My FICO is fair. Do I wait or invest now?

[John Daugherty]

Newbie here from Tucson. I'm getting started in REI and I've discovered my credit is only fair.

I paid my mortgage off 6-7 years ago. Every payment on time and then doubled up to knock it out. All my vehicles are paid for. I have no credit card debt, and haven’t for 10 years, and that’s my problem. I haven’t had any credit history in a long time. We pretty much just used cash to buy everything.

So I just got a CC (with a lousy $300 limit) to start building my credit. Figured I’d buy my fuel with it and just pay it off monthly.

But I was planning to open a HELOC to initiate BRRRs and then refinance. But of course, my interest rate is going to be high with a fair credit rating.

Do do I wait to refinance until my credit score increases or just bite the bullet and take what I can get now?