LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay here's the long and short of my story: I was surfing the net last week and saw the car of my dreams at Carmax for a GREAT price. After contemplating what to do, I decided to 'go for it' and apply at the dealership for a loan. I figured, even if the interest rate is a bit high, I can always refi later when my reports look better. I give the dealership the info, they submit to FIVE different lenders, ALL FIVE OF THEM DENIED ME. I was devastated, to say the least (at this point I was emotionally attached.) So, I decide to at least try HOUSEHOLD because they will take ANYONE, right?? Well, anyone except me I guess. They declined me too. Yikes, right? How is it that I can't get a secured loan from anyone??? I simply do not understand. I have made amazing progress in cleaning up my reports and although there are some derogs left, there aren't nearly as many as I had when I first started in Jan/Feb. They all pulled exclusively TU (I'm in TU country) and my score provided by them is 548. I know that's bad, but I have 3 positive accounts and 4 negs remaining, one of which is paid collection. The car was $16K, I was going to put down $2K. One thing is that I have never had a car loan before. Would this prompt an auto-decline?? I just don't get it. I have been absolutely stellar with all the accounts I have right now since they've been open and nobody will give me a 100% secured loan? I have seen others on this board with scores much lower than mine get approved, at least thru household. What gives?
Call Triad Financial out of Huntington Beach, Ca. I don't have the # on hand, but I know someone that had a worse score than you and got a loan with them. Charlie
did you try peoplefirst.com? Also, you try calling household to see if they will reverse the denial. I had an account with them with excellent payment history and when I went to try and get another loan with them, they denied me right on the spot but then sent me an email saying that they would give me a loan. It was like I never had done business with them. But I had gone through peoplefirst.com and it was a great experience.
matt, Call the F&! manager and ask .hy you were declined. It could also be the car payment in relation to your salary and other fixed expenses would be too haevy a debt load {according to the scoring system used}. Just ask questions and be leary of high interest rates. Never accept a bad deal just because it's the only deal.
548 isn't really stellar credit. Find a place that pulls equifax and put all your baddies in dispute and come in with the cash and get your car. carmax bites ass on financing, btw.
Thanks for the advice on peoplesfirst, milkmom. I think I will try them, just for kicks. After all, I have inquiries up the ying yang already, what's one more?? Keepmine, I tried calling and asking for the finance manager, and I was told that "there really isn't one." She directed me towards the guy I had been dealing with from the beginning. I think one of the problems is that Carmax is nothing like a traditional auto dealership. They are a chain, and their slogan is "no haggle..." similar to Saturn dealerships. They have 5 different lenders that they go through, and that's it. One of the lenders is Carmax Auto Finance. The others are: -Transouth-subprime I believe -Bank of America-prime -Wells Fargo-subprime (they have that 'extended reach' program) -Americredit-sub What about going to a CU and talking to them? I'm over the initial ontic threats relating to this situation, so I'm ready to proceed and roll with the punches. The car is already sold, so I'm not as desparate anymore (this all happened last week).
Sam, I know my credit sucks; what I was trying to say is that I have great ratings on all open accoutns that I have now. The older stuff (from 96&before) is what is killing my scores. And, most of it has fallen off. I'm not expecting Bank of America to come begging for my business and give me a 6%loan...I realize I'll be lucky if it's under 15%.
You might want to call Wells Fargo Financial yourself. They usually are very lenient with their approvals. They approved me 4 years ago in the midst of my credit slump, before I ever thought about attempting to clean up, and I had a lot more than 4 derogs. The interest will be high if approved, but you may be able to pull it off by speaking directly with them. Good luck.
What kind of deal did you get on the car? That also makes a difference.. If the car is too old (older than 5 years, usually) or the mileage is too high, they often won't complete a loan. Look up the blue book value for the car you were looking at, and see how the deal compares to the blue book retail price. If they're giving you an upside down deal, a lender will decline that much more quickly. jmart
Thanks for the info LKH. I actually spoke to a very nice rep on the phone last week about their extended reach program and it seemed good to me. The biggest problem I had with Carmax is that they did absolutely nothing to help my situation out, like I hear other dealerships usually do. They basically just told me to take a hike. Thankfully, I never went down to look at the car; I did everything over the phone.
Yes they are; I'm going to call them later today...the 'custom finance' deparmtent has a phone number listed on the website so I'll pump them for information and see what I find out.
Just denied for Roadloans (FICO 558). I just tried with PeopleFirst. Will let you know what happens. LB
I was having a hard time getting a car loan also. One dealership was going to give me a 7,000 loan but at 23 % interest! We were allowed to take it for the weekend and when we came back to fill out the paperwork on Monday, that's when we found out about the interest. We decided no. I also got denied by Carmax, not to mention Roadloans.com, Peoplefirst, and another dealership. Then me and my fiance decided to go to a smaller dealership (Red McCombs here in San Antonio). It was hard because we were using only my credit (his ex-wife ruined their credit). They pulled my experian (577) and equifax (640<--because of disputes i think) and gave me a car for 17% which is still high, but it's a lot better than 23% and could refinance later. They also pulled his but it sat at 494 with equifax and I'm not sure what with experian. I had 2 collection agencies on both and some 30 day lates with two loans.Also some good accounts We used Triad Financial and they're really cool. I hate paying by mail and they have a pay by phone option which I think is great. If you want their phone number, it is (800)879-9756. Hope this works. Janet
RE: People 1st: I didn't apply with them and I don't think I will, at least for the time being. I'm sure I'll be declined, not only because of the derogs on my report, but also because I have never had an auto loan before. I'm going to join a CU later this week and put the money I'm currently saving towards a down payment ($2k + $1.2k) on deposit with them until I'm ready to go for the plunge. I had some email correspondence with them this afternoon, and they said that if I can get my score above 600, they will do their base rate (6.99%) plus 2% because I will have 'c' grade credit. I did mention that I have never had an auto loan before, but I'm not sure she realized that when she gave me this info. Because it seems much too good to be true. I also called the dealership and talked to them about it. They said that the old derogs on my report and the lack of established credit (i.e. auto loan) are equal contributors to my declines. They suggested a cosigner, but I'm not willing to do that. SHe suggested I purchase a cheaper car around $10K for my first auto loan, pay that off, and then I will have some history. I see her point, I guess. ((Although....I would much rather have my jetta)). So that's where I'm at. Sorry to hear about your denial lbowman....I know what it's like.
A car is not a really good means of security, although it may appear to be. If they repo it, it will not sell for what you owe and a lot of people trash the vehicle before surrendering it which costs the banks money. (not that i care ) They repo'd my 5L mustang when it was 8mths old and got $7k less than was owing - and the car was MINT.
Re: Can't get a car loan to save my Yeah, me too. I think I'm going to take the lady's suggestion at the dealership and apply for a $10k loan and settle for a Sentra or something. Ugh...every day is a struggle with this credit drama. :/ On a side note (not to hijack my own thread), I faxed a copy of a UDF from an OC to EQ for deletion of a tradeline and instead of deleting it, they changed the status to REPOSESSION and updated my address to an address I lived at 6 years ago. Those people are nuts. The other day I called EQ (well, actually CSC) and the lady I spoke to openly admitted to have never read the FCRA and had no clue what a procedural request is. She went on to tell me how much she didn't care and then hung up. I love CSC. Thankfully, nobody seems to pull them in my neck of the woods. They're all about TU around here.
Hey that's life.....I'm used to getting declined. :-( I also was approved at my CU, but I only requested 5K (was gonna purchase from a private seller). The car was sold and I just sent a fax off to my CU to be reconsidered for more $$$$$$. I'll see what happens. LB
