First auto loan questions from a student - help

[vampireszombies]

Okay well I'm 22 years old currently making a little over $16k working part time while being a full time college student. 

I'm currently making a $400 car payment easily(it's in my fathers name; just paying to use it basically) and I have no other bills. Getting my own car would get rid of the $400 payment. 

I have 4 credit cards: Discover it 2k, Citi TYP 2k, Dillards credit 2k, and SAMs club credit 2.5k. Overall util is about 40%.

longest acct is the discover sitting at 1 yr 6months. myFico provided from discover is 663.  I believe I only have one pull showing.  100% on time payments always more than min. 

Thing is, I just paid approx 2,500 on the cc's this past month. The utilization is correct at 40% but I think it hasn't been reported to any agencies yet since my score last statement was 670 and it went down to 663 after paying. Weird. So it's the only thing I could think of as to why my score dropped. 

That being the case, I was wondering if I should wait longer (end of the month) to apply hoping that my new utilization has reported Or if I should just go ahead and apply and explain to the CU that I've just made those payments and show them my current util.? After reading the forums I feel like just applying tomorrow to show my parents that I won't get approved because of my income alone. But they insist I have a great chance of getting approved. They cannot cosign because of their bad credit. 

Do you guys think I even have a shot at a loan for about $17-20k?  Thanks for the help and advice! Love these forums!

[notfancy]

---

@vampireszombies wrote:

Okay well I'm 22 years old currently making a little over $16k working part time while being a full time college student. 

I'm currently making a $400 car payment easily(it's in my fathers name; just paying to use it basically) and I have no other bills. Getting my own car would get rid of the $400 payment. 

I have 4 credit cards: Discover it 2k, Citi TYP 2k, Dillards credit 2k, and SAMs club credit 2.5k. Overall util is about 40%.

longest acct is the discover sitting at 1 yr 6months. myFico provided from discover is 663.  I believe I only have one pull showing.  100% on time payments always more than min. 

Thing is, I just paid approx 2,500 on the cc's this past month. The utilization is correct at 40% but I think it hasn't been reported to any agencies yet since my score last statement was 670 and it went down to 663 after paying. Weird. So it's the only thing I could think of as to why my score dropped. 

That being the case, I was wondering if I should wait longer (end of the month) to apply hoping that my new utilization has reported Or if I should just go ahead and apply and explain to the CU that I've just made those payments and show them my current util.? After reading the forums I feel like just applying tomorrow to show my parents that I won't get approved because of my income alone. But they insist I have a great chance of getting approved. They cannot cosign because of their bad credit. 

Do you guys think I even have a shot at a loan for about $17-20k?  Thanks for the help and advice! Love these forums!

---

Wait til the end of the month. Not only will your reporting be better, you'll always get better deals at the end of the month because the dealeship wants to meet montly quotas.

Try to balance transfer your accounts onto any card you can, so you have as many cards reporting 0 as possible, BUT make sure that if you do so, that your don't have any cards reporting over 80% UTL. For maximum scoring you want all cards reporting 0, but one card reporting 1-9% of that card's limit, so the closer to that ideal that you can get, the better for your credit score, Haing maxed accounts will hurt you big time, as will having several accounts reporting a balance even if it is a small one.

Don't let your parents pressure you. Do not  take any inquiries until you're able to get the best terms possible for your situation. Also, if you don't have a credit union, get one. Then once your bills are as paid as you can get them, and your scores are as high as you can attain, seek them out with a copy of your credit report and score in hand. See what they can offer you, how big of a loan you can get approved for and their rate. Then you can go to a dealer armed with a decent rate (credit unions are one of the best) and also you know what you can afford, and what the payments will be.

[notfancy]

PS- Yes, I think you have a good shot, but with your UTL, income, and not having an auto loan in your name, you might have to get a co-signer (not possible for you) and if not you will likely get a terrible interest rate. Your chances and terms will be a LOT better if you can hold off and do the things I suggested above.

[vampireszombies]

Thanks! Yes i have a credit union and they said I am eligible for a loan. My CC's are not maxed but they are reporting a balance on all of them. 

Is there a way of knowing what has reported or not? Currently on CreditKarma its showing the balances (before i paid most of the balances this past month) is CK good at showing what is reported? In other words, when CK shows my correct balances does that mean the agencies now see those balances?

[notfancy]

---

@vampireszombies wrote:

Thanks! Yes i have a credit union and they said I am eligible for a loan. My CC's are not maxed but they are reporting a balance on all of them. 

Is there a way of knowing what has reported or not? Currently on CreditKarma its showing the balances (before i paid most of the balances this past month) is CK good at showing what is reported? In other words, when CK shows my correct balances does that mean the agencies now see those balances?

---

yes, CK seems to be pretty good with that part. You just need to be sure that it's reporting what you owe and not just what they see from being "linked up" with your accounts. Basically to be sure you're reporting 0, check when your statements cut for each account and make sure you have a 0 balance before that day. Your statements should always cut on about the same day every month. Then give it a few days / week to update to the credit bureaus. You can also pull your own credit through annualcreditreport.com or any site like myfico before you go shopping just to be sure of what is actually going to be showing up on your CBRs.

[vampireszombies]

Okay well I applied at my local credit union and was denied, main reason she said was because of my debt to income ratio being to high? Around 80% she said. That doesn't make sense to me though since my only debt(bills) are my credit card monthly payments... Which equal to about $150 a month compared to my 17k income. 

Im confuse and may go back and talk to them tomorrow

[notfancy]

---

@vampireszombies wrote:

Okay well I applied at my local credit union and was denied, main reason she said was because of my debt to income ratio being to high? Around 80% she said. That doesn't make sense to me though since my only debt(bills) are my credit card monthly payments... Which equal to about $150 a month compared to my 17k income. 

Im confuse and may go back and talk to them tomorrow

---

If your minimum payments add up to $150 and your auto loan payment is currently $400, with an income of $17000 a year you have a monthly income of $1416.67. $550 in monthly bills is 39% of your income, where are they getting the other 41%? Rent? Insurance? What did you document as your monthly bills?