Auto Loan

[Nelia64]

I am currently repairing my credit and so far my score has been improving.  Through disputing I have raised my scores from the high 500's to the mid 600's.  I am currently looking to finance a new car approx. $25,000 (want to take advantage of the car deals going on currently and I am need of a dependable vehicle) however I am concerned that this new loan will hurt my fico score.  Can anyone give me advice on what the impact would be if I apply for a new car loan.  Any suggestions would be appreciated. 

My TU score is 653 Currently the amount of debt I have now is good, credit history is good and amount of new credit is very good per TU report that I just purchased.

[203bravo]

WOW raised over 100 pts from "disputing" -- really must have had some erroneous information being reported.

If by chance these "deletes" have been recent -- be forewarned that if they do happen to come back verified that they will just as magically reappear on your file.

However --

To answer you original question -- no one can tell you exactly what will happen to your credit but in general:

a) Just applying - you will probably see a slight dip in your score because of the INQ.  Remember that for rate shopping on cars that multiple INQs within a time period are scored as one.

b) if you happen to be approved and take the loan -- most customers see a dip in the first couple of months because of the new credit line and will quickly see the score recover with timely payments.

Hope this helped a little.. Good luck.

[Nelia64]

Thanks for the advice.  I think I am going to hold off a little longer until my scores are in the high 600's to low 700's.  I believe I will get a better rate when I finance.  Tired of paying high interest rates on my purchases.

[Anonymous]

---

@Nelia64 wrote:
Thanks for the advice.  I think I am going to hold off a little longer until my scores are in the high 600's to low 700's.  I believe I will get a better rate when I finance.  Tired of paying high interest rates on my purchases.

---

Good plan. I too had alot of "erroneous" information that I was able to get deleted through various methods. A couple even learned from this board.

When you are ready, I have found that the best place to get an auto loan is a bank/CU/creditor you already have a relationship with. If you also have at minimum 20% percent down, and take a 48 month loan, you will do yourself a favor in the long run because you won't as bad negative equity as you would have if you didn't have the 20% and took a 60-72 month loan. Plus, when you bring your own financing, you don't have to give your dealership your SS number for them to run your credit and give you 30 INQs on your credit reports (and don't believe the Patriot Act lie...the dealership has to give you a Privacy Act disclosure and many don't have them when you request one).

Good luck.