of gas to warm up a V6 or V8 engine enough that it will turn off while coasting, so a performance hybrid with a big engine will get poor economy in cold weather.

New battery technology coming out around 2011 is supposed to boost hybrid gas mileage by 50%, so if you can wait you will be better off waiting until after 2011 to buy a new hybrid. The Chevy Volt is a great example. It has a tiny engine that only acts as a generator if the battery gets low. Otherwise, it will run completely on battery power that can be charged at cheap night electricity rates.

Every dollar paid in interest is a dollar down the drain. After all, interest is how banks make money. The only way to avoid interest is to get your balances down to where you can pay in full every month. Minimizing the interest you pay each month will help get your balance down with the same monthly payments. Here are tricks I have used to pay less interest on my credit cards. The loophole is that banks don’t talk to each other. They only look at your credit card with them and your FICO credit score.

1. Pay at least the minimum every month on every card. This eliminates late fees (another income source for banks) and boosts your credit score.

2. If you carry a balance on a credit card you use for everyday purchases like groceries & gas, you pay interest on every purchase in addition to the old balance– more money to the bank. Take your credit card with the highest interest rate that has a grace period on purchases, and do everything you can to pay it off. Pay the minimum on the other cards, even if their balances go up. After your most expensive card is paid in full, you can use it for everyday purchases, pay it in full every month, and stop paying interest on new purchases. IMPORTANT: If you need to make a large purchase you can’t pay 100% when due, then put it on a card that already has a balance so you can continue making new purchases interest free.

3. Once a credit card is paid off, you will usually start getting offers for low interest rate balance transfers on that card, even if you have a balance on other cards. That bank is no longer making money from you in interest! Stop making purchases on your empty card so it stays empty, pick your credit card with the next highest interest rate, and transfer the balance to your empty card. You are now paying less interest on the balance on existing balance of the other card by using a cheap cash advance!

4. Do everything you can to pay down your other credit cards. This will take discipline and patience, but every dollar paid in interest is a dollar you don’t have to spend on yourself. After you pay down your expensive debt, you will have more money each month because of all the interest you are no longer paying to banks. Look forward to that day, and taking advantage of loopholes in the financial Matrix will get you there faster.

5. In addition, after you pay down your credit cards, your FICO credit score will go up, and you can ask your credit cards to lower your interest rate and/or get new cards with lower interest rates. If you keep your credit card balances below 50%, you will have a good credit rating for car loans and other loans. The lower your balances, the higher your credit rating.

Your FICO credit score is basically a rating by banks of how easy it is to make a profit by lending you money. The higher your score, the more eager banks will be to loan you money, so you will get approved for higer loans, higer credit card limits, and lower interest rates. 850 is the highest possible score. 650 is the minimum score to get a decent car loan or credit card. 700 will get you the best interest rates on a car loan or credit card. These days, you need at least 740 to get the best rate on a home mortgage loan.

#1 for your FICO score is always pay your bills on time, even if it’s just the minimum payment. Even when I lived on credit cards while unemployed, I still payed the minimum payment, which made the banks feel good about the balance going up every month until I was employed again. If you haven’t been careful about paying on time, starting now will boost your credit score within 6 months. Even if you file bankruptcy (which stays on your credit report for 10 years), if you always pay your bills on time after that, you will have a 650 FICO score after only 2 years.

#2 for your FICO score is keep your credit card balances below 50% of the available credit. Below 25% is best. This is true for each individual credit card and for total of all cards. Any 1 card being maxed out will hurt score even if total used credit is below 25%. Your FICO score won’t get above 680 if you have high credit card balances, even if you have zero late payments on your entire credit history. Banks think you having high credit card balances means you tend to overextend yourself, instead of exercising restraint.

I discovered a number of tricks that helped my financial health during tough times, and I want to share what I have learned so others may benefit.