Building your dream homestead

[Beekissed]

No God, no peace.
Know God, know peace.

I like that, MMD!

 

[Chic Rustler]

I'd say credit. #1!

You need a few lines that go a few years. Without good credit you'll pay twice as much for the same property.

So if you plan on buying a home place I'd say start a few lines right now. And diversify as the years pass. Look I to some sort of savings fund thing to put money in. Make that a bill that u pay weekly no matter what.

Takes more than money to buy a place. Try to get your score up to 700 at least. Get a credit card for a year then do a personal loan etc. Takes time. Be patient and keep paying the bills

 

[frustratedearthmother]

That's great advice! Gotta establish credit and keep it in good shape!

 

[BarredBuff]

I'd say credit. #1!

You need a few lines that go a few years. Without good credit you'll pay twice as much for the same property.

So if you plan on buying a home place I'd say start a few lines right now. And diversify as the years pass. Look I to some sort of savings fund thing to put money in. Make that a bill that u pay weekly no matter what.

Takes more than money to buy a place. Try to get your score up to 700 at least. Get a credit card for a year then do a personal loan etc. Takes time. Be patient and keep paying the bills

I just bought a car to drive to work. My truck couldn't cut the fuel mileage. I thought about getting a credit card to use only for fuel. Then pay it off every month. Thoughts?

 

[Beekissed]

I just bought a car to drive to work. My truck couldn't cut the fuel mileage. I thought about getting a credit card to use only for fuel. Then pay it off every month. Thoughts?

You won't gain credit by paying it off every month...made that mistake on a few things and found out they don't consider it a good thing if you pay it off sooner. They want to see you making monthly payments on time and they also want to see someone earning interest off those payments.

At my bank they have a program where you can deposit 1K into an account, which they hold for collateral. Then they loan you 1K and you make monthly payments on it. When you are done, they refund you your 1K you placed with them...probably minus the interest, I don't know all the details. It would be easy to deposit that 1K loan into a savings and have those payments auto paid out of that account so you would never miss a payment and you'd always have the money to pay them.

Walmart used to have a card you could buy and use as a credit card too, to build credit. Not sure how that worked or if they still do it.

 

[baymule]

Yes, get a credit card, charge on it, but so not pay it off every month. Make 2-3 payments on it. After a time, get another card and do the same thing. rotate charging on the cards, making payments on them. The bank loan is another good idea. Build up your credit!

 

[Chic Rustler]

I just bought a car to drive to work. My truck couldn't cut the fuel mileage. I thought about getting a credit card to use only for fuel. Then pay it off every month. Thoughts?

Not a bad idea to get a credit card. Idk if paying it off every month is bad or not. But having another line with consistent on time payments is a big help! Don't start too may lines at once. Wait 6 months or so before you open a new line of credit. Don't leave credit cards inactive for too long either.

Join credit karma but don't get suckered in to every credit card offer they give u.

 

[tortoise]

You absolutely do get credit paying it off every month. DH has done that and his credit is dang near perfect! Fewer cards is better than more, older accounts are way, way better than newer accounts. Every time you open an account your credit will dip. You don't need a lot of accounts. I believe the magic number is three.

Most my credit is from a line of credit on my checking account. I haven't used it in a decade and it still records a good mark for me every month. The rest of my credit came from being added to DH's credit card back when we were dating/living together and he was worried about me travelling without a credit card. I think that raised me 100 points back then! He always pays the bill - no interest.

High limits are good, but never, ever, use more than 2/3 of it. (at least on a credit card)

Building good credit is very EASY. Ruining good credit with an unpaid bill is ever EASIER. Are you familiar with Dave Ramsey? The emergency savings account is crucial. I could have had good credit a long time ago if I had had enough saving to cover a medical bill that ended up going to collections.

 

[Chic Rustler]

Yes dont max out credit cards. Thats terrible on ur score!

What they want to see is active, responsible credit management.

So you got a car loan. Wait six months and get a credit card with no annual fee. Then 6 months after that get a personal loan from your bank. Etc. Make a good relationship with your bank. I bought my house threw my personal bank. But It wasn't my first loan from them, they bailed me out of a jam more than once.