New family car, buying a house and credit scores!

Any good financial people in here? I was just trying to roughly plan out some things here. I currently have a car with a loan that I am now able to pay off. I was actually able to pay that off sooner but kept the loan to "build up" my credit score, to get different types of credit on my record. My current score is 777.

Our other car is a 2 door car, and we have a kid now so this is not cutting it anymore! We have way too much luggage and people visiting. We want to buy an Odyssey in the next 3-4 months, and would get a loan, and I think I can put down 50% on the car. Should I go ahead and pay off the loan now on my other car if I'm able to?

At the same time, I am saving money for a down payment on a house and have almost reached my goal. Ideally, I wouldn't buy an Odyssey until after closing on the house, but I cannot even say when we would get the house. We are looking for new construction in Cary, NC and neighborhoods are not ready yet.

Does anyone have an idea or been in this situation of paying off auto loans and getting new ones, on what effect it would have on my credit score? No late payments or other marks on my credit score. I'm just concerned about having the best credit score possible for a mortgage these days I guess. My other 2-door car is a 2001 Acura CL-S with 170k miles on it. Very well maintained and I have taken good care of it. But this model year has known transmission issues and is known to "go out" at any time without warning. I have replaced the tranny fluid every 15k miles! Or should I setting aside a few grand for a used car to pay in cash (avoid taking out another loan because that would affect the credit score)

 

I'm no financial expert, but I recently bought my house and bought my Tacoma all within 4 months. Please forgive me if I'm just saying what you already know.
Your credit score is awesome so that'll help with the interest on your loans. I'd say, pay off the car you're close to being done making payments on
Depending on how much you still owe on your Acura, you might be able to convince a dealership to pay off the rest OR if you do private party, have the buyer take over your payments.
I also recommend putting a little away at a time for your down payment. Try to make your up front costs as little as you can. Closing costs surprised me when I finally got to that stage so try to make the seller pay for that also.

Good luck with everything dude, it'll all feel great once it's behind you.

 

If you plan on buying a house don't start another loan or get another credit card until after you get your new house, unless you plan to have it all paid off 6 months prior. There are a lot of do's and don'ts on the web for this topic. Just do a search on any mortgage website.

 

Unless you're well established I agree 100% with the above. Seeing as how you're still building the score, I'd get the house before I started anything else.

 

I work in finance, I would say hold off on buying the car! That could stop you from getting into your home. Once your home purchase is complete, then go find your new car!

 

There's so much more that goes into buying a home than credit score. What's your debt-to-income (DTI)? Your credit score will not hinder you in anyway from getting a loan, but your total debt payments may if you add another loan (but they may not matter at all, depending upon your income). Without knowing your gross income or other debt, here's what my initial suggestion would be:

Pay off the car loan, IF that cash isn't from your down payment savings. Or even better, can you use that money and pay 100% cash for the Odyssey? Then you keep a longer-term loan on your credit (better than a new loan), and you avoid another credit inquiry. But don't sacrifice your home savings just to pay off the car loan.

Bottom line, it comes down to what your cash savings amounts are, how much income you make a month, and how much ongoing debt you want/can afford. We really don't know enough yet to make a great recommendation, but what I wrote above would be my first step.

 

When I bought my house back in 2013, I had a loan out with Kubota (0% for 60months) and had about 28 months left on it. All through the loan process we were fine, however at the last minute that loan put a stop on us buying the house because the bank said I couldn't afford the tractor payment of $115 a month.

So we had to pay off the Kubota loan, which we were able to do. And then got the home loan... 2 months later I purchased my Tacoma at 2.25%

 

Subbed, I'm in the market for buying a house, but need to build up my score somehow.

 

Unless you absolutely need it, I'd get the car after the house. It's a lot easier to get qualified for a car loan than a home loan and the car loan can hinder the home loan process.

When I was buying my house I set my house price limit based off of what I had available for a 20% down payment. I set another 15% aside for things that I thought I'd need for the house (closing costs, new carpet, new locks, other little things). My realtor offered use of a moving truck but since we were moving a few blocks, we had him hire a cleaner for the new house and the rental we were leaving.

While I was setting aside money for the house, I looked at my other debt, which fortunately didn't amount to much more than a couple of student loan payments. If I'd had a car payment I would have looked at paying it off before starting the home loan process. I also started calling my credit card companies and asked for increases in my limits. I didn't go nutso here, just a few grand here and there every six months. This, along with paying off the cards every month, helped get my credit score comfortably above 800, which helped bring the interest rates down. 20% down saved me a few hundred a month in mortgage insurance and also made the loan process easier.

 

Just something to consider...

After the purchase of a home you will probably need to hold out a bit before you finance a car. When I first bought my home I didn't quality for squat immediately after and prior to the purchase I had an 800+ credit score. I guess between the credit check process and taking on a sizable loan like a house you temporarily get put on the shit list. I think once a few payments are made everything returns to normal.