After a very long and very rough few years financially, we're doing our best to repair and build credit scores, make smart decisions, and pay off unnecessary debt. We've reached a point where we're considering selling our house and it looks like after we pay off the mortgage we'd clear about $96,000. We're only considering this because my mother purchased the family farm after my grandparents passed away but she doesn't live there and would be fine with us living there rent free as long as we handle the cost of repairs, utilities, upkeep/maintenance, etc. This is really a great plan and we're strongly considering it. That said, it's also time to think seriously about purchasing a new vehicle. We haven't purchased a vehicle since 2016 and we've far outgrown it (a very small Chevy Trax) with our three now teenagers. We're considering two options....one would be to use a portion of that profit, roughly $40,000 to purchase a new vehicle outright with cash. The other would be to use $10,000 or $20,000 of it as a down payment and finance the rest ($20,000-$30,000 depending on down payment).
Here's the kicker....because I've been shouldering the brunt of the credit problems my credit is slowly but surely rebuilding but frankly is horrible on paper (500 TU, 492 Equifax on CK) while my husband's is also building but is much better than mine (623 TU, 646 Equifax on CK). He also makes almost twice as much as I make ($92,289 to my $50,232). DTI is good, verifiable income is good, scores are awful. For the record, I'm aware that I need to get our FICO Auto scores but we're working very, very hard to stick to a budget and right now I don't want to spend the extra $80 that it would cost to pull those for both of us. I will before we make a solid decision but I'm just weighing the options right now.
On the one hand, I'd really love to pay cash and just be done with it. We tend to keep our vehicles until they literally cannot be driven again so we'd have it probably 15-20 years or more, there'd be no payment, no stress, and we'd just have it free and clear. On the other, positive payment history on a new car would help diversify our credit reports, build good credit history, and keep us from dropping such a huge chunk at once. It would also save us from any red flags that might be thrown up by the bank, the IRS, etc. While it's all completely legal and above board, I can see that it would be unusual and I know they have to report high level cash transactions and frankly I just don't have the mental and emotional energy to expend on stressing about that (I have massive anxiety when it comes to financial issues, especially after everything we've been through in the past few years).
So I guess the question is...do we pay cash outright? Do we put down a nice downpayment and finance the rest? Do we try to finance it in both our names or only in my husband's since we'd likely have a horrible interest rate if mine is on there if it even got approved? Do we finance it with both of us and just pay it off within the first six months? And if we were to finance it in just his name/credit, can we both be listed on the title or would it be his and his alone as far as the title goes?
