I moved to the Phoenix area to work in software analytics. It was my dream to live and work here in the Southwest, and I fully enjoyed every bit of it since I landed in Paradise Valley in 2002.

So when my company shipped my job to India, I didn’t take them up on their offer for me to move with it. I understand the economics of global commerce, but life is more than just working one job.

Nonetheless my personal finances suffered from this. I took on some consulting projects, but that was uneven. I realized I’d need to retrain. I got behind in my bills along the way, accepted the fact I have expensive tastes, and come to terms with the idea of learning new skills.

Much to my dismay, because my bills got ahead of my cash, I got bad credit. And with bad credit, where would the money for retraining come from?

I ran an analysis on my options, and guess what? My need for fast cash translated into a car title loan. Glad I bought that Escalade when I did. Once I got used to the idea, I filled out an online application with Phoenix Car Title Loans. It was nothing like going to a car title loans store downtown. In one day I had my money and the next I registered for my class.

Under current economics conditions, this method makes a lot of sense. Auto title loans in some situations are just smart asset management.

- Nerida O.

I’ve always loved living and working in Scottsdale. But when I lost my job and had an accident with my Beemer, I didn’t seem to have options.

Things turned around in about four months. I found a new job in Avondale

Because I own a pickup truck, it’s possible to take advantage of certain business opportunities. I own a Chevy pickup, an Silverado, which I drive to work and especially for weekends out at the Sonoran Desert. But with the fire season in southern California this year, I know I can get hauling and clean up work there for the next several months. This is money that doubles my income. And the work lasts for up to six months, depending on various contracts and, of course, the fires themselves. I’m not saying I hope for the fires, far from it. But someone has to do the work.

That extra money could go a long way to wiping out some personal debt. We had a family medical emergency a few years ago and aside from the personal pain to my wife and me, we were left with bad credit and big bills. So naturally, I have to look for ways to make more money when I can.

The trouble is I need to take time off from my job here in Phoenix. My employer is an old friend, and we work it out to do it this way from time to time. All good, except the work in California (or Nevada, Colorado, Arizona or New Mexico) involves me working as a subcontractor. So that means waiting for the people up the food chain getting paid. And then there’s there the issue of waiting on insurance claims settlements.

So that means no pay for four, six maybe even eight weeks. How would my wife and me pay our bills over that time? My wife works at home taking care of the kids. There are bills to pay, the rent, truck payments, health insurance, food and old debt. Doubling my income from the fire recovery work would help with all those thing, but I have a timing problem. What I needed is fast cash.

That