First Time Car Buyer

[Schwartzinator]

I am currently in college, and will be looking to purchase a new-ish vehicle in May come time for graduation which also conviently coincides with several inquiries falling off my reports hopefully boosting my scores further. 

I'm interested in picking up a 2016 Accord for around $20,000 and could put around $8,000 down plus a trade in of my current vehicle which is an 02' Accord with 82k miles. I've got good but not great credit scores hovering between 730 and 760 depending on the month and bureau, but VERY low verifieable income as one of my places of employment closed in December. 

I've been at my current place of work for 3 years now, but this semester I'm only making around $600 a month working a couple hours a week on campus as I have an enormous academic obligation right now. However, I have zero obligatory expenses. Tuition is paid in full by my parents as is the house near campus and I don't pay for insurance, cable/internet or utilities. Unfortunately, they're not interested in cosigning as they're adamantly against the prospect of borrowing money/credit to replace something that isn't broken. 

How hard would it be to get a loan with a decent APR given these circumstances?

[Kree]

I would recommend Capital Ones car buying service. Its a soft-pull prequal for rates.  If they say 'no' then you probably won't find good deals elsewhere.  

as an interesting note, their APRs are partially based on the value of the car purchased compared to the price.  So the better deal you find the better your APR.

[Anonymous]

Capital One would not be a good option, Capital One's minimum individual income is $1800 and subject to verification. As far as obtaining financing althought the paid off trade and large down payment will help greatly, your monthly income will severly hinder your approval chances. Let's say you are financing 8-9000 after trade allowance and down payment, even at a decent rate and 60 mo term your payment would be nearly 25-30% of your gross monthly income. Typically lender's have PTI limits of 15-18% which would put you well over the PTI guidelines. In addition, although you don't have rent/mortgage/etc, banks typically have a pre-determined amount they estimate for "living expenses". If someone own's a house outright and has no mortgage on the bureau, lender's will still estimate 400+/mo for living expensives that will go towards your DTI.

Why not simply find a vehicle in the 10-14k range and buy something outright with your equity and cash, or even finance just a small amount such as 1-2k through a local bank. 10-14k will get you a pretty decent used honda.

[Schwartzinator]

What forms do they want for verification? Can I fluff it at all? I no longer work one job, but I have my W2 for 2017 for the 4 months I worked there with a reported earning of $13,285. My university has not provided a 2017 W2, but I have paystubs for the last couple months as well as a 2016 W2 with a reported $14,750. I tried the Capitol One preapproval with the above numbers added together and recieved a qoute for $19,778 between 3.24 and 10.55%. 

[Loquat]

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@Schwartzinatorwrote:

What forms do they want for verification? Can I fluff it at all? I no longer work one job, but I have my W2 for 2017 for the 4 months I worked there with a reported earning of $13,285. My university has not provided a 2017 W2, but I have paystubs for the last couple months as well as a 2016 W2 with a reported $14,750. I tried the Capitol One preapproval with the above numbers added together and recieved a qoute for $19,778 between 3.24 and 10.55%. 

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Evening,

Please refrain from this type of conversation here on the forums.  Talk of being decepitve or "fluffing" is discouraged and against forum rules.  Thanks in advance for your understanding.