Offer from Dealer

[Katherine]

The dealer we were talking to said that out credit is not the best and not the worst. My husband is 25 and I am 24, and she said that with out young age out tastes would change and we should get a used home through them and they would find someone to supply us with land and make one payment out of it. She said it could be considered an owner financing and that it would be paid off in five years and we could then start looking for something else if we wanted. She also said that they would report out positive payment record to the credit agencies every month. Does this sound plausible or are we being taken for a ride. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[Mac]

Here are two pieces of advice: First, you can pull your own credit reports - free - go to FTC.gov. Also, if you go to myfico.com, you can order your credit score from Fair Issac & Co. (they do most of the credit scoring). You need to get a basic understanding of home mortgages and how they work. If you bought a home and land, your payments would be extremely high if you were to in fact pay it off in five years. It sounds to me as though this dealer wants to get you into something and will say anything to do it.
Read ANY financed-by-dealer/buy-here-pay-here contract VERY CAREFULLY - if in doubt, the $100 you will spend to have a real estate attorney look at it will be a huge bargain.
Good luck - do your homework first.

[rmurray]

The other post here has some great advice...


That said...this still could be a good deal...but remember you have to pay the payments on time to get a good rating...

There are good furnace program for first time buyers that forgive a few past problems...you might want to check with other dealers in the area as well...If you have a few older but small problems..

FHA will furnace you if you have good payment records for the last 12 months..they usually only do new homes and land...they will count the rent..electric bill..and the like as credit references..

even if your problems were recent..you could rent for a year...pay ALL bills on time..and qualify in 12 months for a new home...Check around..

[Kevin C]

I'd highly recommend you purchase and read either or both of the follwowing books that are available on this web site. The books are "Buying a Manufactured Home" by Kevin Burnside and "The Complete Buyer's Guide to Manufactured Homes and Land" by John Grissim. They are excellent books that will step by step take you through the buying process and help you avoid the pitfalls of unscrupulos dealers.

I've read both these books twice and will read them again before completing any deal. They are well worth the few $$ they cost.

[John Grissim]

Dear Katherine,

I'm grateful to Kevin C for his recommendation that you get my book, The Complete Buyer's Guide to Manufactured Homes & Land. It's especially helpful for first time MH buyers like you because it provides you with essential knowledge about how this industry operates, including inside secrets even the good guys don't want you to know.

As to your dealer, I'm very suspicious of your dealer's behavior. Sounds lilke she didn't even tell you your score! If so, this is manipulative! And, to my mind, a big red flag that they are not trustworthy. My book tells you how to get your own credit score so you're in control. Sure, they might tell you they'll send in regular reports to the credit bureaus that your payments are on time, but there is such a huge turnover of employees, and even dealerships, in the MH industry that in six months you might not even be able to find anyone who had anything to do with your home purchase. I urge you to get the Buyer's Guide. It's the perfect weapon you need -- and deserve.

[rmurray]

I agree whole heartedly that buyers should have the esentials of their credit situation...including credit score....but...they should be very careful...

Some of the credit reporting companies are selling credit scores that are NOT on the Fair Iassc model...these scores are useless..I have not read your section on scores...but the best place to get them is at MyFico.com...These are the same scores that lenders actually use and are generated by Fair Issac Company...

I myself got caught in this scam....thankfully I did not pay extra for the service...Some software I use came with a free year of credit monitoring from Experian,,,,The service involves access to your "score" and credit files at experian for a year....

The score the I was given was called a "PLUS SCORE"...Somehow this score was much higher than my FICO score based on Experian information...gotten the same day...The free score I got was 40 points higher than the actual score used by lenders...

Consumers have to watch out everywhere for useless info and products...not just at the manufactured home dealer...

[Katherine]

Thanks for the advice. She did show us our scores, and there were some mistakes on it. We pointed those out and she said she could help us clear up the errors, for a fee. She told us she has helped many people with their credit. The mistakes were things like still showing a balance when it has been paid off for 6 months or longer. My husband lost his job about two years ago and that put us behind on bills. But in the past two years we have paid most of them off and are current on the other ones.

[Mac]

You can clear up your own errors if you do your homework. If I were you, I'd spend the $14.95 at myfico.com. What's the old saying? Trust but verify?
There are lots of people who will charge you to correct the mistakes on your credit report, but it would be a good learning experience for you to go through that process yourself. This is a large investment. Make it carefully, with as little emotion as possible. Trust me, I learned the hard way.
By the way, we live in a nice triple and would do it again in a minute. I learned a great deal going through that.
Good luck!

[John Grissim]

Mac, your suggestion that they go through the process of credit correction themselves, rather than pay for the service, is excellent. I intend to warn my readers of potential scams with "correction services" in my next book revision. I'll also check out myfico.com.

Murray, your caution about the Plus Fico scores provided by third party operators is also important, and will be included as well. FWIW, in my chapter on getting your own credit score, I recommend dealing directly with the big three credit bureaus (Equifax, TransUnion and Experion) and I provide their toll free numbers and web sites.

[Tanya]

For general information about credit, personal finances etc, I highly recommend Suze Orman's books and TV show. I have almost every single one of her books. Fantastic for the layperson who wants to learn about everything from Fico scores and credit repair to how to make sure their assets (like a new home) goes to the right person in the event of your death. Completely changed my financial life.