Navy Federal questions

[kilroy8]

Hi, I want to try to get some info from some of you that have done the deep-dive analysis on these things to save me some time and energy. I got a Cap One pre-qualify that gives me rates from 3.8 to 7.9, depending on the car age, miles, etc. I am sitting at about 720's across the board with 10% util and 28% debt ratio, including mortgage, etc. No baddies. My concern is that Cap One requires you to submit to dealer rate shopping and the dealership motives are most often not in your best interests.

I have seen some great rates in this thread from Navy Federal. I am not a member, but as a veteran, that could be fixed quickly. It is my understanding that with a Navy Federal pre-approval you go in as a cash buyer, essentially.

Is it worth the mileage to go the Navy Federal route, and will the rates be enough lower to make it worth doing?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Gmood1]

I've been researching and joining different Credit Unions over the last couple of years. With 720s and I'm not sure what FICO score those are. You have a wide variety of CUs to choose from.

Penfed is pretty solid and offers some good rates with your scores. They use FICO 9 EQ now. So your score could be higher or lower. Mine was 30 points higher with FICO 9.

Andrews FCU is offering fantastic rates even lower than Penfed! You need a 720 EX to qualify for the best rates that go into the 1% range.
Join American Consumer council use consumer as the promo code to get it free. They'll email you the membership number a few minutes later. You can use it to get in quite a few credit unions.

Bethpage has some great longer term rates 60 months or longer, that are lower on average than Penfed. You need a 730 EX FICO 8 for the best rates.

DCU from what I was told. You need a 720 EQ for their best rate.

All of these CUs will beat Navy Federal's auto loan rates.
You can join any of them fairly quickly.

[Anonymous]

The Capital One Pre-approval will work like this:

Walk into the dealer pick out the vehicle you want, negotiate price, etc, and then let them know you are pre approved through Cap One Auto Navigator and authorize them to ONLY submit you to Cap One. Cap One will then do a hard pull on all three CB's and determine the rate based on vehicle age, miles, LTV ratio, DTI, PTI, equity (downpayment or trade in with equity). The finance manager is not allowed per Capital One, to mark up your interest rate on a Auto Navigator applicant.

Given your scores, depending on what type of vehicle you are buying (brand/new/used) you may be able to achieve a lower interest rate through the brand's captive lender.

It might be in your best interests to try getting a pre-approval through a CU such as Navy, Penfed, or DCU before going to the dealer also.

Just be clear with the salesman/ finance manager if you do give him your info to not submit your credit to any other lender's without your consent.

As far as bringing a draft to the dealer from being pre-approved this does two things in a dealers eye, the salesman KNOWS you have the ability to buy and will give you the time of day, but keep in mind that being a cash buyer really doesn't differeniate you from any other buyer to be quite honest, in fact dealer's make more money off those who finance with them rather than cash buyer's so its not always the best bargaining tool.

[Shooting-For-800]

With Cap One you can submit the VIN number BEFORE dealing with the dealer and you will know exactly what your terms are.

I did a new car loan with Cap One navigator and it could not have been easier.

Negotiated with the dealer before ever showed up.

Got 2.49% for 72 months BEFORE I walked into the dealership based on VIN and price of the car.

[Appleman]

I am not sure which version of FICO your 720 is, but your overall profile should qualify you for most of the people you have discussed so far.

I lean towards PenFed as they should do only one HP with EQ and that will allow you to join, apply for the car loan and a credit card/PLOC if you like.

With these programs you get pre-approved for a target price. They can send you a check that you can fill out at the dealer for the exact amount. The dealer may try to tell you it is a hassle (don't buy it) and do not let them run your credit (no need, not even for the Patriot Act).

My last purchase, I got approval and went and made the deal before I even received the check. I had PenFed overnight the check and took it to the dealer the next day.