Does FICO Score matter more than Credit Problems?

[Dj4Money]

 As some of you may know I've been looking to trade-in my six month old Hyundai Accent. My pulled score (FICO Experian Auto 8) is now 649. It will go back up once new credit card balances are reported, right now it's 96%, it will be down to 8-9% by the middle of the month.

 I still have one charge-off ($434), one open collection ($407) and a repo (that isn't true but whatever) from 2009. I also have some school loan lates from 2009; but nobody has mentioned that being a problem. One dealer in particular believed that the repo was serious despite it being almost seven years ago and had me write a note to the underwriter explaining what happen. I didn't even have to do this when I bought the Hyundai, I find this bizarre and possibly racial motivated. 

 I based that on some recent articles and also on Honda's recent fine of $25 Million for predatory lending practices on women and minorities.

 Whenever I am face to face with a dealer negotiations start at MSRP. One dealer in-fact begged me to come to his store and he would sell to me way under invoice. When I got there, he claimed to have a problem with his system and could only pull TU which is my second highest score at 589. He demaned I pay MSRP for the car and to put $3,000 down as he couldn't push it through Ford he would have to use CPS or something.

 This is on the back of when I bought the Hyundai I was initally told I would be approved by Hyundai but then was told I was approved only by Gateway One, when it turns out Hyundai would have accepted the deal if I could verify some information as I've had problems with my TU (listed as deceased).

 I was hoping to take advantage of Hyundai's 90 days no payment (yes I know you still pay interest...) which would have allowed me to start my emergency fund for one thing.

 I am almost out of this hole, my repo drops off in July 2016 and I will try to get it to come off sooner sometime after the first of the year. I could also offer First Premier PFD but I heard that it won't be accepted. Midland says it won't PFD when it has for some people.

 So basically I am at where I am at. My score will continue to improve as I keep utilization down and keep paying on-time. 

 Will having a 670 Fico (660 Fico Auto 8) matter more in credit decisions than old negative information? Experian will get there first, I don't know whats holding back TU and EQ, there's less information on there, especially EQ but lower scores.

[Anonymous]

Your post is a bit confusing so i'm trying to make sense of it.  Did you buy a Hyundai in the past which was financed through Gateway One.  And now you're trying to buy another Hyundai but the dealer says they can only finance with Consumer Portfolio Services? 

You need to take care of your debt.  I dont understand how a repossesion showing on your credit report "isn't true but whatever".  What are the details on this repo?  Put yourself in the lenders shoes.  John Doe asks YOU to borrow a large sum of money.  However in the recent past John Doe also asked your mother to borrow money and he didnt make good on it and she lost a lot of money because of it.  Would you lend him money?  Even if you were forgiving enough, wouldn't you at least ask for his explaination?  I don't understand how this is racially motivated.

Regarding pricing... Talk about pricing over the phone is just that, only talk.  Sales person did his job to get the customer in the door.  He said he might be able to get a certain price but he probably did not know your financial situation.  If you don't qualify for Hyundai, then he would be forced to use a different bank.  If that bank was a sub-prime bank, there is a bank fee required for loan approval.  That dealership would have to pay anywhere from $100 to $4000 to get an approval for you.  That's why they would no longer be able to offer below invoice prices to you.  

And to answer your question in the title, credit score and credit problems on your credit report are two completely different things and both can significantly affect you.  

[kwinks]

They look at the entire package, but a repo will definitely hurt you big time when trying to get financed. There are certain derogatories (repossesions) that no matter how old they are, they will always effect you vs say late payments which after two years don't hurt you any more. 

It the repo is "not true" as you stated, then I would be disputing it with every credit bureau and hold off applying for any new credit until the issue is fixed. 

And as previously said, sales people will say anything and everything to get you in the door but the real deals aren't made until they look at you credit report and credit scoreS. The dealer will always want to sell you the car, but if the bank won't accept it, there isn't much they can do for you. 

[Dj4Money]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Your post is a bit confusing so i'm trying to make sense of it.  Did you buy a Hyundai in the past which was financed through Gateway One.  And now you're trying to buy another Hyundai but the dealer says they can only finance with Consumer Portfolio Services? 

