topic Re: car loan question please help! in General Credit Topics

car loan question please help!

rmc0522 — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 02:52:09 GMT

My credit sucks right now and my FICO is 436 (OUCH!) but I just set everything on automatic bill pay and I'm (finally) serious about improving my credit.

My question is this: My car has more than 160,000 miles on it right now and realistically I am going to have to buy a new one in the next few months. I just paid my car off in August with no payments later than 15 days in the whole 4 years of the loan. My dad co-signed for me to get the car in Aug. '03. Even though my credit is horrible, is it possible I can still get approved for a loan? My dad's willing to co-sign, but being as my score is about as bad as it gets, what are the chances of being approved even with a co-signer?

Thanks!

Re: car loan question please help!

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 13:06:20 GMT

Please take my advise and do not go the dealership with that credit score. The dealership will give you the highest interest , 20%. You will lose money by buying a car with that credit score.

What type of car do you have? 160k is still good for a car. If your car is still running and not causing you problems, save that money. Work on getting your credit score higher.

Hope this helps.

Re: car loan question please help!

fishbjc — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 13:26:32 GMT

I can't say from personal experience, but my sister needed a co-signer with an almost 500 score and her interest is ridiculous.

Re: car loan question please help!

fishbjc — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 13:28:06 GMT

Have you thought about purchasing a used car and letting your dad sign for the full loan? When your credit improves, you can purchase another car with your own credit. 160,000 miles isn't all that much. I have 138k on a honda and it runs like a top.

Re: car loan question please help!

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 14:02:31 GMT

You need to fix the reason you have a sub 500 FICO.

Re: car loan question please help!

Schoolbuskid — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 14:12:23 GMT

I would say you need to get your score up more, because like they say you will be paying high interest and more than what the car is worth. I know that Drive Financial usually works well with people with low credit scores but again they will hit you with a high interest! Continue to read different threads on here and do what needs to be done and you will see your score go up! Good Luck!

Re: car loan question please help!

CreditDrama85 — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 14:44:29 GMT

i am in a similar situation and require a new car because i leased the one i have now....i am slowly making progress so ill just have to see what happens

it sounds like you know how to make payments on time. u were not over 30 days late on your auto loan within a 4 yr period....so what is on your credit report that is making your score so low?

there has to be something major u might be overlooking

Re: car loan question please help!

rmc0522 — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 16:41:22 GMT

I know 165k isn't that bad, but I am a 25-year-olkd woman who works 45 minutes away from home and doesn't get off work until midnight. My car is fine now, but realistically I'm going to be needing to look at other options in the next few months because I sitmply can't afford to drive my car until its unreliable.

As for my low credit score, believe it or not, a year and a half ago I had good credit. Here's my sob story. I'm a college graduate, been outta school 3.5 years, went into a field that simply doesn't pay well ( I have a bachelor's and have friends that never took a college class taht make considerably more than me) I've lived on my own since I graduated and just haven't been able to make ends meet. I took out a personal loan for about $2,000 in Feb. '06. It got seriously delinquent, but I just made arrangements last month for a payment plan.

I'm new to this, but my student loans are showing up 120 days late, but they are current now. Also, I had been approved for a forebearance for 4 months, so it seems to me that it wouldn't show up negatively if they were allowing me to not pay for 4 moths? I'm thinking I need to write a letter, right? If that really is an error (it's 2 separate loans totaling $27,000 and both are being shown delinquent) about how much will my score go up?

Besides the personal loan and my student loans, I only owe about $1,500, mostly old credit cards that I went delinquent on. If I bust my tail, I can realistically get it paid off in the next 4-5 months.

So, maybe I'm just being optimistic, but all this is fixable, right? I know that getting stuff paid off is the first step, but then do I start writing letters to try to get stuff deleted?

Re: car loan question please help!

gNaRKiLL — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 23:02:44 GMT

Well I do believe that when a school loan is in forbearance it shows up late until you start paying again, and then its current, you could probably call and confirm. I would drive your car until it starts costing you more and more money every month to keep it. Take the money for the payment each month and pay down your cc's.

