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Having trouble getting loan even with 40% down

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750Hopeful
New Contributor

Having trouble getting loan even with 40% down

Hey guys, first post on the boards. Have spent probably about 5 or 6 hours just reading through some of the posts on here over the last two days though. I've been working on building my credit for about the last 6 months. I've improved it from a 604 FICO TU to a 656 FICO TU. Oddly, my Experian score is 783, but that seems to be because virtually none of my history is reported with them (what's up with that!?) and doesn't seem to mean much for that reason. My goal is to get at least a 750 credit score across all 3 CBs. Right now I'm trying to get an auto loan and seem to get declined at every turn.

 

I'm looking for a $40K loan with $26K down (about 40%), but keep getting decline after decline. Annual income is $105K and I can prove it, but I'm self-employed -- have been for 7 years.

 

I've got 5 clean revolving CC accounts on my credit (all but one with small $500 or so limits), a small $1,000 24 month installment loan (credit builder account with M&I) and that's about it. No auto loans, no mortage, nothing else really. Only 1 30 day late payment out of a 108 payment history, which was on my Shell gas card 3 years ago (and Shell won't delete it -- I asked via a GW letter), an account I still have and have had for 7 years. A family member also added me a joint account holder to his Discover card about 4 months ago, which has a $15K limit, flawless payment history, and is almost a 17 year old account. I also have a $2,000 monthly rent payment that I've been making for the last 30 months (all on time and some even made early) and I pay RentReporters.com every month to report that payment history to the CBs and have been for at least 5 months and have yet to see any mention of it pop up on any of my reports. Am I just throwing money down the train with RentReporters.com? 


As for negative history, it's all with Amex. I had 3 Amex accounts and let them all default at the same time 3 years ago. The one with the highest balance turned into a judgement. 4 months ago I started a settlement payment plan on one of the accounts directly with Amex (had them bring the account back in-house from the collection agency it was with) and I just paid that off today. Paid off the second account in FULL about 3 months ago and Amex welcomed me back with an Optima card with a $500 limit. The third account had the highest balance and I had a judgement issued against me for that one. I settled with Amex and the judgement was officially settled 2 months ago. Since it's settled I figured I'd try my luck at getting the judgement deleted from my CR completely so I disputed it with all 3 CBs. Just found out today that TU deleted it. Still waiting on EX and EQ, but I learned that even if they won't delete it I can file a Motion to Vacate Judgement and under the Florida Civil Procedure Code it will be granted because Florida allows satisfied judgements to be vacated and then EX and EQ will have to delete it. That will take time though and currently only TU deleted all traces of the judgement.

 

Aside from that, my credit is clean. Had one collection on there, but did a PFD a few months ago and it's gone without a trace. Now that you're up to speed on my credit, was wondering if you can provide any advice on where I can go or what I can do to get approved for this loan.

 

The car is $66K out the door and I've got $26K cash to put down. No one seems to want to give it to me though. Any ideas?

 

I applied with CEFCU and the decline letter they sent me showed they pulled a credit score of 623 and declined because:

- Serious delinquency, and public record or collection filed (guessing this is the judgement)

- Lack of recent auto loan information

- Too few accounts currently paid as agreed (guessing this is the CO Amex accounts)

- Lack of recent installment loan information

"In adddition to the factors listed above, the number of inquiries on the consumer's credit file has adversely affected the credit score." (That's because I keep trying to find someone to approve me.)

 

The decline letter from Wells Fargo Dealer Services came back with a 681 credit score and decined because:

- Limited credit experience

- Insufficient total credit limits

- Lack of installment trades

- Derogatory public record or collection filed

- No recent installment loan information

- Length of time since legal item filed reported

- Lack of recent information on auto loan or lack of auto loans

- Too many inquiries last 12 months

 

The decline letter from Chase came back with a 651 credit score and declined because:

- Serioues delinquency, and public record or collection filed

- Time since delinquency is too recent or unknown

- Number of accounts with delinquency

- Length of time since derogatory public record or collection is too short

- Number of inquiries

 

All 3 letters are dated within 4 days of each other from 1/30 to 2/2.

 

Seems to me like the presence of the judgement is causing me the most problems. Should I wait to apply for an auto loan with anyone else until I get the judgement deleted from all 3 CBs and then start applying again?

 

I was looking at applying with USAA or NFCU as my uncle used to be in the armed services (he's already a member of USAA), but I'd have to get him involved to get me a membership with both first. Do you think I'd have better luck with USAA or NFCU?

Message 1 of 55
54 REPLIES 54
750Hopeful
New Contributor

Re: Having trouble getting loan even with 40% down

I should mention that I DID get approved when I was looking at a different car (that I no longer am interested in) with BMW FS for financing on a $56K car with $23K down. That was only about a week ago and when the judgment was still reporting on all 3 CBs. I'm putting $3K more down now and only trying for a $10K more expensive car so it's kind of surprising me that I can't get any bank to give me the loan.

 

Also, I only have 1% credit utilization currently (and have never gone above 20% for at least the last year). Here's a screenshot of my Credit Karma. Of the 12 accounts, only 5 are currently open. The other 7 are closed -- 3 from Amex and 4 that were closed as current and with no problems. And at least half of those 17 credit inquiries are auto related and within the last 2 weeks so should get grouped as one inquiry?

