Hi Guys!
I've been lurking for a couple of weeks and I'm running out of content to lurk on. I've been obsessively budgeting and planning, and I think it's time to start getting some feedback. I'm planning on buying a new car in December. I'm 25, graduated in May, and started a new job right after. Employment at this job will be about 6 months in December. I can prove 85k annual income with check stubs. I have no rent, and my monthly debt not including the car I'll trade in is $650.
Right now, my Fico scores are all 650 +-5 points. Auto scores 608-617. Length on credit history is 7 years. AAoA is 5 years. I have had two car loans for my self with perfect payment histories. I cosigned for an ex-boyfriend, and (shocker) it turned out to be a bad idea. There are 3 30 days and 1 60 days on that vehicle, 60 days being in August. That vehicle is now up-to-date. It won't fall behind again. I'll pay myself, if I have to. I have 4 credit cards with about $10000 in credit limits. Last reported util was 48%, but I've already paid a good bit of that already and the rest will be paid in the next two checks. I haven't had my credit pulled since I bought my car 3 years ago.
My current car is upside down, because I put nothing down on it. In December, I will owe about $7500 and the car is worth about $5000. I thought about paying the car down, but I've decided to save the money. I feel like I should be able to talk them up a little more if I owe more vs. them trying to pay off the car if I owe less. In all, I will have $6500 towards buying a new car (minus about $2000 for negative equity). The car I want (a Honda) has an MSRP of $31000/$28000 average selling price. It looks like I will need a $27000 loan. I won't be desparate at the dealership. I will go in prepared with financing in my purse.
So...
1. What do you think my credit scores will look like in December with a low util and no new bad marks?
2. What kind of interest rate am I looking at?
3. Any other suggestions?
Here's one last tidbit.. Because of my employer, I have garanteed 2.9% interest at the local Acura dealership, no credit check. That isn't my first choice and the cars are a little more expensive than what I was planning, but it's definitely on the table.
11/12/15
So..... I bought a new car. I got exactly what I wanted. A 2016 Honda Accord EX-L. MSRP was 29,300, and I paid 25,900+TTL for it. True car said the average price paid was around 28,000 so I think I did pretty good. My mom asked them to give me two years of maintainence and they did. I used the How to buy a car thread to negotiate the price. It was all done by email and I walked in the dealership with that agreed upon price.
I got financing from Capital One and my APR range was 3.8-8. When I got in the finance office, he said "I can get you 1.9 for 60 months." That's Honda's top tier, and the best rate for the 2016 Accord right now (unless you lease for 36 months and you can get 0.9). I put enough down to get rid of my negative equity and they gave me $500 for being a recent graduate. They didn't ask for check stubs.
My current Fico 8 scores are 702/710/698. That's a pretty big jump from where I started in September. I'm not sure what my auto score is, but it was lower than my Fico 8 because of the derogatory mark on the co-signed vehicle.
I thank everyone who posts here! Even when I wasn't posting I was still lurking and learning from you.
Pics at the bottom.
! Congratulations!