Thoughts of LoWriter

Congrats!

For some reason the lending corporations of the world don't think you are capable of paying back loans unless you own a house. When I bought my first car that I didn't pay for in cash, I had good credit, but not much history, which meant that if I wanted to get the loan without a cosigner it would have been like 9% interest versus 6%. Then I bought a house and a year later got another car loan, and without any hassle I got a 6% all my myself. It's one of those strange catch-22 situations where they won't give you a decent loan unless you have a history of paying back a long term loan which you can't get because you don't have a history of paying back a long term loan, etc.

Anyone wanna start a commune?

Congrats Lo!!! You rock!! (I think I may have mentioned this the other night)

schdav: actually I had absolutely no problem getting a loan after I graduated and this is with no loan (outside of school) before and having just gotten my permenant job (although I could claim 6 years at Bethel). I also got 3.9% financing on my used car and all of this was without a cosigner, therefore I think it has little to do with owning a home as it does with your credit history. Now Bremer Bank was an idiot since Lo did have credit history with them, and I don't know much about her credit history before that - but here's what I did to get a great rate and loan right after college. I had my own apartment for at least 9 months previous, I had numerous credit cards and a credit history on one card for the 3 years previous, I also had permenant employment at Bethel and Kohl's and I had worked my way through school. I am not saying Lo didn't do these things, because obviously it sounds like Bremer Bank pointed to her job as the reason - which is pretty dumb and they should eat their heart out now that you have paid it all off!!

I had totally had a credit card for several years that I never carried a balance on. (i.e. I charged stuff, but I paid it off monthly.) I may have had more than one credit card but it couldn't have been more than two. My credit limits were not that high. I had permant employment with Century, but it was seasonal, so that was the problem. Basically, a seasonal job is not considered as stable as a full-time job. And it's not as stable. Let's take this year for example when I had to wait until oh, THREE DAYS before the start of summer term for them to decide that I was going to work for them this summer and not have to find a temp job. This is why they were concerned, even though my employment had been more tenuous previously and I had made the payments each month.

Additionally, you'd also been working for Khol's, which I would have been fine if I'd have had a second job.

And yes, they can kiss my grits. I'm a H----. When we make a promise, we mean it. We don't screw people. When we say we'll do something, we mean it. We don't shoot our mouths off about love or money. That's how my family operates. It probably helped that the credit union had had doings with me, my daddy, my daddy's daddy, and probably all of us since my family moved to NW MN.

Also, I hope loans aren't based on houses because I don't intend to own one unless I have a family one day or unless I take over the family farm someday. Blah. When the heat went out this winter, I called the caretaker, and he had to fix it. When I came into the laundry room to find water all over the floor from the previous person's laundry, I called the caretaker and he fixed the machine. When my balcony looked like crap, I called the landlord, and they re-painted it. There are many many benefits of being a rentor. People say I'm throwing my money away, but I say that I am paying extra in order to live the good life.

One thing to point out is they probably like you less than if you would have paid it off at the normal schedule though. Paying it off early means they get less money from you... Anyways, yea the whole credit thing is weird. It depends on loans you have, how many credit cards (more is better if you manage them right), how high an average balance you throw through them (the higher the better, as long as it's not near the limit), and your payment history. Houses really help you out, but other stuff can work too. As for owning a house, yea you have to fix stuff (unless you get someone to assign most of the work). The catch is with a house you actually basically get your payments back when you sell. So I say it's worth it.

Well, I've got my sister's money in that savings account right now, and my fam does lots of business with them, and we always pay it off early if we can, so I think I'll be OK. Companies like Bremer might not like me, but the credit union had my savings account from the time it was opened when all I had were penny rolls. They know on which side their bread is buttered. :)

That may be true about the house, but once again, I can barely get my dishes done with the free time I have now. If the basement sprung a leak, I would be so screwed. Nope. The apartment life is the life for me. :)

congrats lo!!! we should take out our paid off twin cars and do some doughnuts at the Bou parking lot in celebration of ownership!

that's why they call a house an INVESTMENT. it takes up time, energy and of course, money. i thought about owning for a while, cuz we can afford the monthly payments. But, when i think about what type of place we want, in the areas that we want, the condition of the house would probably be labeled "fixer-upper". and we could not afford that. i refuse to live in teh suburbs, no matter how "convenient" and "cheap" it is. i also refuse to buy a condo as they are really not selling these days. its a hard decision. so, b/c i have found an area i love and rent i can totally afford, i'm very happy with our situation.

credit cards are sticky things. i think our credit has been bumped up a notch or two cuz we just paid off a big ol' balance. this is good b/c of effing student loans. well, my student loans. i feel like a big burden. thanks bethel... ;o)