Where to Apply First....Dealer or Online

[Anonymous]

First off my FICO score is 645 and I have 1 public record on a Discover account entered in 2009.  I need to buy a new vehicle.  I'd like to keep my purchase under $20K.  In the past, it was very easy for me to get great auto financing.  My FICO score then was never over 680, but I didn't have the public record and that was in better times (2004).  Many auto makers are offering great interest rates as low as 0.00%.  I'm not sure if I should apply through the auto maker first or go online to see if I get approved at all. 

My monthly gross income is $3760.  My mortgage is $736 and I have one CC at $92/mo.  I have an excellent payment history on my auto loans.  No lates or missed payments.

I will be trading in a 2000 VW Passat/104K miles.  I think Kelley Blue Book trade-in value was close to $4000.

[Anonymous]

Based on my recent experience you are most likely to get approved from a dealer rather than a CU such as PenFed. I was approved only 40k through a CU at 2.9%. The dealer (BMW) reviewed my credit and income and said 0.9% for a 70k loan for a new car would not be a problem.

I would do some digging on the forums to what CU people have had good luck with. Seems like PenFed is on the strict side. The reason they did'nt give me the full amount was based on experience. One csr told me it was due to the fact that I have never had a large installment loan and that my current home loan of over 615k was only 9 months old go figure....

Best of luck and remember you can shop around for the best rate for at least 14 days and will only get hit by 1 inq on your CR.

[Anonymous]

Well, I decided to apply online for fun.  I applied to up2drive and mycarloans online.  Up2drive declined me and mycarloans gave me 1 offer from Road Loans at 10.24%.  Ouch!  I wouldn't apply to my CU because I know they would deny me.  Thanks for your input.

[Anonymous]

Well, I happily stand corrected.  I applied with my CU and got approved for a 3.99% loan! 

[Anonymous]

CONGRATS!! Who is your CU btw?

[Anonymous]

PSECU

[bakalao2k]

Congrats