New car purchase question (and loan rates)

Anonymous · ‎12-02-2014

My current scores are 755 Equifax, 721 Transunion and 717 Experian. Made last payment on an installment loan a few weeks ago and score dropped 6 pts and final payment on an auto lease will be in March which I'm guessing will also drop my score some. Planning on purchasing a new car when lease expires in March.

CC balance of $12,000 with a limit of $48,000 (Utilization ratio of 25%)

Income $68,000/year

Nothing negative on credit report (besides CC balances a little high)

Have 1 lease and 1 auto purchase on credit report, all payments on time for last 3 years

Mortgage all on time, student loans on time,

My wife's scores are a little lower than mine as she's currently carrying more in CC debt than I am so we're currently planning on purchasing the car in my name.

I'm paying as much as I can each month on the CC balances so hopefully that'll get the scores up a little.

How am I looking for getting the best rates for new cars? Am I close? Do I need to somehow get that score up some in order to qualify?

We'll be looking at purchasing something in the $25K - $27K price range (Ford Escape, Toyota Rav4, Jeep Cherokee). I would prefer to only put $1,000 down but could go a little higher if necessary.

Thanks

Anonymous · ‎12-02-2014

@Anonymous wrote:
My current scores are 755 Equifax, 721 Transunion and 717 Experian. Made last payment on an installment loan a few weeks ago and score dropped 6 pts and final payment on an auto lease will be in March which I'm guessing will also drop my score some. Planning on purchasing a new car when lease expires in March.

CC balance of $12,000 with a limit of $48,000 (Utilization ratio of 25%)
Income $68,000/year
Nothing negative on credit report (besides CC balances a little high)
Have 1 lease and 1 auto purchase on credit report, all payments on time for last 3 years
Mortgage all on time, student loans on time,

My wife's scores are a little lower than mine as she's currently carrying more in CC debt than I am so we're currently planning on purchasing the car in my name.
I'm paying as much as I can each month on the CC balances so hopefully that'll get the scores up a little.

How am I looking for getting the best rates for new cars? Am I close? Do I need to somehow get that score up some in order to qualify?

We'll be looking at purchasing something in the $25K - $27K price range (Ford Escape, Toyota Rav4, Jeep Cherokee). I would prefer to only put $1,000 down but could go a little higher if necessary.

Thanks

Generally scores need to be close to 760 to get the absolute best rate so I would work on getting your CC utilization down in the interim which should help your scores quite a bit especially if you can get them below 10%.

Having said that keep in mind that dealers uses an auto enhanced score that can be much better than your regular scores if you have paid previous auto loans on time. I bet that you're in pretty good shape now but getting that utilization down is always a good thing.

coterotie · ‎12-02-2014

I got .89 from infiniti (NMAC) with a regular fico of 713 and an auto enhanced of 690ish. I am top tier at Chrysler, Lexus as well. However, BMW won't approve me. So I got rid of the BMW I was driving (cap1 financed) and bought the Infiniti. Bought a Jeep as well, but totalled by a texting driver. So I am back in the market negotiating for likely a new jeep.

You should get whatever the top tier rates are. Go in and tell them you expect the best rate or no deal. Don't let them pull your report until they commit to the best rate based on what you tell them your scores are. They will get it done. Then let them pull the bureau.

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
My current scores are 755 Equifax, 721 Transunion and 717 Experian. Made last payment on an installment loan a few weeks ago and score dropped 6 pts and final payment on an auto lease will be in March which I'm guessing will also drop my score some. Planning on purchasing a new car when lease expires in March.

CC balance of $12,000 with a limit of $48,000 (Utilization ratio of 25%)
Income $68,000/year
Nothing negative on credit report (besides CC balances a little high)
Have 1 lease and 1 auto purchase on credit report, all payments on time for last 3 years
Mortgage all on time, student loans on time,

My wife's scores are a little lower than mine as she's currently carrying more in CC debt than I am so we're currently planning on purchasing the car in my name.
I'm paying as much as I can each month on the CC balances so hopefully that'll get the scores up a little.

How am I looking for getting the best rates for new cars? Am I close? Do I need to somehow get that score up some in order to qualify?

We'll be looking at purchasing something in the $25K - $27K price range (Ford Escape, Toyota Rav4, Jeep Cherokee). I would prefer to only put $1,000 down but could go a little higher if necessary.

Thanks

Generally scores need to be close to 760 to get the absolute best rate so I would work on getting your CC utilization down in the interim which should help your scores quite a bit especially if you can get them below 10%.

Having said that keep in mind that dealers uses an auto enhanced score that can be much better than your regular scores if you have paid previous auto loans on time. I bet that you're in pretty good shape now but getting that utilization down is always a good thing.

Anonymous · ‎12-02-2014

Thanks for the responses. I had a hunch my scores were close but possibly not quite there yet. I'll see how much I can pay down my CC balances between now and then.

sccredit · ‎12-02-2014

@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks for the responses. I had a hunch my scores were close but possibly not quite there yet. I'll see how much I can pay down my CC balances between now and then.

With those scores at Ford you will absolutely get the best rates, you can get 0% at Ford in the 600's.