Generations car refinance: S-Shawn!

Discussion in 'Credit Talk' started by marci, Oct 26, 2001.

  1. marci

    marci Well-Known Member

    Hi all,


    I have great news. I'm foregoing the unsecured credit card at 15.9% that I was approved for this week. I spoke with a Generations credit analyst today (see original post below) who agreed to refinance the TOTAL amount of my car loan at 7.9% for 24 months!!!!! YAY!

    This is a simple interest, closed end installment loan from a FDIC insured deposit bank. No more sub-prime, no more finance company, no more 17.9%apr!!!

    The best news? Generations does not report this loan, either!!! I'll have two paid in full installment loans on my reports, both since 1998. And an internal history with a bank from whom I can purchase a new car in a few years.


    Thanks to all on CreditNet for the great posts that helped make this possible!

    Supershawn - is there anything I should watch out for when refinancing with an out of state bank? Any other pointers? This bank is FDIC insured, is a deposit bank, and is a development of the Kansas City Life Insurance Company (http://www.kclife.com/). There is only one brick and mortar office for this bank, located within the KCLIC building.


    Thanks for any advice.



    http://consumers.creditnet.com/straighttalk/board/showthread.php?s=&postid=100177#post100177
     
  2. the other

    the other Well-Known Member

    congrats Marci! I really like Generations Bank (I have their Visa).
     
  3. marci

    marci Well-Known Member

    Thanks, the other!

    The contract is in the mail as of this afternoon. :)

    Though I'm not saving a huge amount (only about $500) over the life of the refinance since I've already put so much money into the car already - it just feels emotionally better to be paying a bank 7.9% rather than paying a finance company 17.9%. And to think, I started at 23.99 back in 1998. Yuck!!!

    I told the LO not to worry about the CC application, as I really don't need more unsecured credit (at 15.9%, to boot), but with the current car loan showing as "paid off" and the new one not reporting at all, I may take another shot at the VISA card and see if my scores will get me the 9.9% rate in a few months.

    So, please keep everyone informed on how you think Generations is doing in the credit card dept.


    Thanks again,
     
  4. leo728

    leo728 Well-Known Member

    congrats...
     
  5. supershawn

    supershawn Well-Known Member


    First of all, Congrat! That is great!

    As far as the out-of-state thing, no worries at all...even at a deal, you are really doing the same thing. I am in GA, my last Ford loan was actually in MD. Not a deal at all!

    The refi rate you are getting is super! That is absolutely unheard of with anything but a credit union. I am impressed!

    You will also benefit from the unreported status of Generations- I am still not sure why they are chosing to do this, but it could be one of many different reasons. Your report will show your old car loan as Paid in Full-$0. It can't show transferred as the new Generations loan will not show up.

    This will be a double-whammy to your report (positive, of course). You will 'lose' the current owed on your report, plus open up a 'hidden' trade line.

    Generations seems eager to start off by giving out some good terms...you are doing good by getting in with them early and building a good relationship. They may end up having 'credit union type' benefits if they keep these type of offerings going.

    The only thing to 'watch' for is that your old loan shows paid- NOT transferred. That is up to the lender that you have now. If they do mark it transferred, just contact them and ask them to change it- that should not be a big deal at all.

    Great Job!

    Shawn
     
  6. marci

    marci Well-Known Member

    leo,

    Thanks for the congratulations. I've been dealing with the car refinance issue for a long time, and never found a bank that was willing to refinance negative equity, until now.


    Supershawn,

    Thanks for your warm words. Actually I should credit you for this success. I remembered your telling Sam (?) or someone a couple of days ago on CreditNet that it was very hard to refi a car older than 1996. Mine is a 1996 and remembering your words, I decided to deal with this today with Generations, rather than letting it age through next year and dashing any hopes for a refi with anyone.

    And I agree - I simply can't believe they gave me 7.99% for a 1996 car with 70Kmiles on it and funded the ENTIRE balance due - negative equity included. They did pull a KBB trade-in value, but the loan officer determined my car's "equity" based on dealer resale value (i.e. what the dealer would get for the car if they sold it), and not the KBB value! Maybe he was trying to get me funded, after I explained to him why I applied for the Generations credit card in the first place. By doing this, he saved me $900-$1400 in a negative equity down payment that I would have had to pay elsewhere for a refinance.

    They really do want business with people (EXTREMELY friendly) and I am excited to get on board with them early on (insurance companies have a heck of a lot of money to support a bank). I just don't want them to fold like X.com or something :-/

    On another note, I am so used to dealing with shady finance companies (Wells Fargo had initially drawn up a horrible contract adding in tons of services I never asked for, and that I subsequently rejected), that when the Generations LO told me the terms he could offer, I said "Please don't add in the terms any of that warranty/insurance stuff - as I'm adequately covered" and he responded "Miss, we don't try to make our money using those tactics. You don't have to worry about that". What a breath of fresh air!


    One positive about Wells Fargo. The branch is in my city and I am on very good terms with the branch manager, who personally sends in the (paper UDF) updates to the CRAs. He's always reported exactly what I asked him to (i.e. noted on the reports that the finance tradeline was for a closed end car installment) and he helped me with Trans Union when they deleted the account and gave me grief over it.

    So, I'll make sure that he updates that this account was "paid in full" as agreed.


    Thanks again, Shawn, for all your help and advice on the board, and specifically to me!
     
  7. miles

    miles Well-Known Member

    Congratulations marci!! You really deserve it. Your hard work is paying off. You should be proud!! :-D
     
  8. marci

    marci Well-Known Member

    Thanks, Miles. You are very kind. And, yes, I have been very blessed this past year.


    Have you closed your Providian account yet? Mine's got two more months before I shut it down.
     
  9. miles

    miles Well-Known Member

    Yes. I closed it last month. I couldn't take it anymore. My last straw was when I received a $500 credit limit increase offer for $49. They are crazy. I know they have been monitoring my reports as I see the AR inquiries. I have several prime accounts with high limits. Why in the world would they think I would pay for an increase? Not to mention that I have always received increase offers for $1,000 not $500.
    When I closed the account, they couldn't offer me anything. Unbelievable. Still couldn't get that grace period. LOL I finally came to the realization that if you enter Providian as subprime, that is where you will remain. It's useless to hold your breath for Platinum. You'll never get it. Even though it was an old account, I refused to let them keep me in subprime.
    Now look at them. Their business is falling apart. They say their prime business was not growing enough to outweigh the subprime business. Truth is, they let many of their subprime customers who turned prime go to their competitors instead of upgrading them and transferring them to the prime division......I still can't get over how stupid that is.
     

Share This Page