I’m already signatory to a loan I had gotten with my ex-wife that we’re still paying on.
What I’m hoping to do is get a loan for enough to pay off my credit cards (around $2000) and get a cheap used car (again, probably around $2000).
My income is reliable, and I haven’t gained any new debt in almost a year. But the debt that I have I don’t know if I can pay off soon, and a loan seems like a good way to do it.
Barring that, do any of you well heeled dopers want to loan me $5000?
What RealityChuck said. Even if you’ve made a few late payments, as long has you haven’t entirely missed a payment for 30 days or more, your credit should be fine, especially if you haven’t opened any new accounts in a while.
Debt alone will not bring your credit score down. Things that will bring your score down are opening lots of accounts in a relatively short period of time, having lots (maybe 10 or so) lines of credit open at the same time, and simpy not paying. In fact, carrying a debt can make your score go up, as long as you pay at least the minimum every month, because it shows that you are responsible with a loan, and hence a good risk.
I would recommend getting a credit report. Your FICO score, which is released by the company Experian, is the best to know. It looks like you can get it online, for $13 at http://www.experian.com/consumer/index.html. If your score is above 620, I wouldn’t worry. Oh, and don’t check your credit too often - that’s another thing that will drive down the score.
Resident Credit Reporting/Scoring Expert. Been in this industry for 10 years with TransUnion.
The above quote is completely innacurate. You can check your credit report/score as often as you’d like, and the only two parties that will ever know abou ti will be you and the credit reporting agency.
When you get a report, it (tha fact that you got a copy) is listed as an “Soft inquiry”…but not with other “hard” credit inquiries from banks, credit card companies, etc. Those inquiries have a temporary impact on your score because they are indications that you may have taken on new debt (the specifics of which are unknown, so potential creditors inquiring into your report need to consider any inquiry into you report as some unknown variable about your credit…like, maybe this consumer just landed a 38,000 dollar car loan…so inquiries from other creditors temporarily impact the score…but usually it takes three in one month to amount to any significant score change)
YOUR inquiry into your own report is not listed for anyone, does not impact the score and has NO bearing or relevance to anyone but you and the credit reporting agency (CRA). It’s not released to creditors, not scored and not known to any party other than you and the CRA.
Good scores come from fair amounts of borrowing, timely payback, and not flirting with credit limits. Additionally, a lender may do their own breakdown of your debt to income and consider other factors such as time at adress and time at job.
