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Buying my first car. What kind of loan do I qualify for?

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sashimimon
Established Member

Buying my first car. What kind of loan do I qualify for?

I just started a new job out of college 6 months ago and I'm planning on purchasing a used car with low mileage. I want to know if my credit report is ready for a good loan or if i should wait.

 

Credit Score: 764 (TU)

AAoA: 1 year 7 months

# of positive trade lines: 8 (1 student loan 7 CCs)

# of negative trade lines: 0

Income: 55,120 myself + 64,000 from DH (I don't know if his income counts)

Lenght of Employment: 6 months

Previous Loan Experience: Student loans (Balance: 15k, started paying 1 year ago, no lates)

Debt-to-Income (DTI): 0

Year of Car: 2013

Miles: 8,000

Purchase/Refinance: Purchase

Requested loan term (XX Months): 48-60 months

Down payment amount: 6k-10k

Co-borrower/Co-Signer: no

Other: N/A

 

Thanks in advance

TU: 767 (11/04/2013) | EQ: 714 (5/13/2013) | EX: 717 (11/09/13) |

Discover $12k | Chase Freedom $5k | Citi TY Preferred $4.8k | Bofa Cash Rewards $3.9k | Cap1 Quicksilver $2k | Walmart $2k | Macys $700
Message 1 of 11
10 REPLIES 10
ExplicitElicit
Established Contributor

Re: Buying my first car. What kind of loan do I qualify for?

Welcome to the forum!

 

You are in a great position right now! Thanks to your student loans you have installment history and your scores are perfect to qualify for the lowest IR offered. Do you and you husband plan on signing on the car together and applying for joint credit or do you plan on purchasing alone. If you are going to do joint, then yes his income would matter as well.

 

Do you have an idea of who you'd like to finance with? Going to a dealer you would for sure be approved for low rates or you can even try a credit union like DCU. Do you know about how much of the vehicle you will be financing? Look up the "Nada retail" on the vehicle compared to how much you will be financing, that will be important as well to determine your IR. Good luck!

Message 2 of 11
aubie1kenobie2
Frequent Contributor

Re: Buying my first car. What kind of loan do I qualify for?

How much is the car you were looking at? That would play a role too, not just scores and util.


Starting Score: No credit history in July 2013, 663 in August (lender pulled)
Current Score: 773 (Discover FICO), 749 (DCU EQ)
Ultimate goal: Buy a house in 2016!
Message 3 of 11
sashimimon
Established Member

Re: Buying my first car. What kind of loan do I qualify for?

Thanks for the info.

 

I plan on purchasing alone and I don't know who I should finance with yet so I'm open to suggestions.

 

I'm planning on getting a $33k car and putting between $6,000-10,000 down (so financing (between $23-$27k)

TU: 767 (11/04/2013) | EQ: 714 (5/13/2013) | EX: 717 (11/09/13) |

Discover $12k | Chase Freedom $5k | Citi TY Preferred $4.8k | Bofa Cash Rewards $3.9k | Cap1 Quicksilver $2k | Walmart $2k | Macys $700
Message 4 of 11
Remember0
Valued Contributor

Re: Buying my first car. What kind of loan do I qualify for?

I agree with Explicit. I don't think you'll have any issues whatsoever. Feel free to start out by applying to a CU like DCU, a local CU of yours that has good rates, or even a national lender like State Farm Bank or BofA.

 

P.S.: Explicit you've gotten me to add State Farm to my list haha...next time I get around to editing my Guide to Financing, I'll mention them in there Smiley Wink .

Message 5 of 11
ExplicitElicit
Established Contributor

Re: Buying my first car. What kind of loan do I qualify for?


@Remember0 wrote:

I agree with Explicit. I don't think you'll have any issues whatsoever. Feel free to start out by applying to a CU like DCU, a local CU of yours that has good rates, or even a national lender like State Farm Bank or BofA.

 

P.S.: Explicit you've gotten me to add State Farm to my list haha...next time I get around to editing my Guide to Financing, I'll mention them in there Smiley Wink .


Glad I can help, getting approved is not always the easiest but we're a prime lender and offer great incentives.

 

 

Message 6 of 11
sashimimon
Established Member

Re: Buying my first car. What kind of loan do I qualify for?

Will do.


@Remember0 wrote:

I agree with Explicit. I don't think you'll have any issues whatsoever. Feel free to start out by applying to a CU like DCU, a local CU of yours that has good rates, or even a national lender like State Farm Bank or BofA.

