Update to the Last Post

With the morning light comes revelation, or so they say. Anyway, here's where we stand:

#1: We did some math last night (I neglected to put that in the last post) and I think we can swing both bikes and the insurance to cover them. With the right financing, me working now and with DH's child support ending, we'll have a little extra cash to throw around on something.

#2: My credit score isn't bad necessarily, but it's not great. I have an option that I might consider, though; I won't have my bike or my husband's bike this summer, but it will allow us to get a better rate next year if we want to wait. I could go out and buy a TV or something on credit, pay it off in six months and up my score a little bit, which in turn will maybe give us a better rate. That would work well in either situation we're considering (see below).

#3: I called dad last night and asked him why our current mortgage doesn't appear on our credit report. It's because we pay THEM the mortgage payment instead of a bank, and thus it doesn't get reported to the credit bureaus. We pay the mortgage on time and in full every month (and have for four years), but that does not impact our credit score at all, either good or bad.

#4: I called dad this morning to see what he thought about our idea of buying the bikes. He suggested that we, instead of buying the bikes, we look into trading in one of our cars (which we don't owe anything on) in favor of a more gas efficient hybrid car. That's a good idea, but because of the aforementioned low credit score (and my experience in the auto industry) I know that when trying to finance that amount of money (about $25,000 or so) for a new car with my credit score, we're going to get a really HORRIBLE interest rate (I'm talking upwards of 25%), the payments will be WAY more than we can afford per month ($300 on average) and although it will probably be more practical, we'd be getting in WAY over our heads on a new car when our current cars are in good working order. I can't even find a gas / electric hybrid locally - I'd have to go at least an hour away to even test drive one, and I don't like the only one I've found in the state so far (color is icky, and it's a hatchback - yuck). Conman's too young to ride the bike now, but by next summer he ought to be able to ride (I hope). If we need to transport him, we'll still have the cars.

#5: I asked Dad if he'd cosign for a car if that's the direction we decide to go in (he'd have a better credit score and perhaps help us get a better rate) and was told, unequivocally, "no". I think the exact phrasing was, "I'm not cosigning for anything". Okay, thanks Dad. Don't gripe (or you, Mom) when we end up with 2 motorcycles instead of the more practical car to help with the gas crunch. Beggars can't be choosers, and in this case, we're beggars.

That's the way it stands right now. I'm still waiting for the store manager to log into his instant messenger so I can discuss prices on a second bike, and see if it's even possible to finance two bikes on one deal (I'm pretty sure I can, we've done it for other customers before), and to find out exactly what paperwork we'd need for them, stuff like that. Just kinda get stuff down so I can get it rolling (pardon the pun).

Cross your fingers for me - something's got to give. I'm up to my ears in gas (i.e., car fuel) bills, and either option would help with that a little.