I took the plunge today & spoke with a reputable lender for me, and he told me he needs 12 months good credit (no lates, nothing); on 3 trade lines...if I were to pay off the car, it would NOT count...my problem is I have a lien on my CR and the IRS is refusing (or at least the biach I spoke to) to work with me at all, and to be honest, in figuring it out, I would end up paying off the assessed value, have another 5 years of interest, etc. so it would never end.
I'm playing it slowly and paying most of my auto loan off because it will save me a bunch of interest until I get the IRS figured out...the auto finance company already killed me to the tune of about $5.5k, but like clockwork, if I have to wait until 3 days past the DUE date (but within the GRACE period), they are calling me at 8 AM...can't wait to tell them to please send me the title, you'll never get business from many people because of your b.s.delaying payment posting, etc.