Salesman and finance manager telling me i cant lease without tons of money down!

[Anonymous]

Hey to all,

Thanks for reading my post. I would like to know if anyone has had any experience in the situation i am in. I reside in Michigan, the auto banks use Transunion as their refference when checking your credit. My transunion is a 764 score, Its all revolving credit with Authorized user on the cards. They never ran my credit at the dealership but i gave them a run down on whats on my credit profile. They informed me that because i had no previous installment loans, or fixed payments that the bank would be very cautious or not willing to lease or loan to me at all for the type of vehicles i was shopping for. I have been making 100k+ a year for multiple years now so income is not a issue, the only reason i dont have any loan history is because Ive always purchased my vehicles cash. They told me that leasing or buying a new porsche panamera wouldnt hpppen because techincally im a "first time car buyer" so i considered the 2017 cadillac escalade and they suggested the more downpayment the better to get the deal done, like 20k+ down they suggested...

Has anyone been in my situation and has been approved without having to put down so much money on a vehicle this expensive?

THanks again

[Anonymous]

Audi just told me the same thing, I'm rebuilding after a bankruptcy 5 years ago, have leased and bought through Toyota/Lexus and have Tier1+ credit with them through loyalty. While Audi refused to lease to me at all without a huge downpayment, Lexus approved me at lower money factor in about 60 seconds because of my relationship with them. Just got into a 2017 fully loaded NX AWD today.

[Anonymous]

This could absolutley be true, If you have never had any type of installment credit, or auto loan's then the chances of getting financed at a dealership as a first-time-car-buyer on a 60-100k vehicle is slim to none. Underwriter's want to see comparable credit before loaning that kind of money, you will probably have to take baby-steps and start on a cheaper vehicle in order to build payment history. Although income does play a big factor, even people with high incomes have bad credit so Finance institutions can't soley base their decision off of income. My advice would be to get pre-approved with a local bank you've built a relationship with or a credit union but I highly doubt even they will loan that type of money for a first time buyer.

[JGGM]

I'm curious, am I reading correctly that all of your revolving credit is as an AU? If that is the case I could see why it would not be approved for an $80k lease....in that case you're essentially riding on the coat tails of someone else. 

Alternatively, if you want an Escalade, you might personally call US Bank as they do leasing for GM as well (for a while they were a captive lender for GM leasing). They might be able to assist you, since you do have good income. 

[firetech593]

It seems that Toyota is the only decent Mfr. right now giving actual 0 down leases.

I got one last week, score 760, thin file, 35000 Rav4 limited at 299 mo 36mo. 0 down 0% in Wi

[Anonymous]

There are a couple of things going on in the market that are impacting leasing right now.  Leasing has become very popular so there is going to be a flood of lease returns in the coming year and for the forseeable future which has the manufactures lending arms very nervous, more used cars results in lower residuals so many are reporting potential losses to their shareholders. The other issue is that having a great income and being a great credit risk are two very different things.  There are plenty of folks that make well over 100k a year and don't pay their bills on time so the only way the lender has of predicting your risk is based on your history.  A lack of history is worse in their eyes than someone who makes less money but has a long history.  The way the lender protects themselves is by sharing risk, you put enough down to make it less likely that you will default and if you do they are covered. Your scores and income are just a couple of variables they look at. When you look at the immediate depreciation a car takes when you drive it off the lot you can see why they would get a little nervous.  Of course each lender (factory) has different standards which is can be based on their need to move inventory so you may find one manufactuer who is willing to do a very different deal than the other for a similarly priced car.