Loan Application Timing

[Anonymous]

A few weeks ago, I was in an auto accident which totalled my car. Everyone is fine, the deer wasn't. I have some credit card debt that I had planned to pay down over the next year. However, after pulling my report, I discovered how negative of an impact this high utilization has on my score. I quickly paid down a huge chunk of my debt, also setting enough aside for a nice downpayment on a car.

As each credit card company reports to the credit bureaus my lower (or zero) balance, my credit score should keep raising. I've run the credit stimulator estimates that my score should jump from 675 to 726. I've asked each credit card company to manually send updated balance information to the agencies and only one was willing to do it manually (Discover). The others should update automatically over the course of the next few days and weeks as each billing cycle regenerates.

My question is, how long should I wait before applying for an auto loan? Do lenders have any work arounds to manually adjust the credit utilization ratio if I provide proof my balance is lower than reported? 

Our local dealership is offering some really great cash incentives that expire at the end of the month --  and being carless is frustrating. So I'm anxious to get this done.

Thanks for your input!

EDIT: Also, since this is my first auto loan - I have no clue what to expect for terms and rates. If I apply, and the application reflects a credit score and report with information that doesn't reflect my current lower credit utilization %, can I reapply? If so, do lenders (like Chrysler Capital, or my local bank) have a waiting period?

[Appleman]

Welcome to the forums.

You may want to post into the Big Game Hunting forum....

Just kidding and glad to hear you are OK.

Do you know what your current mortgage or auto FICO scores are?

Waiting for better scores will help with approval but not sure where you are currently at...

It would be great to get someone like PenFed lined up with pre-approved lending in hand. One EQ pull and you can apply for multiple products including an auto loan.

Please keep us updated and good luck.

[Anonymous]

Current Auto FICO 8 score is 682. My FICO 8 is 692 and when I use the MyFICO's Score Simulator and plug in the amount I recently paid down on credit cards, my score jumps to the mid 720s. REALLY wishing all my payments would get reported to the bureaus quickly. I'm anxious to see what my real score will be.

I have perfect payment history, zero inquries, no public records. I don't, however, have an auto or mortgage loan reported. That is the only negative that should remain once my card balance is reported as below 30%.

Trevor

[sccredit]

Do you know what vehicle you're interested in?  Many captives would approve a 682 for promo rates.  Otherwise the 682 is certainly good enough for DCU's best rates if you were looking to go the CU route.

[Anonymous]

I have my eyes on a new Jeep Cherokee. The 2016s are on clearance with some pretty nice incentives. My local dealer is advertising one $6,000 off MSRP. They're also doing a 0% for 60 months ... I doubt I qualify without a previous car loan, though.
But, if my rates are higher and I want to do a shorter term loan, I'll be looking at used. But the discounts on new, doubled with little to no maintenance and a lower APR in general, really have me hoping I can score a fantastic loan offer.
I just checked my scores this AM on Experian. It jumped from 696 to 714. However, the report that was generated with that new score doesn't show most of my new card balances. So I'm not sure what made the jump.
I wish MyFICO would update. I purchased the Ultimate 3B, assuming it would update frequently. It doesn't.

My biggest question, as I wait for reports to update, is what do I do if the lender pulls a report that hasn't updated to show my significantly lower Utilization %? If I provide account statements, can they recalculate manually? Can I reapply or have my application updated within a few days (or weeks, if need be)?
I think I'm just frustrated with this waiting game. I'm very anxious to see what rates and terms I qualify for so I know what price point I can look at without overspending.

[sccredit]

If I were in your shoes i'd look at either Penfed or DCU.  Most of the time you won't be able to get rebates and discounted financing and both of those would offer aggressive rates (sub 3%) for you. 

As far as if they pull a report showing higher balances you can certainly re-apply in a few days, weeks, etc.  I don't know of any way for them to manually calculate the score.