First time auto lease

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone. I've just started my journey of building a good credit about two months ago. I moved to US a year ago and because of that my credit age is only about 2 months. 

I currently have secured credit card with BofA with $1000 CL (utilization never goes higher than 9%). I want to apply for Capital One credit card next month and if approved I’ll try to get Barclaycard little after that. I think 3 CC will be more than enough for me. Also, I want to add Share Secure Loan for $500 to have mixed credit.

Right now I share a car with my mom - which is not convenient at all - so I was thinking of getting my own car. I don't want to buy used since I've had so many issues with used cars before. I'm looking at Toyota iM or Mazda 3 (yes I love hatchbacks). My friend’s recommend to get a car in October-November period. So what will be better for me - try and get it in couple of months or to want for another year, so I can improve my credit?

My Credit Karma score is exactly 700 (FICO score is unavailable for some reason). 

Any advice/recommendation is highly appreciated!

[Anonymous]

The score you provided is a FAKO.  What are your real FICO scores? Also, because of your short credit history you will likely encounter a problem with leasing unless you have someone with established credit.  Do you have a co-signer?

[Anonymous]

Chances of approval is slim or none.  Your average age of accounts and your credit file is not substantial enough to get a lease and probably won't get you a loan other than a very high interest subprime loan.  In this situation it is probably best to rent a cheap car for a couple weeks at a time for the next few months, build a good down payment, join a credit union and build a relationship with them and buy a car in 4-6 months. I suspect you will need quite a bit more time before a lease is an option because leasing standards are always more conservative than a loan.  I would set aside your past experience with used cars because frankly it is super easy to find a good lease return used car right now for 12-15k that would last you many years/miles.  The market is flooded with lease return cars so their prices are lower than normal so that is the direction I would go.  I bought my daughter a lease return CPO Mazda 3 for less than 15k out the door.  Something like that with a few grand down might be something you could get approved for.

[Appleman]

For the heck of it see if the Capitalone Auto navigator will give you a pre-approval. It is a soft pull so it will not ding your credit.

[StartingOver10]

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@Appleman wrote:

For the heck of it see if the Capitalone Auto navigator will give you a pre-approval. It is a soft pull so it will not ding your credit.

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He has only had credit for two months.  Two months of history is just too short. No FICO score shows because it takes about 6 months to generate a score, right?  I would wait until he has been able to at least generate a score here on MyFICO before applying for a vehicle loan. JMO.  

[Anonymous]

So basically, even if I wait for a year it wouldnt change much? In that case, I may consider having a co-signer.

[Anonymous]

I have an BMW X3 and I switched to leasing a few years back. I am very pleased with my vehicle. All the information advertised were correct. 

[sccredit]

It normally takes about 6 months of history to establish a FICO score 

[Kree]

If you are going the co-signer route and need to minimize the payments, I might suggest looking at 2017 nissan versa notes.  I've seen a few advertised around me for under 12,000.  (might not apply to your market.) While not mazda3s they are decent vehicles.  You can also find Chevy sparks, ford fiesta, and mitsubishi mirages for under 10k.