When to pull the trigger...?

[TapDancer324]

I'm at the point where I have to buy a car, or I'll have a $600 repair expense PLUS registration fees on an older car. This money could go towards my down payment. I'm waiting for 12 points on EQ and 3 points in TU. Somehow I have it in my mind that a 650 score will significantly improve my options. Am I off-base? Advice?

Tks!

[Anonymous]

I believe the next threshold would be 660, atleast when going by SW's "what it means to you." You are in the bracket that would qualify you for a 11%int.

[TapDancer324]

Couldn't wait! 

I pulled the trigger this evening with the Capital One Blank Check program.  APPROVED for up to $33,600!  (I requested 28,000.) I'm buying a 2012 vehicle, so the rates vary as follows... 5.07% for 60 months or 3.38% for 66 months.  I cannot believe it. I will post on the Auto Loan Approvals thread.  Yaaaay!!

[Anonymous]

That's outstanding! Congrats. The feeling must be amazing I am in the about the same score range you are in too, but can't get approaved for a darn thing. Do you still have any baddies on your report?

[TapDancer324]

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@Anonymous wrote:

That's outstanding! Congrats. The feeling must be amazing I am in the about the same score range you are in too, but can't get approaved for a darn thing. Do you still have any baddies on your report?

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Thanks!  I was expecting a much higher interest rate.  Yes - I have lots of baddies on my CRs.  No charge-offs/collections, repos or BKs, but lots of lates.  My most recent lates were two 30-day lates in October 2011.  My automatic scheduled payments stopped, and I didn't realize it until the damage was done.  I also got into an ill-advised war in 2010 with my mortgage lender, Chase, and ended up with 14 consecutive lates reported with the last one being in February 2011. I've just been trying to pass the time and pay down my balances.

With your scores, I'm sure you'll be approved soon...

[TapDancer324]

I was waiting for a Score Watch alert from last night's auto loan app,and I got it this evening.  The inquiry hit EQ, but the score did not change. I expected to lose points.   I had no other inquiries showing on the report, so maybe this one is a "gimme." ???  I'm planning to see if the dealership can beat my rate, so it'll be interesting to see what that does to the score.  Also, I called Cap One earlier this evening to see what CRA(s) they used. The rep said that they look at the entire credit profile and not just the score.  We knew this.  She also confirmed that they do use an auto-enhanced score.  We figured that they would.  She said that I will receive a letter in a few days detailing the CRA info and their score calculation.  This will be REALLY interesting to see.

Thanks to this forum and you guys, I'm learning...

[MsTucker09]

congrats is this your first auto loan?

[TapDancer324]

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@MsTucker09 wrote:

congrats is this your first auto loan?

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Thanks!  No, I've financed a couple of cars before.  It IS, however, the first auto loan where I've actually paid attention to my credit profile before,during and after the process. I have to now!  LOL

For my first car loan - years ago - I breezed into a car dealership by myself at the age of 21 (a month before I graduated from college) with pristine credit, no income, no down payment and first professional job-offer letter in my hand.  I drove away in a new car, without a care in the world. These days the process, for me, is a bit more complicated. My goal is to get back to "pristine"!

[Anonymous]

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@TapDancer324 wrote:

Couldn't wait! 

I pulled the trigger this evening with the Capital One Blank Check program.  APPROVED for up to $33,600!  (I requested 28,000.) I'm buying a 2012 vehicle, so the rates vary as follows... 5.07% for 60 months or 3.38% for 66 months.  I cannot believe it. I will post on the Auto Loan Approvals thread.  Yaaaay!!

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Wow, that is odd.  Every auto loan offers I've seen have higher interest rates for longer terms, not lower.  Not sure why anyone would take the 60 month offer and pay 1.8% more interest?  You could just take the 66 month offer and pay it off faster, unless they have an early payment penalty or something.  Just seems odd to me.

[TapDancer324]

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@TapDancer324 wrote:

I was waiting for a Score Watch alert from last night's auto loan app,and I got it this evening.  The inquiry hit EQ, but the score did not change. I expected to lose points.   I had no other inquiries showing on the report, so maybe this one is a "gimme." ???  I'm planning to see if the dealership can beat my rate, so it'll be interesting to see what that does to the score.  Also, I called Cap One earlier this evening to see what CRA(s) they used. The rep said that they look at the entire credit profile and not just the score.  We knew this.  She also confirmed that they do use an auto-enhanced score.  We figured that they would.  She said that I will receive a letter in a few days detailing the CRA info and their score calculation.  This will be REALLY interesting to see.

Thanks to this forum and you guys, I'm learning...

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Update: 

The score disclosure page in the CapOne loan packet shows that they pulled an auto-enhanced score of 676 from EQ.  My EQ score is still 638 on here.  Got an alert for the HP from freecreditreport.com (Experian) on Saturday, and the EX FAKO dropped 8 points. Will find out in the morning if the dealer can meet/beat the rate.  Either way, I'm happy.