Rebuilder looking for a car loan...advice?

[Jannelo]

Run, don't walk, from that car.  I would never buy a car declared a total loss.   You will be surprised after a few months, with a payment record now of two credit cards on time, with the improvement that happens to your score.  App'ing for Capital One, as in hitting the prequal button, are  only soft pulls.  There will never be a hard pull showing up.  I would never rule them out down the road.  I discharged on two credit cards with them, one owing 4,000, and yet I still got one credit card last year.  I begain paying down the charged-off credit card after that, and I waited another six months and prequal'd for another of their cards and received a 1,000 SL credit card with them, which knocked my scores up enough, to where a month later is when I pre-qual'd for a car loan with them.  And, believe me, without that  car loan from Capital One, I would have been paying a ton in interest to someone else at 15 percent to 20 percent.  The dealership admitted that to me.  So never completely write them off.  Just work on establishing a good payment record now with your two cards to get your scores up.

Many on here say to sign up with a good credit union, that it's easier to get decent interest rates on car loans.  I'm gong to do that and probably refinance down the road.  If your need for a car can't wait and you end up with very high interest rates, at  least sign up with a credit union so that in the future you can refinance your car.

[Anonymous]

I'm too scared to envision what the car looked like after the accident and what they did to restore it so it can be put back on the market. I'm also curious how that car ended up at my local dealer. Possibly the dealer bought it dirt cheap and now expects to get an unsuspecting customer to take the bait on the low price.

I hear ya on Cap One. I was pretty bummed about the secured card app. Really, they couldn't approve me for a secured card of $200? I also had a CO with Cap One but it happened more than 7 years ago so it fell of my CR. I did settle on the Cap One account for less than the full amount though.

Speaking of CUs I've gotten a bad taste of them, at least with my local CUs. I was shopping around for a secured card with local CUs and was surprised by what I found. For starters they require a 120% security deposit for secured cards with a minimum $500 opening CL, so you need a $600 deposit. Also, see below as I quote myself from another thread.

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Card-Applications/Previous-banking-relationship-prior-to-app...

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Local CU's are big on banking relationships. 

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My local CUs are a no go for me. Mostly all my local CUs require a HP to apply to open a bank account with them. Some will even judge you on your score and if it's low enough they will assign you a "rebuilder bank account" with a $10 monthly fee (no possibility to waive fee). Once your score improves they can upgrade you to their regular more affordable banking account. I can also see the opposite happening once they open a bank account with you. So let's say you experience hardship and your score plummets, will they downgrade you from their regular bank account to their rebuilder bank account? I think they would do that if they already care enough about your FICO to open a bank account.

I know a lot of people on this forum would have an issue with this model of business. I certainly do. If they are going to charge you a $10 monthly fee why not just take your business to a bigger bank with more assets and more branches (who will waive the $10 monthly fee if you meet one of their monthly requirements) with no HP.