@HeavenOhiowrote:
@Anonymouswrote:
The 0% interest you're floating is going to be offset by the loan rate. I would suggest dumping the 0% interest balances quickly so you can get approved for the best possible rate and terms on the boat loan.
I think this is what crossed people's minds when paying down the cards was recommended, especially when the OP expressed concern about his scores possibly being borderline. I'd surmise that he's almost certainly going to be approved, but the big unknown is his ability to get the best interest rate.
ABCD, how do inquiries work for boat loans? If he shops for loans, can he take hard pulls like he would for an auto or home loan and have them treated as a single inquiry for scoring purposes? If they aren't, that would be another reason to pay down cards. It would give him a cushion to absorb some inquiries.
As far as DTI goes, paying down the cards isn't going to help much as only the minimum payment is considered. However, when lenders look at the balances themselves, they might be happier to see them at least partially erased.
My boat loan shows up as "auto loan" on my credit reports. I have no idea why that's the case and the lender is some small town bank who primarily does boat loans so when I emailed them they said "that's how it reports". I only had 1 inquiry on each report so I have no idea on scoring combination!
I didn't need the loan but I did it as a favor to the seller since I use him a lot. And he's offsetting 100% of interest accruing with free maintenance/dockage so it let me kinda analyze installment utilization vs FICO. Going to pay the thing off in May before the first year, I'm annoyed that it hurts my credit score and the loan is so slow to update (3-4 months old balances!) that it didn't help me analyze FICO at all.
My next boat in December is going to be a cash deal, I will never finance a vehicle again even with 0% interest. What an annoyance every month.
