"First Again" for vehicle loans: Any thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Hi, all...

I've recently come across an online lender called "First Again," which specializes in no-hassle loans for people with excellent credit. Does anyone have any experience with them? Is 6.15% a good rate for a 48-month term? Just wondering if I should consider working with them as opposed to joining a credit union (I believe am eligible for USAA and NFCU via my brother, who is an active reservist with the Navy).

[Anonymous]

Sorry -- inadvertently "stickied" this post! Do forgive my rudeness.

[Anonymous]

If you have excellent credit then 6.15% for 48 months isn't good.  In January I got a 5.99% interest rate on 72 months with scores all above 750. 

If you are buying new go with the Dealership they can get you a better rate.

[Anonymous]

1111mel,

My scores are in the upper 700s/low 800s, so perhaps I'll give the dealer a shot. I did think I could do better than 6.15% -- thanks for confirming my suspicion!

[MattH]

You might or might not be able to do better than 6.15% -- bankrate.com says average rates are 6.77% right now, and the last time I pulled my complete score reports from myfico a couple weeks ago it said for my Experian 826 a typical interest rate on a 48-month auto loan in my score range was 6.197%. Also, be careful about rates from dealers: I suspect dealers can find ways of packing a little extra onto the purchase price to pay for an artificially low interest rate on the loan. Especially avoid discussing the monthly payment with the dealer, they looove buyers who think entirely in terms of the payment as you probably realize. Before going to the dealer run the numbers so you know how much you can afford and get a cash price from the dealer, and only bring up financing AFTER you have a cash price quoted. And expect the dealer to suggest rustproofing, extended warranty, pin striping, and whatever else they can try to pack into the transaction (not to mention various junk fees which basically translate into "extra profit")). Some years ago a friend of mine was about to close on a car purchase, but there was an additional 75 dollar fee which had not previously been mentioned. He insisted they take it off. They refused. Sitting right there in their office he phoned another local dealer for the same car and said, "Hi, I'm sitting in the office of [dealer name] about to close but they refuse to remove this fee, here are all the details we negotiated, can you do better..." Can you tell used car dealers are not my favorite people? Message Edited by MattH on 04-17-2008 06:57 PM

Message Edited by MattH on 04-17-2008 06:58 PM

[Anonymous]

DH and I have both cars through NFCU (and cannot say a single bad thing about them, except that we could not get our mortgage through them...).  Anyway, both cars are at 5.5%, and both of our scores are mid 700's.

[Anonymous]

Yes, discuss car price first and make a deal. Then discuss interest rate and make a deal.

Standard Fees on All new vehicles these days (in Nevada at least) are:
Doc Fees
Title Feee $28.25 (in NV)
VTR Fees (VIN Etching on parts like headlights)This comes with a guarantee that if your car is stolen and not found within 30 days you get a nice little payout like $2,500.

In Nevada dealerships are known to make a "Dealer Invoice" add $2k to the MSRP and call it the "Desert Package". If you are aware of what you are buying and check out your state's laws on vehicle fees etc. you can avoid the added costs they throw into the loan.

[MattH]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Yes, discuss car price first and make a deal. Then discuss interest rate and make a deal.

Standard Fees on All new vehicles these days (in Nevada at least) are:
Doc Fees
Title Feee $28.25 (in NV)
VTR Fees (VIN Etching on parts like headlights)This comes with a guarantee that if your car is stolen and not found within 30 days you get a nice little payout like $2,500.

In Nevada dealerships are known to make a "Dealer Invoice" add $2k to the MSRP and call it the "Desert Package". If you are aware of what you are buying and check out your state's laws on vehicle fees etc. you can avoid the added costs they throw into the loan.

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Oh, "Desert Package," how cute. Up here in New England the dealer packs tend to have a winter theme. I suppose in Colorado they have mountain-themed gimmicks. Car dealers, my favorite people...

PS: when I Googled "NFCU" among the hits were Navy FCU, Neenah Foundry FCU, and NASA FCU, was it one of these or somebody else?

Message Edited by MattH on 04-18-2008 03:25 AM

[Anonymous]

Mel you paid $2500 for window etching??????? OMG When I bought my last car they wanted to stick me with a $300 etching fee, I refused to pay it. Me and the Manager at the dealership went around and around. He claimed it was on the invoice and he couldn't take it off. I told him fine if you can write through it and you have to show it then you can back it out of the final sale price of the car because I can buy that same etching kit online for $25 bucks so do you want to sell me the car or not?. Of course I won that battle and he finally scratched it out on the invoice as he stated he couldn't do. I also had my price I was going to pay including ttl and y consumer report & bank check for the purchase in hand when I went.

[cobra19]

You can do a heck of a lot better than 6.15%. NFCU is awesome. I would go there first, 2nd choice would be the dealer.