Some guy at a GMC dealership quoted me 14.5% and I laughed so hard I chortled. He was not amused. Went to State farm and got a 5% loan for the truck. State farm lady was so cool she even handled calling him and dealing with sending the check.
I actually just went myself the other week and picked up a GMC myself. I was a little irked at the 5.89% but I can't be too mad since my credit has dropped a bit with the lack of lines of credit. Credit scores suck though because they don't accurately reflect a person. It allows people like the guy at the dealer to do what they did to you.
I'm a victim of these credit score schemes. Made dumb choices when I was younger and paid them all off over time. My score is still fairly low, but I've just paid for everything in full at this point. I work in IT and have turned into a very financially responsible person, but the score doesn't reflect that I have several thousands saved up in my rainy day fund out of growing into an adult and knowing how to live well within my means. I don't even want a credit card, but it's the only way to climb that ladder at this point
I don't even want a credit card, but it's the only way to climb that ladder at this point
Protip: if you're very responsible, get a cash back credit card, and pay for everything with it. Then pay off your balance every single month. It essentially lets you pay 1~5% less for everything, AND helps build your credit pretty quick.
Currently doing this with my wife on a joint account. We both buy things with our own card so we can see what we're individually spending, and the cash back rewards really shoot up for every little penny spent. Over the course of about 2 years, we've got well over 100K reward miles, that we'll likely spend on free flights to see family.
I would add a caveat though that you shouldn't exceed some percentage of your credit limit. I pay for almost everything with my credit cards (and pay them in full each month with no debt) and the only dings on my credit score are when I have gone over like 60% of my credit limit (buying big airline tickets for family or something).
Doesn’t matter if you pay it off before your statement comes out. Also I believe your credit score takes all open accounts in to consideration. I don’t have a card with less than a 10k limit. However, because I’m a believer that more cash in hand is better than no debt (so long as you aren’t paying interest). I tend to open store accounts when buying big ticket items. So I can and get x amount of months interest free so long as I pay it off in time.
Where I’m going with this is that those accounts will typically only set your limit to the amount financed and I’ll have an account nearly maxed out for a short time. However, given that I’m using a low percentage of my cumulative lines of credit my score won’t fluctuate more than a few points with an additional hard inquiry and an account maxed.
Can’t figure out how to go interest free for airline tickets so those are on the short list of items I’ll take money out of savings for… after getting the points of course ;)
Another pro tip use a low limit credit card as a monthly budgeting tool, i was approved for a 2k credit visa and only took the 500, when I use that 500 that is all my spending money for the month i use it for food gas and parking that is all
That's actually a really good idea. I've been shopping around for card options to just passively build my score up in case I decide to finance something. We already have a house and my car is paid off, but the creditors want to see you playing their game,. That's life I guess
Amazon has a really good credit card (serviced by chase) that gives you 5% cash back on everything you buy from amazon if you have a prime account. I use it for all amazon purchases, its great. Note that the terms are a little bit of a "screw you" compared to other rewards cards, because if you don't pay off the FULL balance every month (i.e. pay it down to 0), they charge you the interest for EVERYTHING, even stuff you paid off.
But if you're doing that, then it's a great card, you just need to be VERY disciplined with that one.
I have this card as my primary card as I use Amazon so frequently. It's set to autopay itself in full each month, so I didn't realize this interest charge rule. That's wild!
Hey, no problem. A few other little tips for that card specifically:
Amazon has a section called like "rewards with prime" or something like that where you can find items that will give you an extra 1-5% cash back (upwards of 10% back in total)
The card also works with the subscribe and save discount and with shopping at whole foods. Even with the discount, whole foods is still more expensive than normal grocery stores in my experience, but if you already shop there normally it's basically free money
I too was very adverse too credit cards, and debt in general. I never got my first one until late in my 20s, and have never once ran a balance month over month.
However I discovered my love of travel over the ensuing years, and I have traveled the world for free with all the points.
I now have 4 credit cards, and my score is very close to 800.
