You all may already know this but I hadn’t thought about it at all. Anyone who might be financing part of an ATV might learn something.

Long story short I bought a new 570 last summer, I had cash for half and financed the rest through Polaris/Sheffield.

Fast forward this week I was borrowing some money for some home improvements. The banker noticed my credit score had dropped about 40 points since my score was last checked. The report showed right on it that my score dropped because the "loan" with Sheffield, was maxed out. She said any time you have a line of credit and the balance is close to being "maxed out" it really hurts your score. Even though the bike is valued at say $6,000.00 and I only owe $3,000, Sheffield opens the credit for the exact amount I financed. I basically have a $3K loan with Sheffield and owe $2400 on it. She said in the future I should always finance the entire amount, then use the cash as a payment toward the first loan payment. I never thought about that and just handed my dealer the cash for a down payment and "financed" the rest. I figured "borrowing" 6K would be worse then borrowing $3K.

She said it would be better to have a loan for $15K and only owe $8K then to have a loan for $3K and to owe $3K. I will have it paid off this year and she said by next year it will recycle and my score will go back up to where it was.

You all may already know this but I hadn’t thought about it at all. Anyone who might be financing part of an ATV might learn something.

Long story short I bought a new 570 last summer, I had cash for half and financed the rest through Polaris/Sheffield.

Fast forward this week I was borrowing some money for some home improvements. The banker noticed my credit score had dropped about 40 points since my score was last checked. The report showed right on it that my score dropped because the "loan" with Sheffield, was maxed out. She said any time you have a line of credit and the balance is close to being "maxed out" it really hurts your score. Even though the bike is valued at say $6,000.00 and I only owe $3,000, Sheffield opens the credit for the exact amount I financed. I basically have a $3K loan with Sheffield and owe $2400 on it. She said in the future I should always finance the entire amount, then use the cash as a payment toward the first loan payment. I never thought about that and just handed my dealer the cash for a down payment and "financed" the rest. I figured "borrowing" 6K would be worse then borrowing $3K.

She said it would be better to have a loan for $15K and only owe $8K then to have a loan for $3K and to owe $3K. I will have it paid off this year and she said by next year it will recycle and my score will go back up to where it was.