Buying a boat after bankruptcy

Anyone on the board declare bankruptcy and if so made an attempt to get financing for a boat and the impact that bankruptcy had on there attempts to purchase a boat.

Just go to Equifax.com and get a copy of your credit report and score. It's $12.95. If your score is over 650 or so, you'll have no issue getting financing. Below that and you may get hit with higher rates - too far below and you won't qualify...

Hope this helps.

Boats are considered luxury items. So if you get in trouble it's going to be the first thing to go. I think you will need about 3 years of no lates after the bk and even then it will be at considerably higher rates. Should get better after that but anything bad will hit hard. Sometimes private financing is available, or a co-signer.

If you want your credit report I can run it for free. How long ago was the bk? If you don't already own a home you shouldn't buy a (well, expensive) boat, IMO. If you can secure financing for a home you should be able to finance a boat without a problem..

just bought a boat the dealer said they like to see you in the 700's

The BK hasn't happened yet, (expect it to occur in June). Had a boat but got rid of it long before I have to file the BK. If your talking FICO scores of 650 to 700 that's not going to occur for many years after the BK has been filed, (that's my current expectation). I known you can get a house one to two years after you file a BK. Wanted to known what the expected timeframe would be before a boat could be bought.

David & Brian - Agree that your score needs to be 650 or higher so its the timeframe I'm interested in getting your FICO score back up to that number. How many years would it take.

cdm - Thanks for the offer. Your Opinion is right in regards to buying an expensive boat. I've learned a long time ago that Used carries so much more off the price than brand new. I'm looking at scoring a 2002 to 2004 model year when my scores come back from the BK, (once I buy the house).

Chris - Private/co-signer may be the only route.....

Yeah they are much tougher on boat loans than other types of loans. You will have to put down a lot of money to get approved, have a very high income and you will still get hit with a high interest rate.

All this because they figure the boat is the first thing you will stop paying on if you run into trouble. I would say the most important of above is the high down payment. Like 40 or 50% down. Then they know if you stop paying they will most likely not lose money if they have to repo and sell it. But be prepared for credit card type rates!

Just claimed bankruptcy.... hmmm.... I would have to say... ride with friends.... why buy something else that will send you into your second bankruptcy....

Some people never learn....

But honestly... I have gotten some very good deals on boats from people that have gone bankrupt....

Kyle,

Don't assume that the boat caused the BK - it did not. What caused the BK is the loss of job during the dot com blow-up. I don't care who you are, (unless you have a trust fund or high-income parents sitting in the wings to save your butt in case you run into problems) when the job goes and you have the massive move of IT jobs to offshore companies things can get rough pretty quick, (heck I had over 12 months worth of savings that I had to piss through before getting to this point). And notice I made the point to drop the boat before it was time to file BK.

I can't count how many companies use BK to restructure their debt to give them a fresh start. Heck Worldcomm/MCI was the latest company that utilized this method to restructure debt and allow them to continue to do business.

The best teacher can be the school of hard knocks and if anything I've learned one thing from all this - plans you make in life are just that - plans. Hopefully the next time around the job situation will afford a little more stability so I want have to go through this again.

good luck! It could take many yrs of positive credit to get your scores back up into the ranges discussed above.

Thanks cdm - It's all good and I expect my boat buying days are far from over...

When you start looking for $ , join a credit union.........I have 698 score and had hard time getting $ , but went to Credit Union in O.C. and they got me my 03 Malibu.........SWEET.

Hey JT,

That is SWEET indeed. Enjoy the malibu - it's a great boat

It all depends on your current score and income. If it's high enought to absorb the BK you won't have a problem. Unfortunatley, most people that file have already let too many things go 30-60 days late.