Auto Loans

[nfcsaints]

Hello all!  Well, my one week results are in.

March 28 Scores

TU = 648 (myfico)

EQ = 608 (myfico)

April 4 Scores

TU = 664 (walmart)

EQ = 653 (myfico)

This was done by paying off utilization from 96% to 14% right at the statement cutoff.  Have two baddies with pending GWs (two 30day lates) and a dismissed BK in 2004 and will pay utilization down to less than 9% next Friday (but will have to wait another statement cycle before they hit the CRs).

My question is this.  I've read a little on here about auto enhanced scores.  I'm trying to get into the next lower interest rate on an auto loan and (based on my current FICOs) I'm short by 7 points on my EQ.  Do I just need to wait it out or (if it actually exists) take a shot with an auto enhanced result when the dealer pulls my credit?  I don't want to have my credit run if there's no point.  In January (like an idiot) I applied for auto financing through Lending Tree and now I have 6 inquiries on both of my CRs (ugh) that won't come off for two years.  I don't want to add another if it wouldn't make a difference.

Thanks in advance for any input.

[jimbo831]

---

nfcsaints wrote:

Hello all!  Well, my one week results are in.

March 28 Scores

TU = 648 (myfico)

EQ = 608 (myfico)

April 4 Scores

TU = 664 (walmart)

EQ = 653 (myfico)

This was done by paying off utilization from 96% to 14% right at the statement cutoff.  Have two baddies with pending GWs (two 30day lates) and a dismissed BK in 2004 and will pay utilization down to less than 9% next Friday (but will have to wait another statement cycle before they hit the CRs).

My question is this.  I've read a little on here about auto enhanced scores.  I'm trying to get into the next lower interest rate on an auto loan and (based on my current FICOs) I'm short by 7 points on my EQ.  Do I just need to wait it out or (if it actually exists) take a shot with an auto enhanced result when the dealer pulls my credit?  I don't want to have my credit run if there's no point.  In January (like an idiot) I applied for auto financing through Lending Tree and now I have 6 inquiries on both of my CRs (ugh) that won't come off for two years.  I don't want to add another if it wouldn't make a difference.

Thanks in advance for any input.

---

Well, the downside is that there no way to get your auto enhanced FICO ahead of time.  The difference between that and your regular FICO is that auto enhanced FICO weighs past auto loans more heavily.  Do you have any auto history?  If so, what is your payment history like on those auto loans?

[nfcsaints]

Thanks for the response!  My auto history is pretty lengthy.  5 loans (1 currently open) with no lates or negative marks.

[jimbo831]

---

nfcsaints wrote:

Thanks for the response!  My auto history is pretty lengthy.  5 loans (1 currently open) with no lates or negative marks.

---

That is good.  Your auto-enhanced FICO should be noticeably higher than your regular FICO.  Keep in mind after a loan has been closed more than 10 years, it usually disappears from your report, so all 5 may not be there, depending on age.  Either way, that should definitely help you with lenders that pull auto-enhanced scores.

[cassembler]

---

jimbo831 wrote:

---

nfcsaints wrote:

Thanks for the response!  My auto history is pretty lengthy.  5 loans (1 currently open) with no lates or negative marks.

---

That is good.  Your auto-enhanced FICO should be noticeably higher than your regular FICO.  Keep in mind after a loan has been closed more than 10 years, it usually disappears from your report, so all 5 may not be there, depending on age.  Either way, that should definitely help you with lenders that pull auto-enhanced scores.

---

+1. If what you say is true, then you AE score should be quite a bit higher.

Side question, where did you get the 660 number from? If it's from this site, I believe that's just a guideline; each lender will have their own tiers. You can probably find most of them on Googley with some persistence.

[Objective]

So the ding for 96% utilization was only six points?

[nfcsaints]

TU = 648 (myfico)

EQ = 608 (myfico)

April 4 Scores

TU = 664 (walmart)

EQ = 653 (myfico)

Objective:  It looks to me that the ding for utilization was 45 points on EQ and 16 points on TU.  Did some statement date analysis and there are some more balances (lowered to either 0 or less that 50%) that have yet to be reported.  Will see what results are next week.

[nfcsaints]

cass:  The 664 was pulled from walmart.

[HoldingOntoHope]

I believe he was referring to where did you get the info that 660 was the next tier in the manufacturer's finance rates. A lot of posters in these forums try to guess at what the tiers are for the major dealers. And you can sometimes find info by searching on the internet, but take it all with a grain of salt.

The objective of the car dealer is to sell cars. If a deal comes down to making you happy with an interest rate on your loan through captive financing, they can work wonders if you are marginally close.