When should I apply?

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone,

I recently enrolled in the Fico Score Watch.  My equifax score is 671, up from 620 when I did the trial in April.  I am 19 years old and have been working at my job for about 5 months now.

I plan to firstly pay off most of my debt.  I owe about $1400, most on one credit card.  So paying that one down is my main goal and I think that is what is mostly affecting my score.   

I really want to buy a car since I have been having to get rides and borrow my parents car.  I was wondering about what score would I need to get a good rate on a car loan? 

[Anonymous]

Paying down your card will boost your score point wise hard to say how much without having the big picture. But if you can pay it down first that would be optimal. Now with that being said in this lending climate down payments are really helping people get approvals and better interest rates. My wife and I just got a loan my scores are low 600's hers are high 500's and we had to put down $3000 but we got a better than average interest rate for our "score bucket". So it is possible. Having a nice down payment will definately help. But you have better scores than us so most likely you wont need $3000 down but it also depends on the lender, the vehicle you are buying, its total cost, and your income. Without knowing all of the info it is hard to say. Now I am posting a link to our auto loan forum. This is a thread where members who have got an auto loan have posted everything about it. You can scroll through it and see what people with scores near yours have obtained. Now the score isnt everything if you have two people both with a 700 score and one makes $2000 a month and one makes $4000 a month obviously the second could afford more car so it will still vary to your situation but you can get a good idea of what people are getting and what you may be able to get. But I would definately recommend trying to approach the situation with a down payment.

Good Luck to you