Auto Lease Question

Anonymous · ‎04-13-2011

Im thinking about getting a new car this month with a lease since I know I wont want to hold onto the car forever. My question is how hard would it be for me to get an Auto Lease with less then $1K out of pocket (fist months lease payment+Fees)? My scores are 701 for TU and 670 for EQ, I have a 4 year finance history through Ford Credit that is 100% positive with no lates or missed payments and my current car is worth over 19K yet I owe less then $15K. I am thinking about staying with FMC either with a Lincoln or Ford car so would positive history with them directly help me better then going with another car company?

cdtotten · ‎04-13-2011

You should have no problems with those scores and your history, especially if you go with a Ford again. Almost all finance branches of automobile companies will bend over backwards to lend a second time to a customer with a perfect history. Even with a different company, your scores should be high enough to get decent financing terms.

I wouldn't worry too much, you should be fine.

Starting Score: 627 EQ, 621 TU - 11/15/08
Current Score: 778 EQ, 781 TU, 778 EXP 07/20/12 Lender Pull
Goal Score: 800 EQ & TU

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Anonymous · ‎04-13-2011

I expect you to have no problems securing a Ford Lease, my question is:

How much a year do you drive?

Do you have employment/location/living stability?

Do you have employment stability?

Leases are based on the miles you buy into when you contract the lease- the cheapest leases are for 10.5K miles a year (those are the lease you see advertised on commercials). the Average is 12,000 a year. Anything over 12,000 starts to be more expensive then buying the car. Any mileage you go over what you contract you are charged 20cents a mile. If you terminate your lease early you will be held accountable for any pro rated mileage overage.

I like to ask people if they anticipate job and living area security when they lease. I have seen many people lease, then get fired or transferred then all of a sudden they are putting 20K a year on their vehicle.

Ford offers a product for their leases called Wear Care. Its several hundred dollars but it is basically wear and tear insurance for yo uvehicle so that you will escape being billed for many things you would not even think of on lease turn in (like Bumper sticker removal, cleaning, cigarette burns, kid abuse.) I would lease a vehicle from Ford in a Heart Beat, but would not lease without Wear Care.

Anonymous · ‎04-14-2011

@Anonymous wrote:
I expect you to have no problems securing a Ford Lease, my question is:

How much a year do you drive?
Do you have employment/location/living stability?
Do you have employment stability?

Leases are based on the miles you buy into when you contract the lease- the cheapest leases are for 10.5K miles a year (those are the lease you see advertised on commercials). the Average is 12,000 a year. Anything over 12,000 starts to be more expensive then buying the car. Any mileage you go over what you contract you are charged 20cents a mile. If you terminate your lease early you will be held accountable for any pro rated mileage overage.

I like to ask people if they anticipate job and living area security when they lease. I have seen many people lease, then get fired or transferred then all of a sudden they are putting 20K a year on their vehicle.

Ford offers a product for their leases called Wear Care. Its several hundred dollars but it is basically wear and tear insurance for yo uvehicle so that you will escape being billed for many things you would not even think of on lease turn in (like Bumper sticker removal, cleaning, cigarette burns, kid abuse.) I would lease a vehicle from Ford in a Heart Beat, but would not lease without Wear Care.

I don't drive much a year now that I moved, I calculate since my move in July to have done less then 12K easily. As for my employment stability, I have been with the same company for 5 years now and layoffs are rare in my industry. I just purchased a new home in January so I don't think I will be moving anytime soon, My home is less then 9 miles away from my office.

Clashmoore · ‎04-14-2011

I just started leasing a car and came from financing one. I felt in my situation it was better to lease.

My scores are less than yours, and if your auto payments are 100%, then your credit score will be 'enhanced' when applying for a lease of new finance. They give your auto payment history extra weight when calculating your credit score.

I was also in a similar situation. I owed $12k on a Land Rover LR3 that private party KBB was selling for $24k. Trade-in KBB for excellent condition was $19k. I ended up trading it in for $16k. For a lease, try not to put money down, theory being if you crash it say in a month, that money down is lost. So for my lease, I rolled everything into payments and only left the dealership paying the first month. I actually left with cash from the equity I had in my truck.

My financing was through a local credit union and the lease was through BMW financial. If you go to another manufacturer, the auto-enhanced credit score will still benefit you, but you may receive extra incentives from Ford for loyalty.

Shop around, some dealerships were offering 12k, other's the full 19k. Then when I would go to new ones, I'd say so-and-so would give me $16k for it so I won't accept less.

Anonymous · ‎04-21-2011

I got my Lease yesterday. I was able to trade in my Mustang for 18.5K and get a new Ford Fusion with no money out of pocket. My monthly payments are $250 a month with 12K miles on a 36 Month lease. Now I know they use their own credit scoring system but when signing the paperwork they showed me my score (730 Experian!) because they claim its required in the state of MN, now is this my real score or their inflated score?

Anonymous · ‎04-21-2011

@Anonymous wrote:
Now I know they use their own credit scoring system but when signing the paperwork they showed me my score (730 Experian!) because they claim its required in the state of MN, now is this my real score or their inflated score?

What are you talking about? Ford uses the "auto enhanced" score which is compiled from the information in you credit bureau, but the formula used to make the score is different from the typical FICO, or the FICO you will purchase here.

As it would be for every company that uses the Auto enhanced score, which is most Auto finance companies.

the score is different either smaller or larger then your regular FICO because it is a different formula.