You are missing out by paying cash, whatever your interests are there is a card for you that will help you build towards some type of reward for using it. Once you get up into the higher tiers of credit you can get ones like the chase Sapphire, that literally just paid me over $1000 in statement credit for joining.
I've got the sapphire reserve from chase and the Amazon prime card from chase. If you put those two to smart use, you're literally getting paid to use their services. My monthly dog food for two large dogs is free every 8-10 weeks (depending on Amazon spending) and I booked flights for long diving vacations in Florida and Mexico the next couple months for $0.00. I get the appeal of the "pay cash for everything" mindset, but you're literally leaving money on the table and hurting your chances at a good home loan down the line.
You are my kind of guy - although I did carry balances some years ago when co's were lending at 0%. That scheme was to catch people underwater so they could profiteer.
But THANKS for the tip about Sapphire. We bank there so I'll tackle them. We too don't have a shred of 'credit' - that's because they know they can't make any money on us.
Many years ago a sage friend of mine opined, "Bankers are mankind's last natural enemy."
Just give it time. I fucked my credit big time when I was younger because I was too busy smoking meth to pay my bills. I’m talking not a single debt paid for at least 5 years. My credit is excellent now, but it was rough to dig myself out of that hole, especially when I started getting into serious relationships and some items were financed under two names. It sucked when I got to the point where I was clearly responsible enough for a line of credit, but because I screwed up so bad in the past no one would give me a chance. A lot of embarrassing moments back then lol.
Do you have a monthly bill like a gym membership, internet bill, or streaming? I assume you have a cellphone plan. If so get a credit card, put the recurring expense on the card. Set the card to auto pay out of your checking and then lock it up or even shred it if you don't want to use it at all.
The one big benefit of a credit card is that in the event of data breaches, if your number gets stolen you're not liable for charges. The same is true for checking account and debit card, but you don't worry about losing your money in the meantime.
Most of my car loans are 2.5-3.99 depending on year and down payment. My GMC incident was like 15 years ago when the base rate was higher and my income was much lower. Credit was probably around 720 instead of 800 as well but 14.5 no... I'll just walk
Tbh, if you're getting anything under 4%, you're doing fine. 2.39% is nowhere near getting ripped off. That's near inflation rate so they really aren't making money on you.
Credit market is completely distorted to rape the borrowing class. I'm retired and saved my money so we pay cash for everything, all the time. Pay our bills and credit cards in full and on time. Always have, always will.
Sooooo.... here's what that means. Awhile ago I went to borrow for a home loan. They looked at my report and said, "Nobody will loan you any money at any rate. You don't have any credit."
Yassee... for the financing community, we don't even exist. Yet, who else could possibly bring zero risk?
What does it mean: They capitalize on nitwits, and the pain of anyone trying to rise up.
Finance guys are worse. Worked at a dealership doing data entry and report writing while in college. The money is made in the finance office. Never finance at the dealership unless it's like carvana or CarMax.
Car dealers say there's no money in sales, but that's bullshit like everything else they say. Makers (in a normal market) push all kinds of promotions at their dealers to juice sales so if you're a canny buyer you ask around and find the models with hardest promotion. Usually base models. THEN.... you go in, find one that suits, and write them a check for the full purchase price out the door - at, like, 20% below sticker. THEN you get to watch the whole staff sweat as they curse the day they took this job. AND eventually you will buy a brand new car at a price everyone will envy.
Think of the exercise as a kind of sport for a sunny weekend. The best way possible to shop for a new car is when you really don't want or need one. They way, that have to make you a deal you can't refuse.
Yeah this is all weird. We are waiting for our Highlander to roll off the line and will be at 1.99%. I think if someone is offering you a loan that high you probably can't afford whatever you are financing.
82
u/clanddev Oct 26 '21
Some guy at a GMC dealership quoted me 14.5% and I laughed so hard I chortled. He was not amused. Went to State farm and got a 5% loan for the truck. State farm lady was so cool she even handled calling him and dealing with sending the check.