topic Joint application; which score will they use? in Auto Loans

Joint application; which score will they use?

Anonymous — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 23:35:38 GMT

My husband and I will be buying a new car in a couple of months. My scores are around 670-690 and his are around 600. Will they just pull them all and take an average or will they just pick the highest or lowest? We both have to apply to have a better DTI.

Re: Joint application; which score will they use?

GregB — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:16:38 GMT

You will qualify on credit score based upon the lower scoring person. They will qualify you on income of both.

Don't forget that they may use an auto enhanced credit score so your husband's score might be better or worse than you expect based upon his experience with auto loans.

Re: Joint application; which score will they use?

Walt_K — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 01:53:03 GMT

@GregB wrote:
You will qualify on credit score based upon the lower scoring person. They will qualify you on income of both.

Don't forget that they may use an auto enhanced credit score so your husband's score might be better or worse than you expect based upon his experience with auto loans.

I thought Auto loans were the opposite of mortgage loans, they take the best score.

Re: Joint application; which score will they use?

MsTucker09 — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 23:44:19 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
My husband and I will be buying a new car in a couple of months. My scores are around 670-690 and his are around 600. Will they just pull them all and take an average or will they just pick the highest or lowest? We both have to apply to have a better DTI.

I was told by a loan officer at my CU that they will use the highest score to determine interest rate

Re: Joint application; which score will they use?

GregB — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 14:48:40 GMT

Sounds like there might be no "normal" way to do this. I've only had one example where I know they used the lowest score. It was from 2007.

If the others are sure about some using the higher score, then that means there is no standard like there seems to be for a mortgage.

Re: Joint application; which score will they use?

Walt_K — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 02:48:29 GMT

@GregB wrote:
Sounds like there might be no "normal" way to do this. I've only had one example where I know they used the lowest score. It was from 2007.

If the others are sure about some using the higher score, then that means there is no standard like there seems to be for a mortgage.

I'm not sure (I haven't had a car since I was 18). I'm just going by what I've read on here. Running a couple searches it seems like it might be specific to lenders, but there are enough reports of people having success that if this is an issue for you, you should definitely shop around and ask some other lenders which score they go with. Based on a very unscientific survey of some threads, I'd say it doesn't seem like a rare thing to find a lender who will take the higher score.