I ordered a base model Tesla Model 3 last October because I drive about 2500 miles a month going back and forth to get medical treatment for a condition I have and even at October 2021 fuel prices it was a savings to go electric, let alone today's pricing.
The amount due for the car after taxes and all is $46,700. My trade in is worth $13,000 with $4,400 still owed to Chase, so it's effective worth is $8,600. I need an auto loan for about $37k.
Tesla sent my app to their captive arm, US Bank, TD, US Bank, and BMO Harris -- with an HP for each. Tesla captive lending approved me -- but at a max of $30k at 6.24%, which means they want $8k due at signing.
I went and apped with several places -- Alliant CU, DCU, PenFed, USAA (in hindsight don't know why I went here, they're strict) to see if I could get a better rate and someone to give me a loan for the full $37k.
Everyone denied me, except for DCU whom I'm waiting to get back to me with a decision. Alliant gave me a vague "credit score reasons" and returned a 617 even though everywhere else I'm 660-690 depending on bureau. Still waiting for PenFed to open so I can call for recon.
I'm 15 months post-DC on my Ch7 with a solid rebuild -- 3 CCs, an auto loan, student loans.
My DTI is only 20-ish percent. I'm putting 20% down payment on the car. I think what's killing me though is I pulled my credit report and two of my CCs are showing 100% util from a medical expense I had a few weeks ago. They've since been paid down dramatically but my CR doesn't reflect yet.
So anyways, I'm probably going to gave to delay by 2-3 months so I can save the $8k in cash.
My question is that my loan approval is only valid for 60 days, so I'm going to have to re-apply most likely. I know for scoring purposes multiple apps on the same day for auto loans will count as one, but what about with lenders?
I'm worried that I go back to re-apply in two or three months and I get refused altogether because "too many inquiries."
Starting Score: 512
