18 Years Old With Minimal Credit

[Anonymous]

Ok, here is my current dilema. I am 18 years old. I have three credit cards that I pay on almost religiously. My current Ex score is 629. Yet it is proving to be impossible for me to recieve a car loan. I know my credit history is limited, and I have no one to use as a cosigner. I even got rejected by my bank. What should I do? I don't need any more inquiries to my credit report until I'm sure i can get the loan. Is there a credit score I should wait to achieve before I try again? Or am I looking for a loan in the wrong places? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Is there anything else on your credit report, Do you have anyhthing else that could be reporting besides the revolving?   Right now it just seems liek you do not have a good mixture of credit.  What is your current debt to income ratio?  These are just some things you need to consider while in the process of applying, lenders are going to want to know that you are going to be able to pay the loan back with what ever interest rate that is set.  Are there any negatives that could potentially be holding you up in the process?  If not I would try Cap One Blank Check program.  Considering what CBR  they pull you could meet their criteria.   Good Luck...

[Anonymous]

See, my credit/balance ratio is about 70 percent, but that will all be taken care of at the end of this month. And I can't figure out what kind of credit I should apply for to broaden the horizon. I don't need student loans, I'm running on a scholorship. Should I just buy a new TV or something? And, no, I don't have any negatives. All payments have been made on time.

Message Edited by EJGPharmMD on 02-16-2009 06:06 PM

[Anonymous]

If you are 18 and have 3 cards, you do nto need more credit.  You need to pay down the credit to under 10% utilization.  That will give you a good score jump on your FICO.  The problem is going to be length of history.  Typically, dealers were the place to go for the first time car loan as they tended to have a little more room to maneuvar on new buyers, but in this credit market car loans are tough.  Also, do you have any money toput down because most banks will nto finance a car loan at 100% right now without really good credit history.

one other thing, what negatives are on your report.  With a score of 629, there has to be something dropping it.  It is not a horrible score by any means, but if you have 3 credit cards that have been paid on time, your score should be higher (although the utilization may be ther negative factor....not sure)  I would think even with the utilization being high, you would at least be int he mid to high 600's unless there were a couple lates or something. 

[Anonymous]

See, and thats the thing, I have 0 negatives. No lates, no discharges, no nothing. I have done nothing but pay early, and in most cases several times a month. I have a $1700 limit where $1100 is showing as being used. So I'm stumped on what to do. I was thinking down payment, but at the dealerships I did try, they didn't even get that far.

[Anonymous]

In that case, pay down the cards and get your score up and try again.  If they say no and you really need a car (you said co-signer is out of the question) then you may be stuck having to go to a smaller used car lot that will charge you a bunch more for the car.  Also, check out leasing.  A dealer may (or may not) be more willing to take a risk on a 2 year lease than a 4-6 year note.  Unfortunately, with a short history of credit, there is not a great answer to this problem.

[Anonymous]

I had origanally thought of leasing, but from what I hear the requirements are even more stringent on a lease than on a purchase. And the dealerships are actually telling me that most leasing companies are hanging the leaseing towel up. Even with a short credit history, is there a score that can basically land me in a new car? A score they will consider good enough for a person with short credit history?

[Anonymous]

Not really, becuase with a short history, the score is kind of a non-point.  Right now they see high utilization and short credit history which leads to the conclusion that you may have a tendancy to overspend if given too much credit.

As far as leasing goes, it just depends.  the thing is on a short term lease is that if you put some money down and use any rebates the dealer has going on now, the payment can be very manageable.  But it really depends upon the car, the dealer, and what deals they have going on right now.  It is a longshot, but when my credit was bad, it was easier to get a 2 year lease on a new truck than to get financed to buy the same truck.  Now things are different now, but you don;t really know until you try.  I would recommend either Toyota or Ford as I had good luck with both getting credit (both lease and buy) when my credit was bad.

[Anonymous]

When I was 16, my parents leased me a G35 for school. But now things are alot differnt. I saw some great deals on Infiniti website with leases as low as $330 a month, which would be awesome. But again, I have no idea if I would qualify. I guess it wouldn't hurt me to try.

[Anonymous]

as long as all the applications are within 2 weeks, it is not suppossed to hurt your score I believe.  Of course I never trust that stuff too much.  Anyways, beware of the cheap lease deals, they usually come with string like 10K miles per year, or a bunch of money upfront.