Protecting your personal credit score, plus some humor

In today’s message:

• How getting equipment can harm your personal credit score
• Some humor…
• Helping you buy or sell equipment

How getting equipment can harm your personal credit score

Getting equipment can hurt your credit score, even if you make every payment on time. And having a corporation doesn’t help.

If a carrier is incorporated, the owners usually think it’s the business that borrows the money to acquire new or used equipment. But, in a way, the owners are borrowing, too. And this can have an effect on their credit scores.

Virtually all institutions that offer loans or leases to small and medium-sized trucking companies require the company owners to co-sign all borrowing documents. So even though the carrier’s name is at the top of the page, the owner’s name still shows up at the bottom.

This is, in part, because experience shows that most people who co-sign are motivated by this to make sure their company makes every monthly payment. But there are some individuals who are not always so motivated. These folks sometimes have a bad credit history already. That’s why one of the first things we look at before approving a loan or lease for a carrier is the personal credit history of the owner.

Why this can hurt an owner with good credit is that whenever a lender requests a credit report, the request is listed on subsequent credit reports and it cuts the credit score by several points. Multiple requests can give the appearance either that the owner is shopping for credit and is in financial difficulty, or that the other lenders have refused to grant credit for reasons unknown. Multiple requests will then reduce your credit score significantly.

An easy solution includes two preventive steps:

1. When you apply for credit of any kind, always provide a recent copy of your credit report and score, because if you request your own credit report, that request does not harm your score.  Reputable lenders – like Aquilian – will be happy to accept your copy of the report and refrain from making their own request. This method avoids multiple lender requests. Your own personal credit report can be obtained once a year through www.annualcreditreport.com. But to apply for credit, we need to see your Equifax report and score. It costs about $16: http://www.equifax.com/equifax-credit-score/  Once you have purchased it, find the link to “Print Credit Report”. That’s the document we need. If we request it for you, that will hurt your score..
2. When buying equipment from a dealer, do not use their in-house financing, unless their brand manufacturer is advertising a fixed, low rate for everyone. Equipment dealers often compensate for slim profit margins on the sale of equipment by earning large fees on financing. They do this by shopping your credit around to the highest bidder. Aquilian will beat the dealers’ rates without beating up your credit score.

Some humor

Here are a few gems from a master of one-liners, Stewart Francis:

My dad has a weird hobby: he collects empty bottles… which sounds so much better than “alcoholic.”

In school I wanted to join the debating team.. but someone talked me out of it.

There’s a man in my neighbourhood who is in the Guiness Book of World Records for having forty-three concussions; he lives very close, actually, just a stone’s throw away…

And even though I’m proud that my father invented the rear-view mirror, we’re not as close as we appear.

My doctor thinks I’m taking hallucinogenic drugs… how do I know?… let’s just say a little bird told me.

I was wondering why a Frisbee appears larger, the closer it gets… and then it hit me.

My girlfriend thinks I’m very mature. She also thinks I’m incapable of being faithful. My wife, on the other hand…

Did I already tell you my Alzheimer’s joke?

Helping you buy or sell equipment

• Do you have equipment you’d like to sell, but buyers don’t have enough cash?
• Do you want to buy from a private seller who wants only cash?
• Do you have an employee who could be an owner-operator, if only they could get financing?
• Do you want your owner-operator to replace equipment or get an additional unit?
• Does your bank or leasing company say, “No”?

We can help, at no cost to you.