options to boost FICO for auto refinance

oohhjamila · ‎10-14-2008

Hello all, I'm a newbie and this is my first post. I pulled my Equifax report and my score is 596. I just bought a car in June ('02 Altima $11322) and got a ridiculous 17.99% apr @ 60 mos through the dealer using Wachovia. At that time my score was 620 and I should have been given around 12% but I had no idea. Anyway, I want to refinance as soon as possible (Jan) and I'm hoping for a rate of 12% or less @ 36mos. The score simulator shows my revolving account balances at $3285 out of $3450 available and that if I pay at least $275/mo for the next 3 mos my 596 should go up to 616-656. Or I can pay $1375 now to get the same score. If I pay the $1375 now, I'll probably end up using it again before I refinance so I'm wondering, should I just go for the pay over time option? Is there anything else I can do to boost my score?

llecs · ‎10-14-2008

It doesn't matter if you pay in installments or all at once, the end result will be the same. You really would want to pay down your CCs to under 10% by over $3k for best results.

oohhjamila · ‎10-14-2008

Thanks!

oohhjamila · ‎01-09-2009

Yesterday I called Wachovia because I have 6 mos of on time payments, and I wanted to refinance my car loan. I wasn't too surprised when they denied my refinance application. The rep was unable to tell me why, but a letter will come in 5-7 days with the explanation. I'm so frustrated, I only wanted to refinance to get a lower APR. It's not the monthly payments that hurt, it's all that interest (17.99%) that they are sucking out of me. My credit union won't refi me because I only work part-time ($900/mo), and the additional money I get from being a VA dependent student($915/mo) doesn't count as income. So, what I've decided to do is get another part-time job (FT doesn't work with my school schedule), wait about 3 months, then try to refi again but with somewhere other than Wachovia. I'll make sure that my uti is down, my scores are up and I won't settle for less than what I want!

Message Edited by oohhjamila on 01-09-2009 10:01 AM