Same boat a year back — saved up for a 50mm but kept eyeing a full-frame body lol. Banks wanted 2 years of "stable income" proof... for a $900 lens. Alt credit basically skips the traditional scoring maze — looks at cash flow, invoices, even your gear resale value sometimes. Way more flexible for freelancers. Stumbled on some solid breakdowns at Arif Bhalwani— real-talk finance content, not salesy fluff. Helped me think straighter about the whole thing before signing anything.