 

Message 2 of 55
Robertwd82
New Contributor

Re: Having trouble getting loan even with 40% down

Maybe you can find a BMW dealer with a slightly used model of the car you are looking for since you have an approval with them. It should be good for 30 days.

Message 3 of 55
HoldingOntoHope
Valued Contributor

Re: Having trouble getting loan even with 40% down

If the car you are trying to buy now is at a dealership then let their finance people find a loan for you. I am assuming that the rejections you have were for applying for financing on your own. With 40% down and your income the dealership will make it happen.

Best financial advice I ever got: "Just imagine what an adult would do and do that."

Starting Score: 500's
Current Score: EQ 701 (FICO) TU 721 (FICO) EX 715 (Quizzle)
Goal Score: 760 ALL


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Message 4 of 55
Johnny_Favorite
Regular Contributor

Re: Having trouble getting loan even with 40% down

Agree with holdingontohope. I know we often want to shop for credit on our own, but the dealer is able to pull more strings than you ever could. They will have an in-house finance guy who will make a deal with the devil in some back room and make it work for you. It won't be by your terms though so get used to that if you MUST have what you want.

 

The problem is that most people want what they want and they won't budge. They want the perfect car at the perfect rate and sometimes it's just not going to happen. Can you deal with that? If so, get to the dealer and see what they can do for you. Otherwise, you're just going to end up in a lot of frustration. And don't be surprised when he comes back with a different offer than you're expecting. Finance guys can work magic but not miracles.




Message 5 of 55
Robertwd82
New Contributor

Re: Having trouble getting loan even with 40% down

I agree with them.  Also you can ask for an option contract where you can have another 7 days to find a better rate on your own and just forward the check to them.  

 

If you cant find a better rate you can always refinance after 6 months. 

Message 6 of 55
750Hopeful
New Contributor

Re: Having trouble getting loan even with 40% down

Thanks all!

 

My dealer has been working on it for the last 4 days and still have not heard that they've gotten a guaranteed approval. They did say they were absolutely sure that they could get my approved with my 40% down payment because they have great relationships with a bunch of different banks, but I've been disappointed in the past with such statements so I told them I wanted a guaranteed approval from a bank before I put down my deposit to order the car. And it sounds like it's been harder than they thought it would of been to get an approval. I've seen about 3 hard inquiries show up from banks they've submitted it to.

 

I'm not so much worried about getting the perfect deal if the perfect deal means an ideal interest rate. It's going to take 2 months for the car to arrive from Germany so I figure as long as I can get approved now, even if it's for a 10% APR, I'll take that and order the car. And then once the car gets here and before I sign the papers, I can try and get a much better rate as I intend to have cleaned up my credit quite a bit by that time. I should have the judgement deleted across all 3 CBs by then, and hopefully (fingers crossed) the 3 charged off Amex accounts, as well. If that happened, there'd be zero negative history on my credit and I could probably get a really good interest rate.

 

But I can't even order the car until I get approved at all.

Message 7 of 55
750Hopeful
New Contributor

Re: Having trouble getting loan even with 40% down

Just heard from the dealer. The final word is that they sent it out to 6 banks and none of them will touch the loan with a 10 foot stick because of that judgement from Amex on my report. Surprising that BMW FS granted me a $33K loan with the judgement based on a loan app I submitted on their website, but even a dealer can't get me approved for a $40K loan (it's not a BMW so it's not as though they could go back to BMW FS and ask for more).

 

I'm working hard on getting the judgement removed though. TransUnion told me they deleted it a few days ago and I JUST got the email from Equifax saying that they deleted it, too!!! But Experian says they won't delete it. Don't really understand why they won't when the other two did. I'm going to call Equifax tomorrow and ask how they determined to delete it. Perhaps I can use that information to convince Experian to do it, as well.

 

Curiously, when TU deleted the judgement, my FICO score only jumped 10 points. I figured for sure it would jump at least 20 or 30 or even 40 points since it was the only public record/serious derogatory on my report. Any ideas why I would only see a 10 point jump (647 to 657) after deleting such a serious baddie?

But worse case, I've prepared a Motion to Vacate Judgement. In the state of Florida, a judgement can be vacated if it's been satisfied. So if Experian will not remove it, I'll vacate it through the courts and then Experian will be forced to delete it once I show that it's been vacated.

 

But until all 3 CBs show no trace of that judgement, it looks like no one will give me a loan for $40K and I'm going to have to wait it out. Smiley Sad

Message 8 of 55
Walt_K
Senior Contributor

Re: Having trouble getting loan even with 40% down

I don't have a lot of experience with auto loans, but this doesn't seem right.  Maybe you should try talking to a different dealership.  I don't see why a paid judgment should cause so much difficulty, especially if you are willing to put 40% down.  There are tons of people reporting success with a lot more credit issues.  Maybe it's different for loan amounts that high, but it seems like you should be able to get approved with that large of a downpayment. 


Starting Score: ~500 (12/01/2008)
Current Score: EQ 681 (04/05/13); TU 98 728 (01/06/12), TU 08? 760 (provided by Barclay 1/2/14), TU 04 728 (lender pull 01/12/12); EX 742 (lender pull 01/12/12)
Goal Score: 720


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Message 9 of 55
750Hopeful
New Contributor

Re: Having trouble getting loan even with 40% down

I'm right there with you, but two dealers now have said the same thing, along with the 10 lendors I've tried to apply with by myself.

Message 10 of 55
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