Car Loan PenFed?

[Brickbybrick]

Hey guys so I am looking to get a car but I heard credit unions give the best APRs. I have an EXP of 679, TU and EQ of 630ish

Should I sign up for PenFed and get a checking account so I build a relationship until I am ready to purchase? OR

Try and strengthen my score THEN apply for a checking account that way 1 HP gets me the auto loan and a nice CC? 

I see some 5ish% with the Capital One Auto Loan site so idk what to do. 

Thanks.

[CO_NATIVE]

For the best rate on the car loan and 1 HP (1 for membership, checking and auto loan), I would wait until your EQ is a little higher. Also you may want to look into DCU as well. 

[Brickbybrick]

Thank you for the response, I always heard PenFeds the way to go. Yeah my EQ and TU are miserable, just paid down ALL CC debt down to $0 except one card reporting sub 10%.

I just wish there was a CU that pulled EX, then maybe I'd be finally be loved

[Tigers09]

PenFed is a great way to go, but I agree your scores may be low for them (EQ).
DCU approved me when I had similar scores to yours with 3.99% apr. They dropped it by 1% with direct deposit and 6 months on time payments

[youdontkillmoney]

PenFed is not always the lowest  for auto loans.

I got apporved for 2.74% but dealer financing offered 1.9%.

Godo to have a pre approved auto loan before walking in to dealer to have options though and gives dealer financing something to beat.

[Brickbybrick]

Tigers, do you think I should go to DCU if they're more leniant? Also, youdontkillmoney going to a dealer I feel would be bad because they'd do multiple HPs trying to beat it I bet.

[Tigers09]

I'd call and talk with DCU. They may be able to give you some guidance. They can approve for great rates with lower scores than others.
I went in with a preapproval for leverage, dealership couldn't beat what I already had offered. I INSISTED they not run credit and shotgun it if they couldn't beat what I walked in with

[dabrian]

Have the cards you paid off updated you're credit reports yet? If they haven't all updated I would wait until they do, you may see a nice bump in your scores.

[Brickbybrick]

They haven't updated yet. Sounds good Tiger, thanks again and the rest of you fantastic peeps!

[bigpoppa09]

And to add DCU uses fico 04 and PenFed uses Next gen.  so with out knowing your EQ 04 score cant really give advice and u cant get your Next gen score nowhere Penfed is the only one that uses it so it would have to come from them.