There's an '85 Yamaha Maxim 550 for sale on my local CL for $600. I know the bike. A friend of mine gave it to me about 12 years ago as a basket case when he was leaving the country. Never got around to restoring it, so I sold it to a guy for $350. He was planning on doing a cafe racer thing with it, but never got around to that, so he just got it cleaned up, put it together and running, and is selling it as stock.

There are any number of bikes like that out there, wherever you are. Hunt around for a few weeks and you'll find them.

You don't need a new bike, and you don't need a bike payment.

 

I got an iron 883 brand new about a year ago, my credit is not the greatest. My wife cosigned the bike for me and I was able to get it with $1000 down paying about $150 a month for 6 years. I think apr was 9%. I was happy with it and had a brand new bike. 5 months later, i traded it in for a street bob. paying more for a bit longer but all worth it. You can do it too man, get the bike you want and you will be happy!

 

Buying used bike outright with no loan is what I meant. From what I have read, it take 7 years to build your credit score back up. (just read Consumers Report 4 pages on improving your credit score) Even establishing a credit union saving and checking account and then having enough in your saving for them to allow you to have a low credit limit ($1000) on their MC credit card will drop the score for a while. The bad just has to time out and your good (paying your bills) has to add up. Back to the used, after a certain point, no one will loan on a car or bike. Think 10 years but I was referring to finding someone who had made a mistake and want to unload a couple year old bike for 1/2 what it is worth. I personally would not want a basket case or too old a bike. Even if you can do you own work, they cost like new then and more then new if you pay someone.

 

It depends on what is giving you a low score. I had a stint at my job where I didn't get paid for three months (yes...) and ended up maxing my credit cards. With high balances, and never a late payment, ever, my score still dropped nearly 90 points. Once I got my back pay and got the balances back to a normal level, the score went back up within a month. The many year issue is if you have had late payments. That basically takes 7 years to drop off.

That being said, having a loan with regular, on time payments is a good way to get your score back up. An expensive way, but if you can afford it...

 

What is interesting about a credit score is it has noting to do with what you make or bring in for a living. Know RIP and I who are retired and never paid any interest since the 60's was told by Progressive that one Card RIP got (for the free dish and 20% off her purchase by simple signing her name) created a hard hit and we no longer qualified for their best rate. No talking to them. When I questioned my State Farm agent, he told me they had just decided to be competitive (in the past he simple could not compete since the farm our motorcycle insurance) in motorcycle insurance and when he check, he saw no problem with my 780 and perfect driving record. However, not sure how anyone that is financially set and has any new debt to auto pay fully monthly would not have a perfect score but that is how it is set (or rigged) .

 

Wow! In my opinion, buying a bike right now should be the last thing on your mind. Kinda makes me realize why your credit score is beyond low. Low credit score will haunt you forever if you don't soon get a handle on it and develope some good financial habits.
You seem to suggest that you have (make) plenty of money. I would suggest saving and waiting. You don't NEED to buy a bike tomorrow and you surely don't NEED brand new. If you really want a bike, you should be able to save enough to put a least half down on a good used bike. Taking a SMALL loan, and making steady, on time payments will help your credit.

Without knowing your business (but hearing your CS), you obviously have made some very bad choices....you got to start making some good ones. They didn't stop making Harley Davidsons. There will still be plenty of good, clean, well cared for bikes out there when you're really ready.

 

Dave Ramsey is nary a financial advisor, his message is eat beans and rice so you can pay off your mortgage and live debt free. He leaves out the part where I pay 3.375% interest on my house and make on average more than 10% just in mutual funds. Between the tax deduction of the mortgage interest, and the delta I am making a ton by NOT paying off my mortgage. That being said, he markets to people who have already made a bunch of bad decisions and are looking for someone to tell them what to do.

On the topic, the OP makes plenty of money....but has bad credit....and wants a shiny new bike that he can't pay for.

Yep, should get subscription to Dave Ramsey's newsletter.

 

Man, I wish anything we could say would change this guy's mind, but it won't. I'm in my 30's, make a nice, steady income and I've never owned a new vehicle. I will someday, as I love cars and motorcycles. I consider them a passion, but I also know that buying a new ride is one of the worst financial decisions you can make. You can find 2010-2013 Irons on Cycle Trader all day for $5,500-7,500, but a bank won't finance you. If you finance the new bike for $8,400 at 15% and five years, your payment will be just under $200 a month and you will pay roughly $12K for that bike by the time you're done. That's if you don't trade it in and go deeper in the hole.

My advice if you HAVE TO RIDE this summer is to talk to the dealership about them financing a used bike and find that $5,500 used Iron. That will get you on the road, get you a payment to help restore your credit and limit the amount of extra money you're wasting on interest. Set up an auto-payment that pays $200 a month on that loan, no matter what the amount due and do not change it until it is paid off. By then your credit score should have improved greatly and you will have a bike to sell/trade toward what you want.

If you bought the $5,500 Iron and financed it at the same 15% interest rate for 5 years, you end up paying about $7,800 for the bike with a $130 per month payment. If you take my advice and pay $200 a month on the loan, you end up paying $6,800 and it is paid off in January of 2018.

My book recommendation would be The Millionaire Nextdoor.

 

IMO if in order to afford if you have finance a motorcycle for more than 4 years then you can't afford it and should be looking at something cheaper.

Of course we all have our priorities but come on financing a toy for 5, 6 or even 7 years? That's just plain nuts.

 

DOn't look at me. I'm the idiot that did it the Dave Ramsey way. I paid off my debt and then saved the cash to buy my used bike.