Hey everyone, I'm in a slight bind. Here is my quick story:
I am wanting to purchase a new (used) car. I used to always buy whatever I wanted through my bank. Sports car after sports car. I'd keep them from 2 months to over a year. Then I went back to school when I was 23. I sold off all my sports cars and stuck with one single car. Well... I'm still in that car because being a student, unemployed at the the time I ran into some major credit mistakes.
1. I co-signed for a loan back in 2003 (I was 21). I had good credit and my best friend was making $27/hr. He lost his job and never told me about the left over balance on the Best Buy account I opened for him. It was only $500 but racked up to over $1200. Unemployed, I just had to let it sit there 
2. I defferred my Sallie Mae loans in 2005. However, I didnt understand that one of the loans (a $4000) loan was a private loan in which could NOT be defferred. So I thought I was fine until it went to write off status (I found out well over a year later).
3. My mother (a retired nurse), lost her PT job at a local clinic when they closed. She then incurred a lot of bills after my father passed away. I helped her out by offering up my daily beater car (2001 Buick Regal GS) as collateral for a small Personal Loan. I've actually been paying this loan for her for the past two years.
4. Oh and this is before #2. My Capitol One student credit card went to collection (small amount, only $500 or so, but I was broke and stupid). I paid this off a couple years ago! So no worries now except maybe a burnt bridge for financing?
Fast forward to this year (28 years old), Ive been employed now by the Governement for the past 5 years. I make ok money, about what most governement employees make. I decided to clean up my credit history. I settled with Best Buy for my friends account, even though it was 5 years last refreshed, it was still reporting as KD on my report. Then I also settled in June with Sallie Mae. I was offered a settlement and I took it, paid as "settlement in full" in one lump payment. Not great, but better than it was reporting.
So current day. The balance on the personal loan for my mother is only $1400 and that would free up my Regal from the bank. Its showing its age and has racked up almost 200k on it. I'm needing/wanting a new car and want to keep the Buick for winter.
When I started clean up this yer my FICO was around a 550. It's now 609 (as of this month). I've been using freecreditreport.com to monitor my ES and then paying periodically for the 3 bureau reports & scores. ES is 609, EQ is 598, and TU is around 600 IIRC. So my credit crashed from the mid 700s to the 500s, now climbing back slowly.
I'd like to wait for them to climb to mid 600s, open another credit card (I dont have one currently) to help bump up the score, then get an auto loan. However, the Buick needs a rest and I have a great deal passed on to me if I can grab it. The car is a 2004 Infiniti G35 coupe with 65k on it. My best friend is willing to sell it to me for $9000. The catch is it has minor hail damage on the hood, trunk, and quarter. All under $2000 to repair at a local shop (I took it to get an estimate). He needs out of the car as he just bought another and cant hold it much longer with him making two car payments.
So... I used to go with my local bank. They would do baloon loans for me since I never keep a car the entire loan duration. However, even with my great history with them, they cant finance me with my current scores. So now what? I dont want to spend $350 a month on this car. I can afford it, but i dont want to.
Who should I look into for financing? Any lenders out there do balooning like my bank? With my credit scores? I'd really like to finance the car for a total of $13000-13500 to pay off the personal loan and to cover the repairs.
I dont know what my auto adjusted fico would be? In fact, before this forum, I had never even heard of it.
Thanks for any future advice and input! Greatly appreciated!
2.5 years ago my hubby needed a car cause his broke down. His credit was crap. He had 1 positive (old closed CC in good standing ) and like 7 (3 defaulted SL, 1 JM, 1 repo, 2 collections) baddies. Thank GOD, he was approved at Carmax through Wachovia (now Wells Fargo) at 18% (ouch!). The repo is now gone from his reports and he has an auto loan with 30 months of perfect payments. Long story short, I believe there is hope for you yet. I hope you can secure financing soon. 
Thanks for the support I dont NEED a car. I just have a heck of a deal and I've restrained from buying any cars in the past 3 years. I used to buy one every 3 months. But, now with mine showing age, it would be a great opportunity to jump into a car and have equity in it from the get go. I'd have $12,000 or so in it while it NADA's for $16-18k. So I would be ahead before even driving it. Win for me and win for my friend that is selling it to me. After talking with MY bank, I'm happy to hear they will happily finance it and get the loan in their hands once my credit score hits 630. So I'm willing to pay a little more to get it now, then get back to them soon after.