 

P.S.: Explicit you've gotten me to add State Farm to my list haha...next time I get around to editing my Guide to Financing, I'll mention them in there Smiley Wink .



I know that if I apply for multiple auto loans they'll count as one inquiry. But is there a time span that I should apply to make them all count as one? Or is there a limit to the amount of loans I can apply for?

TU: 767 (11/04/2013) | EQ: 714 (5/13/2013) | EX: 717 (11/09/13) |

Discover $12k | Chase Freedom $5k | Citi TY Preferred $4.8k | Bofa Cash Rewards $3.9k | Cap1 Quicksilver $2k | Walmart $2k | Macys $700
Message 7 of 11
helaurin
New Contributor

Re: Buying my first car. What kind of loan do I qualify for?

I agree, looks like you are in a good position.  

 

When shopping a loan, look at a variety of lenders.  When I last bought a car, my best rate was with Capital One Auto at 3.72% for a 60-month loan. 

 

In addition to your credit history and score, the length (term) of the car loan will affect the rate.  Longer terms typically have higher rates. 

 

Some tips on shopping for a car -  don't assume that taking a 0% deal from a dealer is in your best interest, in lieu of additional cash off the cost of the car.  Figure out the difference in interest and whether it makes sense.  For example, in my case, it was better to take the extra $2,000 cash from the dealer to apply to the car and to use the 3.72% loan from Cap One, rather than taking the 0% rate from the dealer.    If I had taken the 0% interest offer from the dealer, I would have lost the $2,000 cash discount.  But for the amount I financed, at 3.72%, my total interest over five years is $1,422, so that puts me ahead by about $578 this way. 

 

Don't forget to look into auto buying programs if you know exactly what car you want - some banks, credit unions, auto road service clubs, etc., have pricing deals based on invoice price. You can potentially save a good bit that way.  Also, often the dealer's internet sales specialist has the authority to offer you a better price than if you just started by looking on the lot. 

 

You may find this article useful :  http://voices.yahoo.com/how-bought-2010-malibu-lt1-less-than-14600-6340946.html?cat=27

 

Good luck and enjoy your new ride Smiley Happy


Starting Score: 2014 775
Current Score: 822
Goal Score: 840


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Message 8 of 11
ExplicitElicit
Established Contributor

Re: Buying my first car. What kind of loan do I qualify for?


@sashimimon wrote:

Will do.


@Remember0 wrote:

I agree with Explicit. I don't think you'll have any issues whatsoever. Feel free to start out by applying to a CU like DCU, a local CU of yours that has good rates, or even a national lender like State Farm Bank or BofA.

 

P.S.: Explicit you've gotten me to add State Farm to my list haha...next time I get around to editing my Guide to Financing, I'll mention them in there Smiley Wink .



I know that if I apply for multiple auto loans they'll count as one inquiry. But is there a time span that I should apply to make them all count as one? Or is there a limit to the amount of loans I can apply for?


Looking for a mortgage, auto or student loan may cause multiple lenders to request your credit report, even though you are only looking for one loan. To compensate for this, the score ignores mortgage, auto, and student loan inquiries made in the 30 days prior to scoring. So, if you find a loan within 30 days, the inquiries won't affect your score while you're rate shopping. In addition, the score looks on your credit report for mortgage, auto, and student loan inquiries older than 30 days. If it finds some, it counts those inquiries that fall in a typical shopping period as just one inquiry when determining your score. For FICO scores calculated from older versions of the scoring formula, this shopping period is any 14 day span. For FICO scores calculated from the newest versions of the scoring formula, this shopping period is any 45 day span. Each lender chooses which version of the FICO scoring formula it wants the credit reporting agency to use to calculate your FICO score.

 

Hope this answers your questionSmiley Wink

Message 9 of 11
Remember0
Valued Contributor

Re: Buying my first car. What kind of loan do I qualify for?

Wow, that's a detailed answer haha. I have only one minor addedum to Explicit's answer: they have to be coded properly to count as an auto INQ. So I have my own doubts if say a smaller CU like DCU codes as auto (not saying they don't, just saying there's a chance it isn't). If not coded as auto, it works like a regular INQ and doesn't combine. But don't worry too long about INQs as long as, and this is a biggie, you don't plan on getting a mortgage (or refi) in the next 12 or so months.

Message 10 of 11
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