Is it really better to finance a car to build credit even if you can pay cash for it?
We have enough money to pay cash for our new car, but several people have told me that I should finance it anyway to build my credit so it will benefit us when we go to buy a house.
November 4th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
No. You should never pay interest if you don’t have to. You can build credit by using a credit card and paying the full amount when the bill is due. Also make sure that any other bills that you have are paid in full at the time they are due. Your credit report will come back great. (as long as you don’t have anything really bad from the past on there.)
November 6th, 2008 at 2:40 am
yes you should finance. your credit rating is based upon the amount of debt that you can and have handled as well as just paying your bills. It is risky to buy the car outright because what if you get in an accident, trying to recover all your cash from insurance is almost impossible. If you want to sell the car at a later point yopu may not get the money back. This may also happen if you finance but at least you are not sure to loose it. Finance the car and invest the rest of your cash to offset the interest.
November 6th, 2008 at 3:49 am
No, do not put anything on credit.
When it is time for you to buy a house, find a mortgage company that does manual underwriting. They will not base it on your credit, they will base it on you, your work history, etc.
Please check out this website before you put anything on credit:
His program is helping us get out of debt, and build wealth.
November 6th, 2008 at 11:59 am
That is true that when you buy a house they will check on your credit history, and it is true that there are other ways to buid credit, and it is true that you shouldn’t pay interest if you don’t need to.
So, it is your choice, in fact, you could finance your car, if you find another good use on the cash you have for it, like if you are thinking of some business and maybe will need the cash to finance it. Or if the momento of buy your house is close, you can use the cash for the initial pay, so you will need less money for the loan.
But if you wont use the cash, and that money would be just in a saving account, you should use it for the car, and get some other credits like in credit cards.
So, it depends on your needs, and your projects in general.