It’s more than likely that you are not the only one carefully going over some neatly displayed Google search results after having typed in “credit cards for bad credit” and pressing the Enter key. No, it’s almost certain that others not too far away from you, others that are not just inside your building, but probably living on your very same floor — if not in the room adjacent to you — are also combing away the hours as they bury their noses in the very same information. Some people cannot go to bed without first figuring out the rudimentary ins and outs of a personal loan for poor credit.

It’s quite unfortunate to say, no matter how tinged with schadenfreude the statement itself seems to be, that you are not alone in your poor-ish credit report/score woes.

Given the not-quite-entirely-ghastly circumstances, maybe you’ll be touched by a feeling of fraternal communion instead of perverse joy. Most unlikely, but either way, as your eyes slowly or hurriedly follow along the list, apparently endless, and stop after a good amount of pages have been scanned over, the conclusion you’ll most likely come to is that there are plenty of credit card offers for folks like you and everyone else who’s searching.

But what if, instead, you happen to be on the hunt for car loans for people with poor credit? Well, for starters, you’ll be most glad to learn that “poor” is still deemed to be better than “bad,” and that options are still open to you and your commiserating American kinfolk. It’s likely you’ll still have the pleasure of choosing among a good selection of cool and steely automobilistic colors. Clearly, creditors are not really that out to deprive you.

But it’ll still require some arduous research and work on your side of any deal to make sure that you don’t get duped. Any auto loan for bad credit that you sign up with will have to undergo a meticulous inspection of the fine print. Moreover, it’s to your greatest benefit to stick with the agreed upon terms and make all scheduled payments on time. Remember, in the end, it pays to pay, and to watch the calendar.

Sam Walters is a writer living in Los Angeles. Her writing appears in print and online.