Was preapproved, took too long to buy, now can't get preapproved

[Anonymous]

Hello, 1st post, will just state my case, and thanks in advance

 I don't have great credit, lost my house in 2010, been renting ever since, my wife is from another country and other than tying her name to mine, has no established credit.  I applied to capital one(14%) and roadloans(12.5%) in May of this year, got approved thru both, chose the roadloans preapproval(mistake) because it was lower interest than capone- not knowing that roadloans charges dealers to finance a loan.  Not one dealership would accept Roadloans, because of the amount they charge to finance- one dealership told me they would be charged $700 by Roadloans, and we were just buying a $7000 car from them) Ended up letting two dealerships run my credit in the hopes of getting a better rate, walked away from both.  When my thirty days had run out with roadloans, they told me to simply reapply- which I did, and was denied.  It turns out that between my applications and the dealership inquiries, there were I believe 14 inquiries on my credit.  Decided to wait 90 days and recently(beginning of this month) reappled through capital one, denied again.  So it looks like my score( I believe it was 630 with experian I want to say my FICO score was the same, but not sure) was negatively impacted due to a ton of inquiries? 

I have one capital one credit card since last year that started with a 300 limit.  Was late for three months at the end of last year, but have kept it up and current all ot this year.  I was informed in August that my limit was increased to 750, and thought, 'hey, my credit score has improved.'

  Our situation requires a car purchase, we have 1 car now, paid off, but its a standard transmission, and my wife cannot(after MANY hours of practice) operate a clutch.  I work nights, and we have a baby on the way.  So though I'd rather not make a purchase, a second car for us is a necessity.

I understand that there are other finance companies that will preapprove for an auto purchase, I thought I saw some posted here.  I tried looking recently, and have had no luck.  Any suggestions?  We are looking to buy used, as a new car purchase would be a minimum of $12,000 or more- between the down payment and amount financed, we need to keep the  purchase price under $9000, ideally around $8000, so we've been looking used. 

If any other info is  required, I'll be here.  There are a lot of great deals right now, I guess from what I've read, October is a good month to be a car buyer- and our time is running out, my wife is due in a month. 

Thanks again in advance.

[Anonymous]

Find your local credit union, open an acocunt with them and see what they will offer you. People here like D(igital Credit Union but I have no experience witht hem and in thsi situation I'd go to my local branch and talk with a epron face to face. Credit unions tend to be a lot nicer than banks and easier to work with since they are owned by the people who open accounts with them so they are not nearly as profit hungry as banks....

[Anonymous]

Followed your advice, thanks.  My head is swirling with all the information this forum provided.  We did an app, won't get results till tomorrow.  The branch manager worked with me, she explained that while your credit score is taken into consideration, they lean more on collateral, and what your willing to put down on the car.  I really don't expect approval, because the terms are rediculously favorable- 2-10% ?  Never thought I'd hear that with my credit.  I'll post here tomorrow.

[Dj4Money]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Followed your advice, thanks.  My head is swirling with all the information this forum provided.  We did an app, won't get results till tomorrow.  The branch manager worked with me, she explained that while your credit score is taken into consideration, they lean more on collateral, and what your willing to put down on the car.  I really don't expect approval, because the terms are rediculously favorable- 2-10% ?  Never thought I'd hear that with my credit.  I'll post here tomorrow.

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 So what happen? CU's are much better than banks on many levels. Depending where your score is, the car and how much down, you'll get a favorable rate. Worse case, you'll get a interest rate around 8-10%.

  Looking used, I am assuming you want something bigger than a Ford Fiesta, Nissan Versa or Hynudai/Kia Accent/Rio?

 I have another question that's off-topic, you have a PM.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I was declined.  Really need a car, so I'm going to have to deal with dealership financing, I guess.   I was hoping to find other methods of pre-approval online,  because I know that throwing yourself at the mercy of the dealership is the worst option for me.

The used cars I've been looking at are import mid-sized.  I have a couple friends who work/worked in auto repair, their recommendations are that domestic economy priced cars are a worse option than Toyota/Nissan/Mazda/Hyundai/Kia.  I've been combing through autotrader dealer listings, and am looking at Hyundai Elantra/Sonata, Mazda 3/6/CX-7, Kia Forte/Optima.  I've found quite a few listings under $10,000, focusing on $7,000-$9,000  with year models from 2007-2011 and still under(well under in some cases) 100k miles.  By using Edmunds.com's maitainence tools, I've even found that a few of those models have timing chains instead of timing belts- worth considering when purchasing used with the miles I'm looking at.

[Dj4Money]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Yeah, I was declined.  Really need a car, so I'm going to have to deal with dealership financing, I guess.   I was hoping to find other methods of pre-approval online,  because I know that throwing yourself at the mercy of the dealership is the worst option for me.

The used cars I've been looking at are import mid-sized.  I have a couple friends who work/worked in auto repair, their recommendations are that domestic economy priced cars are a worse option than Toyota/Nissan/Mazda/Hyundai/Kia.  I've been combing through autotrader dealer listings, and am looking at Hyundai Elantra/Sonata, Mazda 3/6/CX-7, Kia Forte/Optima.  I've found quite a few listings under $10,000, focusing on $7,000-$9,000  with year models from 2007-2011 and still under(well under in some cases) 100k miles.  By using Edmunds.com's maitainence tools, I've even found that a few of those models have timing chains instead of timing belts- worth considering when purchasing used with the miles I'm looking at.

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   Firstly the Fiesta is a car designed in Europe and built in Mexico. The quality is fine, no serious problems, not apart of any recent Ford recalls either. It's a great car, fun to drive and if you get an automatic, get the 1.0L 3 cylinder Ecoboost, it puts out WAY more torque than the standard 1.6L NA engine.

 The Rio/Accent twins have been reliable as well. Auto Mechanics, especially those that usualy work on used cars might say that because people often just put gas in their cars and change the oil only when the light comes on. 

 Kia Rio5, Hyundai Accent Wagon and Ford FIesta Sedan - 

 Those cars are $12-14K brand new. With rebates drop them down to $10-12K and with a good APR, the payments will be the same as a used car at the 8-9K range.

 Being at the mercy of the dealerships is not a bad thing; they have more clout than you do to force banks to take your loan or already know which banks to work with.

 Just go to TruCar, find the dealers in your area, print out the suggested price and keep shopping until you find a dealer who will agree to that price and get you financed.

 Are you trying to do this with no money down?

[Anonymous]

No, we're prepared to put around 1000-2000 down.

[Dj4Money]

@Anonymous wrote:

No, we're prepared to put around 1000-2000 down.

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Well it will be easier to get a new car financed. Because the dealer wants to sell new cars, more than used cars.

 They will sell you used on two conditions, if they have no choice and your credit is horrible but not bad enough to send to a buy here, pay here dealer. Or you insist it's used.

  I guess it depends on how much of a payment you can afford. Like I said they will be more eager to sell you new rather than used, especially any 2014's left on the lot.

  As far as used, is there a CarMax in your area? 

[Anonymous]

There's a CarMax about 30 miles from us.  Whenever I've searched their inventory, their prices were higher than other dealership listings

[Creditaddict]

CarMax is awsome, especially for not very good credit... you will have no issues getting approved and it's practically instant and right in front of you on the computer...

you can play with it once you pick a car with no money down, $1k down or whatever...