You need to take care of your debt.  I dont understand how a repossesion showing on your credit report "isn't true but whatever".  What are the details on this repo?  Put yourself in the lenders shoes.  John Doe asks YOU to borrow a large sum of money.  However in the recent past John Doe also asked your mother to borrow money and he didnt make good on it and she lost a lot of money because of it.  Would you lend him money?  Even if you were forgiving enough, wouldn't you at least ask for his explaination?  I don't understand how this is racially motivated.

Regarding pricing... Talk about pricing over the phone is just that, only talk.  Sales person did his job to get the customer in the door.  He said he might be able to get a certain price but he probably did not know your financial situation.  If you don't qualify for Hyundai, then he would be forced to use a different bank.  If that bank was a sub-prime bank, there is a bank fee required for loan approval.  That dealership would have to pay anywhere from $100 to $4000 to get an approval for you.  That's why they would no longer be able to offer below invoice prices to you.  

And to answer your question in the title, credit score and credit problems on your credit report are two completely different things and both can significantly affect you.  

---

  It was not a repo, it wasn't even voluntary. I was never late with any payments.

 Wait a second, I've explained this several times before around here, I suggest you search my screen name if you want to know the whole story.

  Write a letter to the underwriter is like borrowing money from your aunt? You can't be serious....

[Dj4Money]

---

@kwinks wrote:

They look at the entire package, but a repo will definitely hurt you big time when trying to get financed. There are certain derogatories (repossesions) that no matter how old they are, they will always effect you vs say late payments which after two years don't hurt you any more. 

It the repo is "not true" as you stated, then I would be disputing it with every credit bureau and hold off applying for any new credit until the issue is fixed. 

And as previously said, sales people will say anything and everything to get you in the door but the real deals aren't made until they look at you credit report and credit scoreS. The dealer will always want to sell you the car, but if the bank won't accept it, there isn't much they can do for you. 

---

  I understand all that, just saying I had less problems getting the Hyundai without showing proof of income, no money down, writing letters, a lower credit score, more negatives on my credit, I only just gotten my Capital One secured card and had my SDFC card for just over a month.

 I was approved with a score 49 points LOWER, no screaming about a repo then. Wait a second you believe repo is more serious than a BK? There are people just out of BK getting more expensive cars than I am even looking at.

 The repo isn't true in that sense but I am not concerned about having it worded right, it will come off next year and if I stick to my original plan it will be off and almost none of this will be important anymore. I am just a ahead of schedule a little bit and I thought instread of re-fi'ing the car, I could get want I want for roughly the same payment at lower interest rate.

 I have dealers doing weird stuff.  One said "$300 under invoice" only he had $400 Dealer Security Etching on the car and couldn't get the cost removed without the General Manger's approval.

 So he submitted a deal to Ford Credit for $34,000 or $508 a month at 1.9%. Of course Ford said no, DUH, $500 exceeds max 25% income most lenders use.

 When I spoke to James Bragg (Fighting Change) he told me it would be hard to get a non-Hyundai dealer to give me top trade-in value. He's been sort of right because what's been happening -

 MSRP - Rebates/Incentives + TTL + Negative Balance let's just say $4,000. In the case of that loaded ST2 Focus ST = $34,xxxx submitted to Ford = Rejected

 I had another dealer this time on a Fiesta ST (loaded) come back with MSRP + Rebates/Incentives, same squat for my trade so rolling $4k-$5k into the next loan. Asking Ford for about $30,000 = Rejected

 Not that I would agree to such deals if they went through.

 Both times were BEFORE seeing my credit, not after.

 I never said repo's shouldn't matter and everything I have read they don't matter as much after three years. I am just trying to get my head around this -

 If banks think its cool for me to pay a total of $26,000 which would be the total if I paid the entire term of the loan on my Hyundai, then how come I can't get a car that cost $6,000-$7,000 more, at a much lower interest rate for roughly the same payment? I think any lender would accept that, if only the dealers would coroporate....

 The only ones willing to do so are out of state. Guess I am buying another car out of state...

