honestly man it sounds like you are wayyyy too in debt as it is. Don't get me wrong, I'm not in charge of your money you do whatever you want, but here's some advice. You're 22 years old and already have 17,000 in debt. You say you're paying an extra 100 bucks over the minimum payment every month, but realistically you could be looking at 10 years to get out of the debt you've already incurred.

My girlfriend has 25,000 in students loans from law school. Even if she gets an awesome job making 4-5 grand a month after taxes she'll have to fork over 1,000 a month for over 2 years before she'll be out of debt (and that's assuming NO interest... do you know what the interest rates are on your credit cards? probably in the 15-25% range). Think BIG picture here.

The thing about debt is that it's very helpful when you need it but you should never rely on it to get the things you want....

 

Every time you try to get a loan, the lender is going to weigh your debt to income ratio. When I first went through Honda to finance my F4i, they had me at like 16%. Then the owner of the shopsaid he would try again and request a better rate. They came back with 10.5% and I was on the bike the next week. My credit five years ago was horrible, but I spent those years paying down my old accounts, and not getting new credit. I highly suggest you get yourself on a strict program over the next year or two. Pay all your bills ON TIME, and your credit score will go up big time. Also, get rid of as many of the smaller bills as you can so you have less "hits" on your score. If you havemultiple revovling credit hits, youwill have little success. Be patient, and you will be able to get what you want. Plan for the future, my friend. If the lender says you aren't eligible for a loan...they are probably right, and you can't afford it yet.

 

Honda was going to finance me at 17.6% interest for 72 months only. If I opted for 60 months, it would have been 19.8% F**K THAT! I would be paying over $280/month for 72 months. That's OVER $20,000 when it's all said and paid for! I went to a Federal Credit Union and got my interest down to 8.33% for 60 months with ZERO down (which is the lowest they offer on "luxury" vehicles as motorcycles are classified as). So my payment is a nice, cool $188/month for 60 months (which is nice compared to almost $300.)

 

Damn...I think age has a lot to do with this...I just turned 28 a few weeks ago.Here's my story:

At the end of March, I was hired at a new job. The very next day afterthey made me an offer I went down to the dealer.Having totaledmy other bike the previous October, I was impatient with getting a new bike as soon as I found a new job. I go in to the dealer, said I want that silver2007 1000RR still in the crate and to get it ready for me. Talk to the finance manager and get approved for the full amount of a goldwing if I wanted too. Didn't put any money down and got a nice rate of about 8% I believe. Had no job prior for about 6 months or so and had the bike at my house within a few hours. It also helped that I had financed an 06 honda that I had paid off within a year. Similar story on that one too though.

I think it all depends on previous big ticket loans, income, percentage of amount owed compared to income and paying crap on time.

I've never done this, but go to your bank and see about a loan for the bike you want. They may finance you right on the spot while Honda jerks you off. It's strange how it all works.

 

To build up credit reasonably fast: [ol][*]Take out a secured loan from a bank (meaning if you are taking $500 out, they need $500 to keep in the bank in case you default) DO NOT SPEND IT! You are using this money to pay back the loan[*]Make the 1st 3 payments immediately.[*]Then make normal payments for another month or so.[*]Payoff loan.[*]Repeat process with an unsecured loan (try to take out the maximum amount they will allow you, each time you do this, should increase the amount of risk they are willing to take on you).
[/ol]This will show that you paid off your debt faster than agreed. Furthermore shows that you have made your payments in a timely fashion. They look for timeliness in payments, debt to income ratio and number of inquiries to your credit report in a given time period (Too many inquiries opens up risk to the debtor. They don't want to risk you getting other available credit exposing them to the possibility that you won't be able to afford your payments). Try not to payoff your credit as soon as it is accrued (i.e. always maintaining a zero balance on your credit card). They are looking for an established history that you are able to make REGULAR payments.

Better credit means better terms (i.e. interest rate) and more available capital. Try not to abuse credit though. Try to keep yourself to one or two credit cards. Consolidate them to low interest rate card (0% for x number of months) as soon as possible. ALWAYS pay back on time. Late on one payment may hit your credit report and may result in other credit cards you own from jacking up their rates (depends on the contract).

 

Thats a good point, im going to call my bank today and see what they say about that

 

im a finance manager at a Toyota/Chevrolet car dealership, and have been doing this quite awhile. i can give you help if you need it. based on what you owe, it would depend how much you make to find out if that might go through. i know thats not something you really wanna advertize to strangers on a public forum though. i get people approved for car loans every day with score much lower than yours. if he says he'll work on it for you, chances are he will. thats why he gets paid. i would check with your own bank too though. if your getting rid of a $5k loan and getting a $10k you should be able to get a bank somewhere to do that. whats the payment on the $5k loan, and whats would the payment be on the $10k one? he should have other banks that he deals with too besides just honda. i dont know exactly how they are set up though.


with all that being said, im not saying you SHOULD do this, im just saying it could be done.

 

630 is a very low credit score. Even though you make payments on time it takes months before your credit score will start to shoot up. Also if you don't have a credit history of 3 years or more, that hurts your score.

 

I'm just going to chime in here just because i can relate. I am 21 years old and a senior in college. I paid cash for my 94 F2 and carry only liability on it. My dad is an accountant and my mom is an officer at the bank where I work. I've had a life where managing personal finances has been stressed to an extreme degree. I have a great deal of gratitude for this because, like I said, I'm 21 years old and I am completely debt free. I do have a credit card that may see balances approaching $1000 from time to time, but I'm never behind. I completely know how you feel because I know I could definitely get a loan for a brand new bike, the idea has tempted me quite a bit. But man, you've already got enough payments. The question I always ask myself when I'm wandering back to the parts desk at the dealership past all the new and shiny bikes is, Is that bike going to FEEL like its $5000 BETTER than what I have?? Probably not.
Don't get my wrong, I'll own a brand new bike someday, but right now, its not necessary and its not appropriate for my station in life. I've spent some time dealing with what happens to the people who default on loans while working at the bank. You do not want to be them. Do you ever want to own a house? Peoples dreams start to evaporate real fast once the bank sicks the lawyers on them, and trust me, they're cutthroat. The dealer financing company is going to be as bad if not worse.
I'm willing to venture a guess that you can pull some strings and you'll get approved. They want to give you money, they really do. But if even they are hesitant, you should really be re-evaluating what you WANT and what you NEED.
Not trying to come down on you or anything, I know how tempting it is, but you really need to be exercising a little more caution money-wise.
good luck with whatever you decide.

 

The thing is my payments arent a big deal. I make good money as it is and my fiance` does well also. I total all my bills up and take half out of 1 check an half out of the other. And i always have at least 500$ left over every check after all my bills are taken out, not including what my fiance makes... So paying the payments isnt a problem, its getting them to see that i can afford it... Ive been with the same company now for 4 years, my best friend owns the place an we work great togehter so i dont foresee myself going anywhere else except getting into my own franchise... I make about 37,000 a year and my Fiance` makes about 20,000... thats almost 60,000 combined income so making the payments poses little problem to us... She has a rock solid job with a degree and a career too so shes pretty stable too... I dunno we will see how things go... Hopefully it works, if it doesnt then no big deal either.. its not like i dont have a bike as it is i just wanted a honda