Well , about 18mos ago, (I think) I ended up in this very forum with very similar situations to alot of the posters on this board. I try and come back every time that I reach a "milestone" for myself , I like to share , not to brag, but rather to give hope to those who think that you cannot do it. YOU CAN ! I myself, put my nose to the grindstone and got those "baddies" off of my reports and started again. I followed a TON of advice from posters on this forum and it has worked out great ! I started with NOT A SINGLE positive item on any bureau and a mid 500's score. Well, fastforward from late 2010 to August 2012 when I took home a brand new 2012 Toyota 4runner for about $35,000 with ZERO$ down. The cards in the signature line have all been achieved over the last 18 mos. Only change I would make would be NOT to have accumulated so many in a short period of time.... remember its a marathon not a sprint 
Love success stories!!! Congrats.
July 2013 score: EQ FICO 819, TU08 778, EX "806 lender pull 07/26/2013
Goal Score: All Scores 760+, Newest goal 800+
Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge
Current scores after adding $81K in CLs and 2 new cars since July 2013
EQ:809 TU 777 EX 790 Now it's just garden time!
June 2017 update: All scores over 820, just pure gardening now.
Great success, but putting zero down on a vehicle purchase is about the worst thing you can do.
Starting Score: 521 TU, 597 EQ, 574 EX on 6/20/2011
@mtrsprt wrote:Great success, but putting zero down on a vehicle purchase is about the worst thing you can do.
not always. If they have the 0% APR offer (and you qualify for both the 0 down and 0 apr). Then it would make more financial sense to keep that money in a bank account earning some interest while your paying none and then each month take the money you would put towards a down payment and add that to your monthly payment.
But then again thats really only if you qualify and they are offering/allowing both of those options.
@scarrollprint wrote:
@mtrsprt wrote:Great success, but putting zero down on a vehicle purchase is about the worst thing you can do.
not always. If they have the 0% APR offer (and you qualify for both the 0 down and 0 apr). Then it would make more financial sense to keep that money in a bank account earning some interest while your paying none and then each month take the money you would put towards a down payment and add that to your monthly payment.
But then again thats really only if you qualify and they are offering/allowing both of those options.
The number of qualifying buyers to be awarded 0% financing, is about 2%. Also, to recieve 0% after you qualify, you most usually have to finance the term for no longer than 36 months, OR have a 25-30% down payment.
Putting zero down on a new car purchase, that you will take to 50% of the term or longer, is a good way to pretty much go instantly upside down. My brother is a finance manager at a very large volume dealership. He has shown me the best and worst ways to purchase/finance vehicles over the past 20 years.
@mtrsprt wrote:The number of qualifying buyers to be awarded 0% financing, is about 2%. Also, to recieve 0% after you qualify, you most usually have to finance the term for no longer than 36 months, OR have a 25-30% down payment.
Putting zero down on a new car purchase, that you will take to 50% of the term or longer, is a good way to pretty much go instantly upside down. My brother is a finance manager at a very large volume dealership. He has shown me the best and worst ways to purchase/finance vehicles over the past 20 years.
If one can swing the loan into 36 month payments and qualifies I see no reason not to do so.
I never said it was always the right choice, just said if the stars aligned it would make sense.
30k car would be payments of $833.33/month If you can swing that much on a car payment (say if you make $150K a year that wouldn't be a stretch depenidng on your other spending habits) it would make more sense to take the 20% ($6000) and put it in a high yeild savings account (mine gets 1.75%) and not touch it for a year that would grant you an extra $105 there. then after that you can use that money towards your payments - that 6k would be about 7 months payments.
I'm not trying to be argumentive, just trying to prove that your blanket statement isn't always true for everyone.
Yes not everyone qualifies - and yes not every one makes over 150k a year but there are some in which that is the case.
My father is one who has imppecable credit and has no bills other tahn food/gas/taxes/utilites and he bought a car using the 0%apr and 0 down but then again he made well 150K and had the intentions of paying 100% cash for the vehicle but instead put the money in the bank so it could earn interest and just made payments out of that account.