As a little background, I am building/rebuilding from a nearly empty credit history. I don't need to buy a car right away, but I am planning to buy one within the next 6-12 months, and could buy one sooner if I got a favorable loan. I wouldn't mind a newer car, but I don't need one to get to work or anything. I am mostly interested in a car loan as a means to an end, getting a prime-rate mortgage next year or the year after.
EQ (which I think is what C1 uses) was 668 when I prequalified, although it's fluctuating at this point in my build, and may be lower or higher now or at the point I'm sitting in a dealership signing papers.
That said, I am getting a really low interest rate for my situation (3.79%), BUT, I can only see a calculated monthly payment if I put in a $2,200 trade-in. If I put the same amount in as a down payment, I get something like "unable to calculate payment", for any vehicle. This can be true even with extreme numbers, for example, a $30k down payment on a $32k vehicle. The tool seems to REALLY REALLY want me to make a trade-in as opposed to down payment.
I don't have any vehicles I want to trade in. I'd rather make a down payment with cash, and then sell my old vehicle to a private party to replenish the treasury. I have an old 1999 Dodge I could trade in, I guess, but it's worth less than $1,000.
If it was just that, and I otherwise felt confident in my credit etc, I would assume that the dealer could make it work somehow. Like, wink-wink-nudge-nudge say he gave me $2,200 for the Dodge while inflating the price of the vehicle I buy or something like that. But I'm also a little freaked out about the 3.79% interest rate, given my credit. It makes me think that it's all some sort of glitch or error.
I did an online chat with a friendly and helpful C1 person, who saw the issue with the tool requiring a trade-in, spent a while beating her head against a wall trying to figure it out, and filed a ticket with their tech team. She told me someone would call. But it's been over a week, and nobody has called.
So, given all that ... is this a glitch, or could I actually go into a participating dealership and get a 3.79% loan if we play around with downpayment vs trade-in vs vehicle price? Thanks!
