Capital One Auto Finance, what score?

[Anonymous]

Anyone know what bureau Capital One pulls from and what score version they use (regular fico or auto enhanced)?
Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Equifax, not sure what version they use and their score ranges vary a ton.  You can get a preapproval through them without taking a hard pull, it will give you a max amount and a APR range.  Having said that they rarely beat any of the good credit unions so I would go that route.  DCU and Penfed are the favorites here.  To get a sense of approvals in general and scores go to the car approval thread where hundreds of approvals have been reported with score and income detail that makes it pretty easy to see where you will likely land.

[bigpoppa09]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Equifax, not sure what version they use and their score ranges vary a ton.  You can get a preapproval through them without taking a hard pull, it will give you a max amount and a APR range.  Having said that they rarely beat any of the good credit unions so I would go that route.  DCU and Penfed are the favorites here.  To get a sense of approvals in general and scores go to the car approval thread where hundreds of approvals have been reported with score and income detail that makes it pretty easy to see where you will likely land.

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+1 To that the rates they offer me everytime i check it are rediculious.

[Anonymous]

If you increase your down payment for Capital One, the interest rate should fall quite a bit.  Always try to pay 20% down on a loan so you can get the best rate and try not to be upside down on it.

Be aware that if you can put 20% down, you probably will also be able to qualify for any captive lending offered if you buy new or preowned certified used cars -- captive lending will get you a 6% or lower rate with 20% down even with 570 FICOs.

If you can't afford 20% down, make sure you can afford to get a car in the first place.  The interest rates on people who put $0 down are extreme and can add up to thousands or tens of thousands of dollars over the years in wasted interest payments.

[bigpoppa09]

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@Anonymous wrote:

If you increase your down payment for Capital One, the interest rate should fall quite a bit.  Always try to pay 20% down on a loan so you can get the best rate and try not to be upside down on it.

Be aware that if you can put 20% down, you probably will also be able to qualify for any captive lending offered if you buy new or preowned certified used cars -- captive lending will get you a 6% or lower rate with 20% down even with 570 FICOs.

If you can't afford 20% down, make sure you can afford to get a car in the first place.  The interest rates on people who put $0 down are extreme and can add up to thousands or tens of thousands of dollars over the years in wasted interest payments.

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Good info Both of my loans now are with a capitve no need for Cap 1 i just check it now and then for a laugh.

[Anonymous]

One thing I love about captive lending is that you can honestly know if you're gettng a great price or not.  Just ask the dealer finance person to price the loan at 80% LTV and tell you what your down payment ends up.  If your down payment ends up being 25-30% of the price of the car, you know they're padding the price.  Just deny the loan entirely before letting them pull your scores and walk unless they renegotiate the price down so that your down payment is exactly 20% of the loan total.

I just helped a friend with bad news FICOs get approved for a great car (he earns $160k a year but had FICOs in the 540 range when he contacted me in February).  I helped him get his FICO08s up to 585 or higher across all 3 in a few months and then I told him to pick a car type and we'd find the best values in town.  Then we hit a bunch of dealerships until one salesmen gave him a final price that let his down payment at 80% LTV end up only at 15% of the purchase price, so he got a spectacular deal.  Then he pre-paid the loan down 25% more so the first balance reported will be 75% of the total lend and his FICOs should show some good progress (no other installment loans).

On top of that, since he bought the car at about 95% of value and paid down the 15% down payment and another 25% off, I believe he's already got close to 35% equity in the car after the loan balance is due.  If he decided to switch cars in a year or two he will be able to trade-in with positive equity.

Even with his 585 FICO 08s the dealership captive lender offered him 4.9% financing versus Capital One's 9%-16% deal.  They only pulled one score for him (I believe it was EQ) and asked if he wanted all 3 pulled for a better rate, but he showed the finance guy his MyFico pull from the day before the and finance guy said "take the 4.9% that's the best we will get you."  Drove out less than 90 minutes later from walking in. 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the good info! I guess I should check out a credit union. I found out a few local ones that pull the regular fico 08 score which is good since mine are all in the 660-680 range. One thing I'm concerned about is my auto payment history. I fell on hard times last year and have several lates on my previous auto loan. All my cards and student loans have always been on time and no other baddies on my report. Since last fall I got a better paying job, learned about credit, and have boosted my score over 100 points. I have a fairly low DTI (around 15%), and have 10% set aside for a down payment so far. Also the trade in value on my current truck is 3000 ish. Looking for a 25-30k loan on a 2016 or 2017 model.
My main concern is the credit unions doing a hard inquiry then denying me due to the previous late payments. Any input on this?

[Shooting-For-800]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Equifax, not sure what version they use and their score ranges vary a ton.  You can get a preapproval through them without taking a hard pull, it will give you a max amount and a APR range.  Having said that they rarely beat any of the good credit unions so I would go that route.  DCU and Penfed are the favorites here.  To get a sense of approvals in general and scores go to the car approval thread where hundreds of approvals have been reported with score and income detail that makes it pretty easy to see where you will likely land.

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Cap One Navigator gave me 2.49% APR for 72 months on a new car with no documents and a credit union would not approve me at all with 3 years worth of paperwork.

My FICO was around 675.

OP - check out the navigator and find some VINs at approved dealers and they will tell you exactly what you are qualified for.