Credit Score of 544 - Auto Loan Possible?

[0REDSOX7]

All,

Good afternoon.

Will be coming out of a Ch. 7 BK on 2/4 and will be needing a new car.  My curreny EX FICO is 544.  Will be surrendering our current vehicles post-BK and will need a new loan.

I have no collections/charge-offs on my CR, only my BK - which is why the score is so low.  I will only have my student loans reporting post-BK, but, I keep doubiting myself.  I know I have a lot of hard pulls (9-11 in the past 24 months - I know, stupid, but, can't do much about it now).

I want to go with the Cap One Blank Check program so I have a leg up when I go to a dealer and not be at their mercy but not sure how my odds are going to be.

Anyone have any thoughts?

I have some money to put down (about $500 - $1K), and want to spend about 17/18K max on a new (to me car).  I know the rates will be high, but, ahhh, getting nervous and stressed!!!

[Jamex]

I was in a similar position to you in spring of 2012. Had a 550 credit score and only about 1K to put down. I went to a dealer that specialized in bad-credit car sales, and got what I think was a pretty reasonable deal given my score & report (several charge-offs and one auto reposession). Ended up with a 2-year old car, sale price of 14,500, and a 72-month loan where I pay 339 per month. (For those keeping score, that is very high interest - 19.5%). I've made every payment since then in-full and on-time. Now my score is about 655 and I'm starting to consider refinancing.

So the short story is that it's definitely possible to drive off the lot with manageable monthly payments, you'll just get a really high interest rate. Use it as a chance to bring up your score quite a bit in that first year, then refinance (rates I seem to have a shot at now are more like 7-8%, which will make my monthly payment more like $220, which would be great).