We went to our local Honda dealership yesterday to trade cars and I had read this board and others in preparation to know what CRA and what FICO version they would use. I was prequalified with Cap1 with their Auto Navigator tool but since I pulled my scores here recently and they were mostly in the high 600s/low 700s I wanted to see if Honda Financial woudl offer a lower rate.
A little background - I had a CH7 discharged 14 months ago and started to re-establish the day after discharge with a new car from this very dealership. Cap1 approved the loan (around $26K OTD) at a fairly high rate (15.9% - 72m) but I knew it was a first step. Over the last year and some months I picked up a few cards and was an AU on my other half's Discover. I discovered the AZEO method here a little over a month ago and did that. I have 1% UTL and a balance of $18 on one card with $0 on the others; total combined limits are around $4500. I refi'ed the original Cap1 loan with PenFed about 5 months after getting it for a much much lower rate.
Data Points:
Individual Income: Approx $125K
Total DTI including auto loans and rent: Approx 30%
Time past CH7 Discharge: 14 months
Revolving UTI: 1%
EQ 08: 683
EQ Auto 08: 703
EQ 09: 669
EQ Auto 09: 686
Honda Financial pulled EQ Auto 09. I was told that Honda initially turned down the loan but the finance manager called them to reconsider and they approved it at Tier 4. The car we traded for - a leftover new 2020 Honda Insight Touring - did not have any special APR offers on it but did have a good bit of dealers cash and discounts since it was a leftover new car. The approved rate was 6.24% - 72m. I was told had we bought a model with any special APR offers (0.9%, 1.9%, etc) we would have qualified for those still being Tier 4.
All in all, I'm quite pleased as the Cap1 pre-approval was for around 10.9%; I believe it was higher because on teh Auto Navigator there is no where to list that you are trading in an auto loan and simply not just adding another one. Also, I am the co-x with my other half as she has a car with them and I co-x'ed for income purposes.
I hope this also shows folks that are rebuilding or just now starting down that road that it certainly does get better with some discipline and patience. Now, we are gardening/locking our reports for 6-12 months. The next goal is to get a high limit card with NFCU by this time next year; we have our checking, savings, and a CD with them now but I haven't been able to prequalify for a card with them just yet.
