best place to get auto loan?
 

I have a co signer but my credit age is not that good. fico is 730.

thanks... what's acceptable rate with co-signer???

Depends on your co-signer and where you get credit from. I'd finance through a credit union and not a bank, especially with not having a long credit history.

I've found Capital One to be nice, pretty good rates and they have a nice "blank check" that they send you that's good for any amount up to your limit and that way you can write the check for whatever the price ends up being.

I'm in the same boat, but my score is probably around 650ish, yet I have around $8,000 cash hoping to have 12-15 thousand when the car comes out.

How would I go about getting a loan? Would I tell them I have x amount for down payment on a loan?

also if I were to get a co-signer, only person I would want to co-sign for me would probably be my grandfather, only thing is he's retired but has a long history of excellent credit. Would they approve me? Do I need to ask for $25K and put down the money I have as down payment or ask for the amount I would need, 10-12k. What's the best option, sorry for the noob ass questions.

The way it works with my credit union, you fill out a loan application for the amount you want and the length of the loan. Then the rest of the application is just a way to verify your income and history. If you have a co-signer, they also fill out their info. Then they file it and tell you if you're approved or not for the amount you requested. Usually they tell you your rate right off the bat.

The way capital one works, I think you tell them what the car is worth, and how much cash you are putting down. They will give you a better rate with a higher down payment because you're collateral (the car) for the loan will be worth well above the loan amount, reducing the fear that you'll go "underwater" and owe more than the car is worth, and if they need to repo it, they know they won't lose as much on the whole ordeal and would be able to get more of their money back.

Try out local credit unions. If your credit age is at least 2-3 years and your score is what you say, they will deal with you better than big banks.

But what if you're a full-time student and have minimal income?

Then you shouldnt be buying a new car with a loan.

If you are worried about qualifying for a loan, now is the time to check into it.

Go to a local credit union or a bank you are comfortable with and sit down with a loan officer and ask for a pre-approval. They will be able to take a loan application and run credit and give you a yes/no decision. If it's a "no" they should be able to tell you why, and offer some advice to remedy. You still have two months or more until the first run of BRZ's come in.. That should give you some time to make a positive impact on your credit score.

Some tips to improve credit:
1.) Pay off and clear up and collections or judgments. Sometime people have small $ value collections that show up and make a huge negative affect on their score. If you think they are bogus, file a dispute with each of the three credit agencies. The lender/collection agency bears the burden of proof and often won't respond to the collection agency inquiry, so many times they will go away. If they are small amounts, just pay them off and ask the agency to remove from your credit record entirely rather than simply marking them paid. Even the latter is still a step in the right direction.

2.) Make sure you're credit balance ratios are in check. Nobody knows for sure, but the running theory is that your balance to limit ratio's are marked in 20% increments. So, do what you can to get your balance ratio under that next 20% level. Example.. if you have a credit card with a $10,000 limit and you owe $8500, you are at 85% utilization ratio.. that is bad.. pay it down to $7900 to get under the 80% threshold. If you can pay it down to $5900, that's better yet.. $3900.. better yet.. (Again, the 20% intervals are theory based on my research and may not be exactly correct.. but I do know for sure that the lower your balance compared to your limit.. the better!). If you have any credit accounts that are at or over limit.. PAY THEM DOWN! Being over credit limit or right at it is death to your credit score!

3.) Do not take out any new credit accounts if you plan to buy the car in the next 3-5 months. Credit accounts are a two-edged sword. You need to have credit history to show that you are credit-worthy, so having open and current credit balances is helpful. But having brand new credit accounts actually hurts you. The agencies score you down if you've opened new accounts recently as they are concerned that you are expanding your credit risk more quickly than your ability to pay. If you have too little credit and need to open a line or two to help.. then make sure you do it right away, but don't plan on it being a big help until you've established those accounts for 3+ months and shown perfect payment history on them for that time period.

4.) Don't get your credit pulled more than once between now and when you wish to buy the car. You need to have it pulled once to learn your status and know how to fix it. But don't have it pulled again until you are ready to buy the car. That means, no rental application credit checks, no credit cards, no repeat pulls, etc.. having your credit pulled too frequently hurts your score.. the Agencies think you are preparing to abuse your credit-worthyness and will score you down. However, once you are ready to buy the car, you can shop multiple places in a short time period and that will not hurt your score. There is a regulation that states that you can have multiple auto loan or multiple mortgage loan credit inquiries in a short time period (one month) and they only count as one pull when evaluating score. This was done to allow customer the ability to shop lenders without adverse affect on their score.


For the record.. I was a mortgage lender for 6 years and learned these things through experience on the job. I am not/was not a credit councellor... these are just educated opinions that I've gained through working with 100's of customer and their credit situations.

And to the original question in this post:

To find the best place to financed.. shop around!

Try one or two local credit unions, a couple local banks, the Subaru/Scion dealership, and perhaps a large national credit union. Rates can/do vary... some places will run specials that are very attractive.

I use PenFed Credit union. Anyone can sign up through a small donation to an armed forces benefit ($25 i think).. They currently have 1.9% for 48 months and 2.49% for 60 months.

You might have a local credit union that can meet or beat that rate.

You never know what Subaru will offer.. they might have competitive rates. Tell the dealership what you can get elsewhere and tell them they can have your business if they can match it.

If the dealership is close (say within .25%) I'll go with them.. the convenience of having it financed in-house is great.. makes the transaction nice and smooth!

If you are sure you can afford the payments, I would suggest a co-signer and as generous of a downpayment as you can manage.

:bonk:THIS! :slap:

For your own good, look for something cheaper.