Edit: Also alot of stuff is fixable, but it definitely varies from case to case. I dont think school loans are very forgiving when it comes to removing lates. Credit card lates can be forgiven but sometimes its really not easy, you have to have shown that you can make the payments on time for generally 2 years before they are willing to get rid of lates. Now if your trying to do a pay for delete that could be a different story.

I guess what im trying to say is dont look at it as if you can let your bills go and then work the system to get it off your record because it doesnt always work and it makes it even more difficult for the rest of us.

Message Edited by gNaRKiLL on 12-17-2007 03:02 PM

Re: car loan question please help!

fishbjc — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 23:15:11 GMT

You're probably not going to get an auto loan with that score, but you already know that. I can definitely see why you will need reliable transportation. Can your father purchase the car in his name? I've seen some leases on small kia's for around $129 per month.

Don't take a chance with your safety. As far as your credit goes...it's definitely fixable. Why don't you call around to a couple of dealers and talk to their credit manager, see where you need to be.

Re: car loan question please help!

rmc0522 — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 23:29:06 GMT

I will have everything except the personal loan and the student loans paid off in the next few months. Once I pay a bill off completely, if I contact the creditor, can they change the way it appears on my credit report? I'm definitely not trying to 'play' the system, I have all intentions of paying everything. I'm wondering though if creditors have the ability to make something look better than it is if I pay them everything I owe. Does that make sense? I've just been lurking on the boards a couple days now, but I am really knew to all this and unsure what steps (in addition to paying all my old bills) I need to be taking. All my debt has piled up in the last year or so, so waiting for it to 'fall off' my report isn't really an option.

And about how high would my score need to be to be approved for a car loan (used, not new) WITH a co-signer?

Thanks! =)

Re: car loan question please help!

fishbjc — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 00:22:35 GMT

According to most people here, creditors are sometimes willing to accept a gw after a couple of years of good payments. I don't think there is a 'quick fix'. My sisters scores were in the low 500's and she needed a co-signer. Her interest rate was about 13% WITH a co-signer. She was told that she could refi the car after a year of good payments.

Message Edited by fishbjc on 12-17-2007 04:22 PM

Re: car loan question please help!

Minnie — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 00:43:24 GMT

I was in a similar situation. The car dealership said I would be at around 13 percent. I went to my bank (where I've been a customer for probably 10 years) and sat down with the loan officer and said, look, my credit is bad, but I've recently made the decision to clean it up, got everything on auto pay, am determined, etc....he said let me see what I can do....he came back and said he couldn't give me the lowest rate, but could give me the next tier up...so I ended up with around 8.9 for a used car, which really isn't bad....especially for someone with my crappy credit...he even reduced it by .25 percent if I agreed to have payments taken directly out of my checking account...which I did, and I've never been late on that loan as a result. Try face-to-face...it just might work. It did for me. Good luck!!!!!

Re: car loan question please help!

CreditDrama85 — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 03:24:58 GMT

i say go for it , but you need your scores to be in the low 500s first.

SO, work hard and do GWs for any collections and try keeping everything current

hopefully your score will get in the low 500s and when it does, BUY THE CAR THAT DAY!

having a score of 505 vs. 490 believe it or not is a huge deal. i think that is what timothy was trying to tell you earlier

Re: car loan question please help!

rmc0522 — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 07:41:07 GMT

So when I first started this thread, I had only seen my Equifax score. I just bought the other two and, alas, its not quite so bad. The average of the three is 483 with Experian being about 90 points higher than Equifax. Sooo I feel a tiny bit better...

Thanks for all yall's advice. I'm determined to get myself outta this mess!

Re: car loan question please help!

SmartCookie — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 08:04:54 GMT

GW is not guaranteed. Make sure you take any PFD option while you still have negotiating power... which is before they get paid off. Aim for a settlement where it is possible.

G'luck!

Re: car loan question please help!

gNaRKiLL — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 18:32:55 GMT

SmartCookie wrote:
GW is not guaranteed. Make sure you take any PFD option while you still have negotiating power... which is before they get paid off. Aim for a settlement where it is possible.

G'luck!

Yeah try the pfd. My mom is trying to clean up her mess and most of the companies are flat out refusing pfd's saying its completely illegal which is pretty rediculous. They are however agreeing to settle on most of them.