I’m going to weigh in and say go with someone other than DCU. My anecdotal experience has been absolutely unfavorable. I called DCU prior to applying. I asked every question I could think of. I asked about a “first time buyer” penalty, meaning I would have to make a downpayment because of my lack of installment history. I was told “Nope, if you’re approved for the amount, that’s the amount the check is sent to you for”. Sweet!
I applied and was approved for my requested amount ($15,500 mid 600s score, low DTI, 8 month history and 30k income).
When I made my FIRST call about my loan app, I was informed I had been approved. The young woman I talked to congratulated me, and went through about 5 minutes of how it works, and so on. Right as I wished her a good day and got ready to hang up, there was a “Oh by the way there’s a stipulation of 20% down”. Ok, I can understand that, but why wasn’t that one of the first things you said, and why wasn’t I told this during my first call. It seemed sort of slimey to go over everything BUT the stipulation until I was out to hang up. Fine, I thought. Probably just new, or forgot. This was on 3/12.
The last few weeks have just been phone call after phone call with so much conflicting information I don’t know where I stand. My second phone call I asked how the downpayment worked. The young man I talked to that time said “we will finance 80% of book value”. Nothing more. No catch. Nothing. Ok. So I hung up satisfied. My third call turned into “80% of book value OR 80% of the finance value, whichever is lower”. That really irked me because I thought if I got a good deal on a car for below book I’d be better off. But no.
My 4th call about the loan, I asked her AGAIN. This time the answer was “80% of book, or finance amount, whichever is lower, MINUS tax title and license.” Well, shoot. I can see why that would be the case but that should be clearly stated during the approval. So I’ve gone from looking at 3k down which was no problem, to 4500+ down, which is now a problem. Had I been told any of those during my first call, or second I would’ve gone somewhere else. Two HPs on EQ, wasted. Oh, and by the way, there is NOWHERE to view your loan terms during the process.
This is complete not mentioning the absolute nightmare of trying to get into the danged mobile banking site.