[Anonymous]

You can't expect me to memorize your post history or catalog everyones prior experiences.  I was just trying to help and help you make sense of it all.

The comment about borrowing from your mama is AN EXAMPLE to help you understand the way the banks see things.  If you want an APPROVAL from a PRIME lender, you need to prove to the bank your capable of fulfilling the loan.  Having a repo on your credit report does the opposite.  If it's a frivulous repo mark on your credit report, dispute it.

[Dj4Money]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

You can't expect me to memorize your post history or catalog everyones prior experiences.  I was just trying to help and help you make sense of it all.

The comment about borrowing from your mama is AN EXAMPLE to help you understand the way the banks see things.  If you want an APPROVAL from a PRIME lender, you need to prove to the bank your capable of fulfilling the loan.  Having a repo on your credit report does the opposite.  If it's a frivulous repo mark on your credit report, dispute it.

---

 I didn't expect you to memorize anything and banks are still nothing like borrowing from relatives. I have a new car (2015 Hyundai Accent Sport = $17295, $2000 Off, no money down, no proof of income, no writing letters, in and out in 45 mins).

 Prime lenders would react by giving me a higher but not usery level interest rate, it all depends on the amount borrowed. What I am running into locally is dealers unwilling to coroporate, charging me MSRP, giving me nothing for my Hyundai, rolling over $4-5K into the next loan reduces the amount of car I can get obviously.

 At fair trade value I owe just over $3,000. One dealer said "the bank knows you are not putting cash down and just using rebates"  **bleep**? Ford was throwing over $2,500 on the hood and I have another $1,000 worth of incentives.

 I am honest about my credit, I don't hide it. It's just the way Ford dealers react as if their cars are more special than another brands. I thought this was only a problem with Honda dealers.

[Anonymous]

Looks like you got this figured out.  Good luck

[TRC_WA]

---

@Dj4Money wrote:

 As some of you may know I've been looking to trade-in my six month old Hyundai Accent. My pulled score (FICO Experian Auto 8) is now 649. It will go back up once new credit card balances are reported, right now it's 96%, it will be down to 8-9% by the middle of the month.

 I still have one charge-off ($434), one open collection ($407) and a repo (that isn't true but whatever) from 2009. I also have some school loan lates from 2009; but nobody has mentioned that being a problem. One dealer in particular believed that the repo was serious despite it being almost seven years ago and had me write a note to the underwriter explaining what happen. I didn't even have to do this when I bought the Hyundai, I find this bizarre and possibly racial motivated. 

 I based that on some recent articles and also on Honda's recent fine of $25 Million for predatory lending practices on women and minorities.

Will having a 670 Fico (660 Fico Auto 8) matter more in credit decisions than old negative information? Experian will get there first, I don't know whats holding back TU and EQ, there's less information on there, especially EQ but lower scores

---

Interesting... I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that a lender requesting information regarding an auto repo is standard practice for someone with a previous auto repo who is looking to finance an auto.

(Mod Cut - Knock  off this kind of talk on myFico)

Regarding your question.. credit decisions are based on more than just scores.  I've seen 665 scores get approved... and 800 scores need to recon for the same credit card.  Your past negatives can most definitely lead to denials.

[Anonymous]

I'm confused as to why you're confused... Dealers have very little input on your rates. the only input they have is to increase them. Youre working with the bank, whether its the ford bank, your credit union, capital one, bank of america, etc, you're working with the bank. I thought anyone and everyone knew THE BANK has to accept the terms. A dealer will throw out any crazy insane number and act like you can get approved at it when you won't. they want you to app. they want you to take inquiries. they will do whatever they can to get you approved,

They have an "AGGRESSIVE FINANCE TEAM" who can get anyone approved!!! They'll claim a 1.49 interest rate. realistically knowing full well the bakn won't accept. But maybe the bank will accept you.....at a 14% interest rate. and hey. maybe the guy will accept this rate and i'll geta  sale out of this. The salesman has NO IDEA what rate you'll get approved at. he just wants you to agree to it and then MAAAYBBEEE get approved. And maybe you'll take the terms they counter with.