Bad credit car loan

[Anonymous]

So I have a 537 credit score. The car I want to buy is $34,000 and I have $18,000 for a down. Would that make my approval rate better or with that low of score is it still not enough. Maybe $20,000?

[Appleman]

Having more than 50% down will certainly get the interest of the finance guy.

The advice you are most likely to get is to buy a car for $18,000.

However, not knowing you  or your current needs the real answer is it depends. If you have 3 car reposessions on your report you would likely not get a loan other than at extremely high APR. If it is medical collections or something, an underwriter may be able to see beyond the score.

If you are comfortable, share some additional information as to why your scores are currently in the 500 range.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
So I have a 537 credit score. The car I want to buy is $34,000 and I have $18,000 for a down. Would that make my approval rate better or with that low of score is it still not enough. Maybe $20,000?

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I think you would get approved but for a high APR though like around 16%.

Have you tried CapOne Autonavigator prequalification?

[StartingOver10]

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@Anonymous wrote:
So I have a 537 credit score. The car I want to buy is $34,000 and I have $18,000 for a down. Would that make my approval rate better or with that low of score is it still not enough. Maybe $20,000?

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If you have had 3 repossessions it would be extremely difficult to get a loan on another vehicle because you are showing the car lender that you have the funds, but didn't have the desire to pay.  This makes your loan high risk. The way to counter high risk is to have a larger down payment (which you can do) and a higher interest rate. The likelihood of the new vehicle being repo'ed is pretty high given your history. What you need to establish is the "willingness to pay".  This may take some time. 

You can change this by getting a cash vehicle and work on your credit issues. Don't you have judgments for the past 3 vehicles that were repossessed?  Are those judgments on your CR and your public records or just the public records?  

Fixing the outstanding judgments would go a long way toward showing that the non-payment behavior is in the past. Visit the Rebuilding Your Credit subforum to get ideas on how to handle the repossessions. 

[fury1995]

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@StartingOver10 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
So I have a 537 credit score. The car I want to buy is $34,000 and I have $18,000 for a down. Would that make my approval rate better or with that low of score is it still not enough. Maybe $20,000?

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If you have had 3 repossessions it would be extremely difficult to get a loan on another vehicle because you are showing the car lender that you have the funds, but didn't have the desire to pay.  This makes your loan high risk. The way to counter high risk is to have a larger down payment (which you can do) and a higher interest rate. The likelihood of the new vehicle being repo'ed is pretty high given your history. What you need to establish is the "willingness to pay".  This may take some time. 

You can change this by getting a cash vehicle and work on your credit issues. Don't you have judgments for the past 3 vehicles that were repossessed?  Are those judgments on your CR and your public records or just the public records?  

Fixing the outstanding judgments would go a long way toward showing that the non-payment behavior is in the past. Visit the Rebuilding Your Credit subforum to get ideas on how to handle the repossessions. 

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The OP didn't say anything about having repossessions, just a low credit score.. The repossession was an assumption by the poster replying to the OP.

[StartingOver10]

^You are right, my error.   If it is just a low score and not 3 repo's it is much easier to overcome the low score with a large down payment. 

[fltireguy]

In 2014, I got financing with scores around 490-505.. $6k down on a New Accord... $22k total price, $16K financed @17.5% thru Westlake....  

[Anonymous]

I am sure that you will get financed with that amount down assuming that you don't overpay for the car or add on a bunch of warranties that eat into your loan to value ratio.  The interest will be really high.  I suggest working with a credit union first and see if they can help you, most likely you will need the dealer to work out financing because they have bad credit lenders they work with all the time.  Understand that they often times have to contribute to the deal to get the lender to take someone with subprime credit, clearly they will pass those costs to you in the form of less bargaining on price.   I would look for ways to improve your score asap and then refinance to a better rate.  A few years ago I had pretty terrible scores and needed a car, I took the loan I could get which was a 12.5 % within 6 months of working hard on my scores I was able to refinance at 4.29%. 

[Anonymous]

With 18-20k down on a 34k vehicle you shouldn't have an issue getting approved depending on your actual credit profile. It will depend on many factors, if the vehicle is actually worth 34k and the LTV ration is around or under 50% you might even be surprised at the interest rate you get. A typical 530 should expect anywhere from 17-28% interest in an area like mine, however with such a low LTV ratio banks take on lower risk with this loan and you could possibly even see a rate in the low teen's. After a few years of payments you might be able to refinance to a better rate given you will have equity in the vehicle. Lenders such as Ally, Well's Fargo, Santander, etc love equity deals. I have personally seen a 498 credit score get approved through WFDS at 8.99% with 10k down. But like I said it will depend on your actual credit history, if you have had multple reposessions especially recent or currently have a bad mortgage, etc you may not see as good of terms if any. Keep in mind, while a lender loves a low LTV ratio, they still aren't in business of making bad loan's that they have to reposess because it's a headache to them.