Any advice?

[Anonymous]

I have been working to build my credit and in the last year have gone from an EX fico of 471 to 541.  In November, I opened a credit card account and now need to purchase a vehicle. After reading through the forums, I have a couple of questions.

Will I be able to qualify for a used auto loan with a score of 541?

What will this do to my score? Will opening 2 new credit accounts within 4 months hurt my score that I am so desperately trying to rebuild? For how long will it hurt it?

[Anonymous]

Please see my response to your post in the Mortgages/Auto Loans forum.

[Anonymous]

This information is for a low credit score only.

I haven't seen harm come from opening up to 3 credit cards if you have none. If you have 1, 2 more should be ok. Just make sure your UTL "reporting" on these cards are 0% when you apply for your loan. You can have a score of 520 with no credit cards then get them, put balances on them and lower your score to mid 400's. If you do get new cards, don't apply for the car loan until 3 months after the last card one hits your CR.

Any car loan with in the 500's will be expensive but possible. You might have to try harder to be approved. The key with any loans is not having unpaid balances that are closed. So if you have any closed accounts unsatisfied try to pay them off or remove them.

It is possible that the interest you will be paying might double the price of your loan.

Message Edited by ilovepizza on 01-23-2008 09:36 AM