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Getting Financed for an Auto Loan

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Getting Financed for an Auto Loan

Should I go to these places w/a credit reports and/or reports instead of having my credit union and/or the dealerships pulling my reports?
Message 1 of 7
6 REPLIES 6
Creditaddict
Legendary Contributor

Re: Getting Financed for an Auto Loan

They will always pull there own. they have to.
and as long as you do all your car shopping within a 14 day period, all the credit pulls will just count as 1 against you.
Message 2 of 7
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Getting Financed for an Auto Loan

Wow...14 days does not seem like enough time to buy a car.  Thanks for your reply.
 
Message 3 of 7
fused
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Getting Financed for an Auto Loan

FICO scoring has a "de-duplication window" and it looks at your history for the last 12 months, and when it sees two or more hard inqs for the same type of mortgage or auto loan it will ignore all but one of them as far as scoring is concerned. If the lender is using an older FICO scoring model the window is 14 days, if they are using the newest model it can be 45 days.
 
Also keep in mind that even though the multiple inqs count as one in FICO scoring, all of the inqs will show-up on your reports for up to 2 years.
Message 4 of 7
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Getting Financed for an Auto Loan

Not that I would deign to disagree with Fused, but I'll tell you what I did; I got a copy of my history and FICO (not FAKO) score, then peddled that around the local CU's.  Ended up with 6.25% for a used car (good for my score) and only 1 inquiry.  I don't know why, I must be an exception, but after buying my truck and house, ALL inquiries show up on my reports, I always have to explain that to potential creditors, so to avoid the hassle, I just keep the INQ's low as a general rule...Oh.
Message 5 of 7
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Getting Financed for an Auto Loan

Not that I would deign to disagree with Fused, but I'll tell you what I did; I got a copy of my history and FICO (not FAKO) score, then peddled that around the local CU's.  Ended up with 6.25% for a used car (good for my score) and only 1 inquiry.  I don't know why, I must be an exception, but after buying my truck and house, ALL inquiries show up on my reports, I always have to explain that to potential creditors, so to avoid the hassle, I just keep the INQ's low as a general rule...
 
*Edit - carrying around your report will allow creditors to give you an idea of where you'd fall financing-wise, but they will still have to pull their own auto enhanced FICO once you give them the green flag.  Nothing to worry about, as long as you used an accurate report, because the information should be the same.  It keeps you from getting 5 inquiries before finding a lender you like, though.  Good luck! 


Message Edited by OBXFrank on 11-05-2007 04:31 AM
Message 6 of 7
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Getting Financed for an Auto Loan

My boyfriend works at a car dealer, and there are two things that will help you get a better finance rate. 
 
The first is coming in with your own credit score, as others have suggested.  However, realize that having your credit score (good or bad) in hand won't mean anything if you don't know what rate you should be getting.  I bought a car two months before my boyfriend went to go work in the business, and seriously... the finance guy looked up into space and pulled a number out of the air.  I mean, he could have at least PRETENDED to look it up on his computer!! 
 
So, the second you can do is having a (low) competitive offer from a credit union/bank/etc IN HAND.  The dealership makes money on the financing, and if you have an offer in hand, you can see if you can negotiate to get them to beat or match the offer.  If not, go with the CU.
 
Bottom line:  you can negotiate the price of the car, the amount of your trade-in, and your rate of financing.  Take your time, shop the prices they quote you, shop the rates they quote you, bring in evidence of everything.   
Message 7 of 7
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