TIA for any help you can provide. Here's my situation... Up until about a year ago, I had pretty poor credit. I was around 570 according to Privacy Guard. I was able to get financed on a $10000 vehicle by putting $5000 down with a secondary lender. I was also able to get a $5000 secured loan with my bank. I have made all my payments on time for the last year, and I was just approved for a Chevron card. I haven't tried any real CCs yet. Anyway, I was over at a dealership and spoke with someone about trading up. To make a long story short, I was able to get Chrysler Finance to approve me on a $32000 vehicle by trading in and adding another $5000 down. This is all feasible financially, but I'm wondering if this is the best option credit wise. I do not need another vehicle, but I know that being under Chrysler Financial would be much better than my secondary lender. It would also be helpful having a higher amount financed in the long run. However, is this the best option right now, or can someone suggest a better option to continue to rebuild my credit, taking into account that I do have money, so that is not an issue. I'm just looking for something/anything that I can do to get my score up. Again, thanks for any advice anyone can provide.
Use the gas card and pay it off promptly. Get a secured CC from a major bank and use it and pay it off promptly. In 9 months to a year you should be able to apply for a major CC with no annual fee and decent interst rates
Regardless of whether you can get approved, do you need this level of debt? What difference does it make to your financial picture by the time you pay it off 5 years down the road? What percentage of your monthly take-home pay are you paying to debt service?
