Even if you have inquiries themselves it is not all that bad as long as you open an account with the appropiate inquiry. If you have alot of inquiries and alot of denied credit then it looks bad.

 

yes i said two 3.9% loans not one loan at 23.9% as you believe

i also have 11k out at 1.9% yes 1.9%

and 13k out at 5.9%

sorry guys i went to work

and have been pushing hard for 6 months

to make up for the month i was off

pay is great and as one of you regulars state

it is like a marriage

as for how i got those loans

its simple

i charged my bills

and kept transfering balances to low interest life of the loan

balance transfer offers

and then invested my cash

as for great loans i get em still with only a 680 score

do to my high debt ratio its dropped below 700

but i still got a no money down 5% loan on my 1999 venture van my wife wanted

good luck on the road guys and gals

i hit it tomorrow for 3 weeks

 

When you type in your messages, don't use the "Enter" key. The window your typing in will wrap you lines automatically.

 

There - is that better?

As far as what was said in all that jibberish, he is really delusional. He is paying one loan off with another, and needs to push hard for 6 months to make up for one month. :roll:

He is living on borrowed money, and one major breakdown, and his house of cards will tumble.

Owning a truck IS NOT like a marriage - it is a business. Nothing more, nothing less. BEING IN DEBT UP TO YOUR EARS is like a marriage - once you are in, there is no way out (without losing your shirt).

 

Those low transfer interest rates are only good for 6 months or so. Does that mean every 6 months you get a new credit card to keep that low rate?

I cant see how that looks good to a bank when you keep moving around debt.

I am familiar with the game, and have a close friend doing the same, yes you can do what your saying, however it eventually caught up to him, because his total possible debt ratio (available credit) was very very high, and he was then turned down when he wanted to buy a house, and couldnt on a credit card, and even though his score was high-he had to much available credit out there, and was denied by numerous banks.

Just be carefull.

 

I don't know anything about the FREE credit reports and how they work. But I know that if YOU go to www.equifax.com, www.experian.com and/or www.transunion.com and get your OWN credit report it does not put points on you. Don't get the three-in-one credit reports. They don't have ALL the information. More of an overview. Always get the credit report PLUS credit score. The prices may have gone up (I haven't checked mine in a while- 6 months at least) but it should be around $15 from each agency- again, not talking about the free ones.

I would be surprised if the free credit reports have the same depth of information that the full credit reports from the credit agencies have. And you need to make sure that you check ALL THREE agencies- you may have things reported to one and not the other two- Swift does that to some of their defaulted lease operators. They report it to Exerian or Transunion but not to Equifax- so you may not even find out about it for years.

Also- the good rates usually start around 750 plus... But if you are over 700 that is still very good in the eyes of lenders. They will look at the whole deal, though. If you have 30-day-lates that are OLD, they won't look as bad as recent ones. And a 30-day-late on a mortgage is the kiss of death. Very bad. Always pay your mortgage on time!

If you have a good relationship with a local bank you may find that you will do much better than if you go to a big financial institution- they know you and know your character. Which, if you have bad character, will play against you. A local bank may give you a small business line of credit rather than an installment loan (the typical truck loan) which will be a lower credit rate for an indefinite period. That is only good if you have the discipline to make regular payments.

And if you get a loan through a truck dealer, you need to know that dealerships will often tack on anywhere from 1/2 percent to several percentage points to your loan if you get it through them- they won't tell you about it either. That's the part I don't like- they should disclose that information to you.

If you don't have the money to put a good downpayment down and also have a safety account, don't buy a truck. What will you do if you get hurt or sick? What will you do if you have a family emergency? Your payments don't stop when they become inconvenient. If you don't have the money, stay as a company driver and save. If you can't save money as a company driver how do you think you will be able to save as an owner operator?

Sorry for the rant- it's kind of a free flow thought process on my part.

This is a decent article for tips on buying a truck:
Buying a Truck

I'm sure www.ooida.com has some tips too.

 

Its a financial high wire act, but you can "rate surf" the teaser rates on credit cards. In theory if you can keep on top of it you can come out ahead versus getting a regular commercial loan with good credit.

I have a friend who did something similar until he had something like $40k in borrowing capacity. He then did a munch of balance transfers FROM one card that had no fee for cash advances to create a positive balance. He than funds a stock brokerage account with this $40k.

Depending on the stocks you buy you can have up to 50% margin in a brokerage account; presto! He is now up to $80 of OPM. Unfortunately the stocks he choose tanked and the whole thing came crashing down.

I would never play rate surf roulette myself, but it can be done if you have a extreme tolerance for risk.

 

My father is a mortgage broker, and I worked for him for a couple of years. Maybe I can shed a little light on this. One of the WORST things you can do to your credit score is to open a bunch of revolving credit lines and the quickly max them out with balance transfers. The ratio between your available credit and your current balance is very important to your credit score. Paying bills with credit cards until they are maxed out and opening new cards every few months and transferring balances to max out the new account is credit suicide. The best way to manage credit cards if possible is to pay the balance in full every month. You do want to use the cards as long periods of inactivity is bad also, but this would be preferrable to carrying a large balance close to the limit.

The age of your accounts is also a major determining factor in your score. If you are constantly opening new accounts and have the inquiries that would be required to open them you will see a drop in your score. The types of loans are also important. If you have lots of revolving (credit card) accounts and accounts from finance companies like Household finance etc. and no mortgage and other "stability" type loans you will be viewed as a higher risk borrower.

Your time on the job and length of time at your residence also have a large impact on your score. If you move around alot and change jobs constantly you will have a mediocre score even if you pay your bills on time.

If you always want to keep your score above 750 (this is the magic number) remember mortgages are good, credit cards are bad, and stay at your job.

 

I read an article recently that discussed debt. In the article, it stated that mortgage loans can usually help you but credit cards can hurt your score. If you have credit cards, it is usually good to keep them at or below 25% of the credit limit. Frankly, I like the idea of having as little debt as possible. If you are constantly moving debt from one card to another, you are courting disaster. It is only a matter of time before your house comes crumbling down. The best thing anyone can do is reduce your debt as quickly as possible.

 

I pull my credit report every year and at one point about 5 years ago it was close to 790. This year I checked and it was down to 700 and nothing had happened that I could see that caused this. I made an official request to the credit reporting agency and got a standard form letter telling me different causes. I've had 3 credit cards forever and the limits keep going up. My Capitol One went from 10k limit to 27k limit over a period of 2 years. The total cash I could get on all 3 cards hit a limit that raised a flag that I could potentially go into big debt at a moments notice so my credit score was lowered. I guess there is a fine line to maintaining a high rating and many things effect it. Never gave this one a second thought.