Does anyone know which CRA the credit unions pull to determine your rates for a car loan? Or do they do all 3? Or does it just depend on the credit union? I don't have an account with a CU yet, but I was hoping someone might be able to answer this question.. thx in advance.
Ender, It depends on the location of the credit union and the credit union itself. I use a credit union in Atlanta, since Equifax is right around the corner, I am sure they feel that it is cost effective to use Equifax for their credit decisions. I don't think that anyone has started a board similar to www.millcbs.com geared towards credit unions. But this may be a valuable addition to the website. More the information the better. Good Luck
Ender, I live in CA and have 2 open visa card accounts. Both the CU's pull from Experian as do 90% of the lenders out here that I have dealt with. 10% have pulled from Equifax. The only time, Tu ever got pulled was by Ford credita couple of years ago and they also pulled Experian at the same time. I realy believe it depends where you live.
It's always a good idea to call them and ask. I also "prequalify" myself with a lender. Tell them about yourself, your career, your credit... and see if you may fall within their guidelines. If it's a bank or credit union, take one of your hard copies of your reports (whomever they pull) and talk with the loan officer/ bank manager. See how your application would fly before they do an inquiry to your report. Eg: I didn't do this when I applied to First USA for a preapproval deal. Dumb. they won't take a bk for at least 5 years after it's discharged. Also, Monogram Bank auto rejects BKs and they used to manual review them... but no more. Just the computer says yes or no. Had I bothered to call and ask, I would've saved 2 inquiries this year. Fortunately, they are on different reports so they really don't hurt me. Bottom line: do as much research and preapproval of yourself before your reports are touched by lenders. It'll keep your scores up by keeping unnecessary inquiries down.
You may also want to ask what CRAs they report your great new tradeline to... My brother was going to get a car loan at the family credit union but it only reported to Equifax. Instead, he used the credit union rate as a bargaining chip, financed w/Amsouth Bank, and he'll get the tradeline on all 3 big bureaus. Since I know part of your goal is to rebuild, make sure to take into consideration how many bureaus will see your new, positive tradeline. It doesn't matter if the credit unions are easier on approval if only 1 bureau reports the new loan... in my opinion.
