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Hi all.. I was wondering which Credit Unions are well regarded for offering great rates for auto loans.
Credit Union needs to be open to the public, or one that you can join with a donation to a charity, such as PENFED, which I'm considering.
Any suggestions and advice would be greatly appreciated.
My suggestion would be join 1 and see what they could do. Furthermore, if you want more help some light background info would also help, such as credit scores (CS), baddies like accounts in collections, missed payments, bankruptcies (BK), etc.
A lot of people have had success with credit unions (CU) like Navy Federal Credit Union (NFCU) and NASA that I know of, but there are others. To join Navy, you have to be a member of the armed forces, past or present, or in some cases related to someone who was. I can't remember the exact rules, but my brother is currently in the Army and I was able to join. As for NASA, you can get in, like I did, with a $5 donation to a certain club, which I think they tell you during the sign up.
But, as I said before it's definitely a your mileage may vary (YMMV) type of situation because I have an auto loan and credit card (CC) with NFCU, even though I had a CH 7 BK back in 2012, and after only 1 year after my BK they gave me a shot. However, a few months later Christian Financial Credit Union (CFCU) which is local for me, in MI, gave me my highest credit limit (CL) of $3k, while NFCU gave me 2.5k. Furthermore, CFCU gave me a lower APR on my CC and even refi'ed my auto loan at a far lower rate, from like 14%+ at NFCU to 3.74% at CFCU. When I app'ed with CFCU my scores were somewhere around the same as when I app'ed at NFCU.
At the end of the month, I plan to ask for another credit limit increase (CLI) on my NFCU CC as well as an annual APR reduction, but even if I get both, my CFCU CC might still have a lower APR than NFCU, but maybe not. I think now my CFCU CC APR is around 9/10% while my NFCU CC is around 17%.
So like I said earlier, you best bet is to join any CU you can and see how it goes. They are FAR more understanding and considerate on loans and CCs than other lenders like Chase, Barclay, Discover, etc. The only caveats may be that you might have to bank with them for some time before you get better deals like higher CLs or lower APRs, but not necessarily depending on your credit situation. But other than that, if you have a checking/savings account with them, they could potentially take the money from your account without permission if it ever became past due. That has never happened to me since I haven't been late or missed a payment in years, but my uncle was going through a rough patch last year said they took a car or CC payment from his account since he had a checking and savings account with that CU as well. I assume that could also be the case anywhere though that you have a checking/savings account and credit account with, such as Chase, Citi, Capital One, etc.
At any rate, you can shop around and ask around. Maybe a friend or family member knows a really good CU that you can join and get a good rate from. It might also help to see what are the lowest rates they offer. Some CUs offer auto loan rates as low as 1.99%. Sure you might have to have stellar credit to get that, but if you do, that sounds a better than another CU only offering 4.99% as their lowest rate.
So good luck, and I hope this helps!
Check out DCU, they are one of the more popular CU's to use on this board for auto loans https://www.dcu.org/loans/auto-choices.html
DCU just paid off for me. I joined just shy of one year ago. DD in to my savings about 20% of my bi weekly check. I have been rebuilding for a year. Finally hit 680 on my EQ and applied for a loan last night. Approved for 28k at 1.49%/ I had to provide income verification and will also need to upload sales contract which I am still working on the final deal price.
Thanks guys/gals for your all input..
@spike69 Congrats on your approval with such a great rate!
One thing.. do you have to establish a relationship with them first to enjoy the benefits they offer?
Or can I use their products, like auto loans and credit cards, as soon as I become a member?
Thanks!
I have read a lot of posers here where people app for a loan and THEN apply for membership. Two pulls on EQ sadly. For me , I didn't have the scores and joined DCU proactively to get a relationship in place for when I got my scores in the right direction. This site and the members are the reason I was able to get where I am.
Though a lot of people on here recommend getting membership first, I got approved for an auto loan over the phone first then applied and received membership later that night.
My dealership financed my current auto loan through a CU that I was not a member of. I didn't even have to deposit the normal $5 to create the savings account, they did it for me. The rate is 8.49% unfortunately because my scores were about 30-50 points lower last summer. I've reached out to them to see about lowering the rate but I don't think a refinance is actually an option since my LTV is about 150%