@Anonymous wrote:
well, we were approved at one dealership, but they wanted $9500 down!!!! the total price of the car was $18k! unreal! two other dealerships turned us down, and one said based on his experience, we would be denied and he would not push through the application so that he wouldn't waste our time. really? so we're stuck. we have a 2007 Chrysler Town and Country with over 103k miles on it, no warranty, we're upside down, it's not running great, it's guzzling gas like crazy, and we need to get rid of it!! we can
't afford the gas, can't afford to fix it if something goes wrong. we need a reliable car with a warranty, that has good gas mileage. are there ANY options for us at all??? we have $3300 to put down. my husband's credit is in the low 500's. they can't use mine because i have no income. (he works, i stay home with the kids). pretty soon we'll be stuck with a van that doesn't run but we'll still have to make monthly payments on it. help!
True or not, what the potential lender sees when they look at your credit report is someone who is struggling with "lifestyle debt", living above their means, and having trouble meeting current obligations. That means that the only people willing to take a risk on you and lend you money will be predators, out to take advantage of you. Don't let them.
When you're ready to change things for the better, you need to sit down and take a hard look at every penny you spend. Find as many ways as possible to trim expenses, get rid of fancy cell phone plans, expensive cable packages, reduce restaurant expenses, anything you can to trim the budget. Spend the next couple years committed to a financial change and put money away into savings. Pay off your car note and all of your debts, and when it's time, sell your Chrysler and buy a used car in good condition that gets better mileage. Put a lot of money down, and pay it off as fast as possible.
A three grand stake should be enough to get that T&C in good running shape, and you need to just deal with the mileage for now. 100k is nothing for a modern car, and unless you get a tiny thing you're not going to see a great savings in fuel usage. Think about it; even if you doubled your gas mileage, it would never justify the cost of buying another new car.
Just to put things into perspective - my wife and I both have professional careers and make good money. I hit 210,000 miles on my 2000 Jeep this past summer, and bought another one. It's a 2007, came with 18k miles, and was half the price of new. I kept the old one, too, since the trade in value would have been too low. I'll probably still own it at 300,000. When we bought our house, we picked one about half the price of what we would qualify for. So now, we can save for retirement, put money into savings, and if something breaks on the car, we'll get it fixed. No biggie. And if one of us gets laid off, it won't end our lives. We agreed that it's just not worth the stress to overextend ourselves. I'd rather have a vacation every year than an extra 500 square feet of living space.
If you can reduce your spending habits, you can open up a lot more options and get a ton of stress out of your life. I hope I didn't offend you, but from what I'm reading here the last thing you need is more debt. Make the tough choices now, and have a better future. I faced the same tough choices as you, and the same frustrations and struggles. I know how it feels, but I'm glad I made the choices I did. From where I'm sitting I wouldn't have it any other way.
Good luck.
Starting Score: 521 TU, 597 EQ, 574 EX on 6/20/2011
