Another little victory...

[Anonymous]

My fiance got a car loan without a cosigner on Saturday. It is pre-approved with a local credit union at 9%. He's only looking to get a $3000 car MAXIMUM, so this is a perfect credit builder. Even with that darned Arrow account on his CR he was able to get a new TL. We are very pleased.

I am actually thinking about seeing if they will give me an auto loan. I have been paying First National Bank of Grandma for over a year, but she's charging me 20% interest and it's doing nothing for my credit score. Even though my scores are lower than his, perhaps they could get me a loan at a lower rate (15% would be great even) so I can save money AND build another positive TL. Do you think I have a shot at it if Grandma tells them how well I've been making my payments?

[Anonymous]

Just be sure to have an explanation of everything negative, to appeal if they turn you down right from the get go.

I had scores like yours once and the credit union APGFCU had some kind of "credit builder" program and it was at 10% but Dealer wanted 20% but I had to fight for it.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Hoe much do you oe and what is the car worth?  That is the big factor.  If you have 10-20% equity in the car than it can be possible. 

Does the car have a lien on it now (other than the FNBG)?  If not, it can always be used to secure a personal loan (probably less than 20%)

[Anonymous]

It's a 98 Accord SE fully loaded. I owe about 4300 on it, and it books for around 4800 trade-in value, so I'm not upside down. FNBG holds the title and is listed as the lienholder on my insurance, so no title loans unless I pay her off. There are some subprime lenders in my area that would probably help me but the interest savings would not be there with those guys. We have a plan to pay it off by October anyway, but if I get it refi'd then I could do that while building credit and maybe shave a month off the timeline.

[Anonymous]

Learn from Grandma - she's smart (covered herself by being listed as lienholder).  I would go into the bank you bank at and talk to them - you have 10% equity in the car...

[Anonymous]

Agreed. As far as Grandma being the lienholder, I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. The last thing I'd want is for her to get screwed over in case there was a wreck or something. She was nice enough to help me get a nice car, even if the interest is a little high. I bank with a CU, so I guess I can just try and see what happens. I've got a few recent inquiries already so one more won't hurt. Perhaps they can give me an idea of what they can do if I bring in myfico reports. They are from last week so they are a good indicator of what they'll find when they pull. I'll let the board know what I decide to do. Thanks for responding!

[2Bfree]

The scores listed do they belong to you or the one who got the loan with the credit union.  I am trying to build my credit as well.  My scores or in the mid 500's to High 500's.  I am trying to reach 650 by my birthday in May.  That will be my gift to myself.

[Anonymous]

Good luck to you on your goal!!

The scores below are mine. My fiance's are in the low to mid 600's. He has some collections and such on there and no recent TL's until 2 months ago when he got a small jewelry store account to build credit. It's working so far.

You can do it. Look at the timeline of my scores and you'll see how quickly it can happen. Follow the advice on this forum and when in doubt, just ask. These guys are great.