Need advice

[Gerri]

Hi all,

I am trying to figure out what to do!  I am wanting to buy a new car.  I have about 4 thousand dollars to put down on it.  Here is the problem, my fico score with EQ is 680.  I have a paid judgement from 2011 and 2 other charge offs.  My TU says one of the charge offs will drop in November and the other (which is actually the  OC for the judgement) in December of this year.  I make 70,000 per year and have a mortgage, home equity loan, and one credit card open and current.  I also get 650 monthly additional income for renting out my basement.  I have not had a car loan since I paid this last one off back in 2004.  It doesn't even still show up on my reports so I don't think I would have auto enhanced scores sine the 2 cars I financed previously were so long ago.

i want to get a car now but am not sure that I can get approved.  I wonder how much my score would go up once the charge offs drop off in a few months and if it will be worth trying to wait?  I know they say the older they are the less they impact your score and since mine are almost 7 years old I don't know how much they still impact me! I have a clunker now but it is hanging in there but I don't want to put too much money into it and don't know how much longer it can last.

Any advice?  Thanks in advance

[ExplicitElicit]

The bank I work for, when we come up with an auto enhanced score we don't just take your auto loan history, we take all installment loan history. So your mortgage and any other installment loans that you've had would be used for the enhanced score. Your scores are decent you should not have to worry about being approved. I would start shopping around and see what you're interested in. The only thing you may be limited to is an $$ amount of a loan. If you finance at a dealership you can always look at refinancing with another bank or CU even. 

[Shogun]

If you are a member of a CU or utilize a local bank that you have a good relationship with, you would most likely get a more favorable loan.  

[Remember0]

I concur with the above. With an EQ FICO of 680, you're in good shape. Esp. since auto enhanced is likely higher. Maybe you could start by trying DCU if you don't have a local bank/CU you have a relationship with? If they pull above a 675 EQ (their pull might be a little different than yours), you'd qualify for their 1.74% for 65 months rate. Another lender you could try is BofA...I'd start with DCU personally.

A dealer should definitely be able to get you <5% on a new car, accept no less. Try to arrange your own financing (DCU, BofA, etc...) though so he has to compete.

[Gerri]

Thanks for all of your advice!