We needed to replace a four year old vehicle totalled in an accident. I was looking toi by the same model but slightly newer and with fewer miles. Our old car had about 62,000 miles on it.
Good salary, Okay credit (low 700s for my Fico 8 scores but only between 672 and 674 for auto enhanced), but DTI on my own is above 50%. Ouch. Applied for loans with our old car lender (Suntrust - now Lightstream), Capital One, and NFCU and denied by all because of DTI. Cap One was the Navigator site that doesn't do a hard pull.
Frustrated and finally medically cleared to drive I decided to follow some of the guidance I read here and go to a dealership or two and see if they could work with me. After all, the dealers are highly motivated to work with the buyer and that is what i found out. A couple of days ago, I test drove a car at a nearby dealership and then asked to speak to the finance guy. I gave him all my fact (but not my SSN) and he said he could work with me. In his words, the dealers business is to move cars off the lot and fhe finance arm, while a moneymaker, is there to help make that happen. He said he has never lost a deal becuase of financing.
I didn't really like the car but there was a certified pre-owned one I thought I would like better at the dealership where we bought the totalled car (different dealer). I set up an appointment for yesterday afternoon to test drive it, went in and loved it. I again asked to speak to the finance manager, gave him all my info and agreed to start the application process. He told me the large planned downpayment (10K)would help alot becuase I would have considerable equity in the car. He also did work some magic with numbers to cut my DTI down. He factored my husband's contribution to our mortgage to lower my debt.
In the end, I have five hard pulls (that have shown up so far) including two from Cap 1 - one for Equifax and the other Experian. Fifth Third came in with a 4.9 offer; he countered because Wells Fargo offered 4.5 and they came down to 4.1%. I am thrilled. My payment is $120 less than for our old car. The car has 30,000 fewer miles and it drives like a dream.
Thank you all for sharing all your insights and experiences. So happy to be back on the road!
