Posted: 3/23/2010 8:09:56 PM EDT
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OK, so last Tuesday I wrecked my truck. My fault...bad weather and poor judgement. Anyway, the bottom line is that the Ranger is totaled. My insurance is providing me with a rental through next Monday and I am searching for a vehicle. It was about time anyway, as the Ford had 115K miles anyway.
I want to find a good used set of wheels, finance them with a big down payment and then sell my Harley and pay off the loan down the road. That way I'll have what I had before: afairly new car with no monthly payments! I own my house, the (now trashed) truck, and my Harley outright. I paid off the truck early in 2005 so I'd be totally debt free... I kind of figured that this was the American Dream sort of thing....but it has become a nightmare. When they ran my credit score at the car dealership it came back with a ZERO! .... In short since I haven't borrowed since 2005, even though I have paid everything off on schedule I don't have a credit history!!! It was bad enough that the one lender that would take a "risk" on me would charge me an outragous APR! So since I was responsible, paid my debts and lived within my means, now I'm getting punished by the (male chicken)-sucker-banker types! ...makes my head hurt! |
Your best best is to take the money you've been saving and sitting aside since you became debt free and pay cash for a new vehicle. You have been saving that money haven't you? 
The next option is to talk direct to your bank or credit union you do business with, explain the situation to them and if they do their own underwriting and have a brain it will be no problem for them. If they don't have a brain, why are you doing business with them in the first place? Personally I'd think having a 0 FICO score should be a badge of honor, you've lived debt free, paid your obligations, and have worked hard to get there. Then again, I am working as hard as I can to get where you are. Semper Fi |
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Quoted:
Don't think it is possible to have a "0" credit score unless you have something like Lifelock or another credit protection that blocks your score without you giving permission to release it. Actually it is possible to have a zero credit score just hard to have it. The credit burrows delete closed accounts from your credit history reporting so.... Most finance councilers reccomend paying off all credit bill but maintain one credit card. Use the card and pay for a small balance. As long as you have a good payment history you maintain a very high credit score. |
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So sell your Harley today and take the cash from it and your truck and buy a new or a good used car or truck.
You wanted to be dept free and live on cash so do it. Don't get sucked back into the bank scam just because you had an accident. as you are finding out once your credit score goes to zero it's hard to get credit. So don't. |
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IMO....The goal is debt-free, and you have it. It's, however, good to have some types of credit––such as credit card––so when situation arises they can use your credit history as a guideline. My dad used to not have credit card, paid by check or cash, debt free,....Then he couldn't rent a car when he traveled because he had no credit/credit card, just like you. So he learnt. 
Hell, I use credit cards a lot, but I pay all each month. It's always good idea to use credit card to your advantage. |
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My uncle told me about something similar. He fell off a building, got messed up, company screwed him around, basically he became unemployed for a few years. My aunt got kidney cancer, she had a job, insurance, etc., but they still took a huge financial hit. They filed bankruptcy to basically save their house.
My uncle was like "I'm not going to have debt hanging over my head ever again" and proceeded to pay cash for everything and if he couldn't afford it, they didn't need it. They did this for about 3 years until they needed another car. They couldn't get a loan either. It wasn't the fact that they had declared bankruptcy, it was that they had stopped using revolving credit. |
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Quoted:
OK, so last Tuesday I wrecked my truck. My fault...bad weather and poor judgement. Anyway, the bottom line is that the Ranger is totaled. My insurance is providing me with a rental through next Monday and I am searching for a vehicle. It was about time anyway, as the Ford had 115K miles anyway. I want to find a good used set of wheels, finance them with a big down payment and then sell my Harley and pay off the loan down the road. That way I'll have what I had before: afairly new car with no monthly payments! I own my house, the (now trashed) truck, and my Harley outright. I paid off the truck early in 2005 so I'd be totally debt free... I kind of figured that this was the American Dream sort of thing....but it has become a nightmare. When they ran my credit score at the car dealership it came back with a ZERO! .... In short since I haven't borrowed since 2005, even though I have paid everything off on schedule I don't have a credit history!!! It was bad enough that the one lender that would take a "risk" on me would charge me an outragous APR! So since I was responsible, paid my debts and lived within my means, now I'm getting punished by the (male chicken)-sucker-banker types! ...makes my head hurt! I have to say that there is something wrong here. I bought a new jeep last year, and the only other loan I had was from 97 when I bought my truck. Still had a credit score of 800+ Either someone does not know what they are doing or they are trying to screw you. |