Creating a Garden club plan

[Anonymous]

Hello all,

Thank you for taking the time to read my request. I am feeling a bit lost as to how to go about accomplishing my goals and I really enjoyed the idea of the garden club and was wondering if I could get some input on some questions. I hope this is the right place because I want to create an overall plan and garden club it, but if it isn't Apologies. 

Here are my scores and info

Fico score 8:

Equifax:758

Transunion:782

Experian:745

Fico score 8 bank card:

Equifax:764

Transunion:799

Experian:756

I have one bank issue cc American express classic from usaa, the classic. 500 limit with no possibility of increase.  This account has been opn a year and 5 months Now. No balance. 

I have 3 installment accounts reported. 1 open with only 300 dollars left. Other 2 closed in good standing. Its an old student that can be paid off any time. No other debt. 

No negative items other than 1 hard pull I had from an Amazon prime card in July. I was rejected for having a " thin file" the bank was Jpmcb. 

So, my goals:

I am a disabled vet that works as a commercial trucker in the flatbed industry doing airplane material hauling mostly. I work salary.  I've been at my company for 15 months and I don't think I'm going anywhere for a while.

I would like to buy a house. Having the va loan, I know I can do this with very little down and I plan on buying something modest in maine. 

I am also considering buying my own semi and going out on my own. This requires substantial savings and substantial credit. Not just for a good deal on a semi  and equipment but having a cushion in the event a serious mechanical issue comes up. Im hesitant to name a number but 20 to 30k in credit would seem ideal. Especially since when im on my own ill be spending 800 to 1500 a week on fuel alone.  Trucking is very cash heavy. 

After applying for that prime card in the summer , I really dont know what im doing and am not sure what to finance and thru who to grow my credit? I'm opening to financing a new laptop or any other large ticket item and paying it off same month. I do have a modest savings. Im trying to get my own truck/house so I keep no debt and don't want to finance anything unless its strategically towards my goal.  

Thank you for your time and consideration,

-moo

[tcbofade]

If a home purchase is in the near future, I suggest you contact a mortgage broker.

It's generally a bad idea to open new accounts elsewhere when you're planning for a mortgage in the next twelve months.

Which do you want first?  The house or the truck?

[sxa001]

First off you are on the right path.  Your FICO scores are in a good place and your only issue is just lack of credit history.   There are probably a lot of different directions in which we can take this thread.  Like @tcbofade mentioned, knowing your actual goal would be helpful as that will change what we suggest.  For example, if you want to buy a house in the next year then you don't want to go and open up a bunch of cards. 

Here are my initial thoughts: 

1) The HP is not a negative per se, it is an inquiry and having too many inquires can have a negative impact but if you are rational about your applications and don't do anything crazy having a few HP's a year is not going to really hurt much in the long run. 

2) You do want to minimize HP's and not have any a year before applying for a big loan like a mortgage, also new accounts a year before trying to buy a house is not ideal as mortgage scores (different from FICO8) are more sensitive to new accounts. 

3) For the trucking side, I am not in the industry but I will suggest if you haven't already, make sure you do a lot of research about owner/operators, and make a business plan.  Not sure if you are going to try doing local/regional or OTR trucking.  This may sway if you want to buy a house now or not.  

3a) If you do decide to go the route of getting a trucking business loan, you will want to start a business entity of some sort, like an LLC and not take on loans or business expenses on personal credit. 

Check out the scoring primer: https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/General-Scoring-Primer-and-Version-8-Mas...

That is for FICO8 and not specific to mortage scores but is a lot of good information.  If the house is going to wait more than a year you might consider trying to open a couple of accounts now like maybe a Discover Card or American Express, you might be able to get in with both so you would have 3 cards and can practice the AZEO tricks.  

One more thought, you might financing a laptop and then paying in full to build your credit.  You don't really need to do that.  You have the installment loan (student loan) I would keep that open for a while if you can as it will help your scores if it stays current, and then just add a couple of cards if you aren't planning to app for a house in the next 12 months.  

Apart from that, your issue today isn't FICO8 scores, you may want to sign up on MyFICO to get your full scores including the Mortage scores but in the end your best thing is going to be time, as your report ages you should be more attractive to lenders. 

[Anonymous]

Thank you both. I saw your replies yesterday, sat with it, slept on it. Im going to call a mortgage broker.

The top 2 for va loans are veteran united and navy Federal. I will contact them this week and get the ball rolling. They may want to see something better than what I have so well see.

As for the trucking piece, I have a pretty standard plan for new owner ops. Ooida landstar or even my current company but home comes first. 

I'll continue to keep my installment account open and see what the brokers say.

Again thank you.