Tried going thru Lone Mountain to get a truck of my own. They shot me down. I'm 2 mo. from being out here 2 yrs. I don't own a house, have no car payment, no rent, etc. Been working on my credit for the past 2-4 yrs paying down my debt, but in the meantime, i haven't applied for any credit either.

anybody know of another company who looks more at driving history than your credit???

 

I'm going to tell you from my experience , its hard to get approve for a commercial loan the first time. I had to show 3 mo of bank statements, my last yr w2, and put down 25%. My credits score from all 3 bureaus is 702, i got hit with a 14% APR. I'm going to refinance in 6mo with my credit union. The only advice i can give you , start writing a business plan with your bank, like they say in the car biz, cash is king! I think if you put 5k down I think you will have a better chance. I was talking to the finance guy, he was telling me the truck that i selected help me get financed. He told me most people default in the first 3mo after getting financed. I guess that's why they ask for a big down payment.

 

its gonna be hard right now, maybe look at alternatives like driving for a fleetowner or try and take over payment on someones truck?

 

save, save and save some more so you can walk in there with atleast 5-10K and that's AFTER ALL your bad bills are paid up. It will be hard but it will be worth it in the long run if you have no other debts. Stick with Kevin and BOL

 

I just went O/O 4 months ago. When i bought my 75,000 dollar truck i only put down 10%. They almost didn't do the deal cuz i don't own a home. But with my DAD co-signing thats how i got the deal. My salesman at mack told me the 1st time is the ruffest. My credit score is 780 my dads is low 800s. My rate was 9.95%

 

Even when the economy has been good, financing your first truck was a challenge. I paid cash for my first truck and trailer. Several years later I wanted to purchase another truck. I was told that I didn't have any truck credit so it was initially difficult to find financing, even with good credit and a number of years driving experience. I basically wanted to build my equipment credit. I had credit with one bank and they told me that they didn't do commercial loans on class 8 trucks. Since I had done business with them for several years and had good credit they financed a truck for me. Later, I wanted to buy another trailer. They told me the same thing, but financed it for me anyway due to my good credit history and length of time that I had done business with them. I also got the best interest rates that they offered at the time due to my strong history with them. Sometimes you can find a bank or credit union that will work with you if you have had a long relationship with them and decent credit. Some will want a good down payment. I didn't need to put anything down on either of those two pieces of equipment, but I did put something down on both. I doubt that I will finance any more equipment. However, should I decide to I would think that I could go back to this same company and get what I need. In fact, I have more than one that I could go with should I decide to once again have payments. I did not get to that point without paying them as agreed.

I would advise you to start establishing a relationship with a bank or credit union, if you have not already done so. It helps when a bank or lender knows you. Smaller banks often work with customers much more easily than the major banks. Some of the mega banks don't even make lending decisions locally any more. It helps if you have a checking and savings account. Banks like to see regular deposits over a period of time and see how you handle your checking account. If you don't have bounced checks it can help your credit standing with the bank. It demonstrates to them that you know how to handle responsibility and manage your business. They also like to know that you actually have the cash available to pay down on your equipment rather than borrowing your down stroke from another source. The more down you can pay the easier it will be to find suitable financing.

You might also find an equipment leasing company that will work with you. There are several of them around the country. Some want you to have been in business for a while before they will do business with you. The less debt you have when you approach a lender the better. They use ratio's such as debt to income to determine credit worthiness, at least in part. There are also other factors such as level of experience, length of time with your carrier and where you plan on leasing your truck.

If you can come up with $10,000 cash you could probably find a decent truck and pay cash. You might even find what you want at an auction as long as you can pay cash. Another possibility is to pay off a truck that someone is about to lose. Cash talks. :thumbsup:

 

I was looking hard at Lone Mountain several months ago and they looked like a decent easy place to strike a deal....things changed and i decided not to go for it at the time. Started looking again a week or 2 ago and it appears that lone mountain has changed their way of doing business. Before it was more or less a deal of if you had the down payment mon whatever truck at the time you could show up and work a deal and now they have a whole different approval process from what i could see.

 

I think that nearly everyone has developed tighter credit policies. There are some buy here, pay here lots, but you will pay a premium for them to hold the paper just as you would one of the buy here pay her car lots. They get about what they have in the truck as a down payment and then very high weekly or monthly payments. I would not do one of them, but apparently many do. There is a company in Chambersburg, PA called Truck Tech (I believe) that say they can get you financed. I don't know anything about them. There is a leasing company called Kennesaw Leasing that might also help. Another is 4 Points Capital. All of them will do a leases or lease purchase. You are basically buying the truck, but it is set up as a lease. Some leasing companies only do business within a certain region. Sometimes it is easier to lease a truck from one of these leasing companies than go through a regular bank. There is always Navistar, Chrysler Credit and Paccar who do equipment financing. They finance their own as well as other brands of equipment.

 

Not saying you would dump this on your dad, but there is NO WAY I would have asked my dad to co-sign. My dad co-signed on a $49,000 school loan for one of his grand kids before he passed away. Guess what? That has caused all sorts of problems with the family and the estate. Top that off with dad & I had the same name and I've had collctors calling me thinking I co-signed! BTW 9.95% is kinda high isnt it?

 

%9.95% is better than my 14%. I think 9.95% is a good rate on a used piece of equipment!