Hello, all.
I have been a long time lurker and reader of these forums and have been "gardening" my meager credit score for about 2 years now and I am looking for a little feedback for this increasingly frustraing situation...
I recently have come to need a new automobile. I am a firm believer in "Drive it till the wheels fall off" but that day is fastly approaching, No other way around it.
I have been driving the same truck since 1999 and my wife has been driving the same car since she was 16 (She is 25 now). Both vehicles were gifts, mine for graduation, hers for a 16th birthday. Both vehicles are fastly becoming money pits and are becoming increasingly unreliable, making something as simple as day to day transport a potentially stressful situation at any given time.
I have 3 CC's. 2 with a zero balance and one card with a 55% utilization (though it is rapidly coming down).
Current credit scores as of yesterday are EQ: 727, TU: 726, EXP: 736. 38% utilization (Again, rapidly coming down). Oldest card is 5 years old, newest card less than a year old bringing my overall average age of accounts to 2 years. No late payments. No negative items to speak of. None.
Never had a need for an auto loan in the past, don't have a mortgage as I live in a rental home owned by a family member that I am set to inherit free and clear upon their passing. (Make 40,000 + a year, been at the same job 11 years. Same address 4 years. Not that any of things were even inquired about when aplying)
At a glance, that should seem pretty decent but apparently it isn't.
After some careful consideration and reading about how great and lienent Credit Unions can be as opposed to big banks, I decided to contact a local credit union yesterday morning to discuss Auto Loan options. I expected to speak with someone to setup an appointment, allowing time for a in-depth discussion but was told that they can pretty much give me an answer by phone after a couple hours. As odd as that sounded, I agreed and gave them my Social.
When I was contacted again, I was informed that they could possibly give me a rate in the 8.4% range and that I "may or may not" need a co-signer due to my "limited credit history" ( I am assuming this means my accounts aren't old enough or they are frowning upon the fact that I do not have a mortgage or previous auto loan history...).
May or may not need a co-signer? Brilliant, I already knew that in the first place...I was expecting a definite answer. 8.4%? Seems waaay to high considering my scores, even taking into account the limited history. I expected something in the 4'ish% range at the highest.
I inquired about my score that they pulled and was told that they could not provide it but could tell me where to get it, I replied that I knew exactly where to get it as I already had it on hand but was curious at what they were seeing. The woman I was speaking with replied with "Eh...well...it;s not terrible." Really? I thanked her for her time and said I would just stop in if I had any further questions as I felt the phone process we were having was rather fly by night.
Feeling a bit discouraged, confused and a tad bit pissed off that I wasted a hard inquiry and had a such a fruitless conversation, I decided that I might as well give Capital One Auto Finance a shot since I have a card in good standing with them.
Fill out the online app, get the "We will process this application request within 24 hours" message, only to get e-mailed a decline 15 seconds later.
Credit alerts start going off about the Cap One hard pulls from each bureau...but no trace of hard any pull from the Credit Union I contacted earlier in the day...is that normal? Did the CU actually do a hard pull at all or was the woman just feeding me stuff to get me off the phone?
At any rate, needless to say I am a bit flustered. I realize a limited history isn't preferred but I see people with much lower scores, bankruptcys and repos getting approvals on here all the time. No knock on anyone with that history at all but I would like to think that I would be viewed as a little less of a risk than someone with a spotty history.
What gives? Is the limited history really holding me back that much where I can't even get cap-one to even CONSIDER me?
I really had no intention of even setting foot on a lot until I have pre-approved financing in hand...but should I reconsider this?
Anyway, sorry for the rambling post but any feedback is deeply appreciated.
