ok...so I have this My FICO score watch for 7.95 per month and It reported a FICO score of 670...but when I was at the auto dealer, they told me that it was 30 points lower! WHAT THE HELL!!!! how can that be? do dealers use a different score? thats lame! Should I cancel MY FICO? at this point it seems like no help! why pay for something that is not accurate! also How can my equifax score be 30pts lower? TIA! d.
If you are looking at financing thru an auto dealer, also make sure you can finance and already have approval thru your bank or credit union. Your best protection against problems in financing is access to competitively priced alternatives. If you know you can get a loan from another source on particular terms, you know when to walk away from the dealer's offer. Although different scoring systems may be used for auto loans, there is also the possibility that the dealer is trying to steer you to a higher priced loan in exchange for a kickback from the lender. One clue would be that the dealer might try to convince you that your credit is worse than it really is, and that you are lucky to be able to get the terms his lender is offering. You might ask to see the credit report and documentation of the score, and compare those terms with other lenders. Another ploy, known as the "spot delivery" scam, is to tell you you have the loan, you then sign the papers and take possession of the car, and in a few days you get a call from the dealer claiming that the lender rejected your loan, but if you will agree to a higher rate, they will approve it. This after he has already taken your down payment, and your trade-in, probably claiming it has already been sold, and in effect threatening to cost you a bundle and repo-ing your new car if you refuse the new inflated terms. The lender has probably paid the dealer to sell you up to a higher priced loan, and the scam is to force you to accept terms higher than those originally offered to close the sale. http://phoenix.about.com/od/scam1/a/spotdelivery.htm?terms=buy+here+pay+here http://www.collectionindustry.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=11&threadid=4568 Also, know who you are doing business with, before you decide to do business. Check their BBB report before you even consider them. Read everything before you sign anything, fill in all blanks before signing, and insist on copies before you leave. If they seem impatient just because you are reading a contract, or will not provide the paperwork for you to take home and study, or to run by your attorney before you sign it, that is a red flag. "A verbal contract isn’t worth the paper it is written on. " http://education.yahoo.com/reference/quotations/quote/35699
thanks for the advice! I did infact see the score on the computer screen and it was 30pts lower than "MY FICO"! What sucks is I'm trying to get out of my car (which has alot negative equity) and they "cant get me in line" because most CU require a 650 score...which I have according to "MY FICO"... am I stuck????
Maybe you are trying to buy too much car for your current financial condition. What does it cost you to wait, and pay down debt? Your "negative equity" is debt beyond the trade-in or resale value of your car. Although a dealer/autolender might do such a deal, piling the negative equity onto the new loan value to make the sale, they would probably raise the terms to cover the risk. An independent lender looking to do a loan colateralized by the new car would have insufficient colateral for such a loan that both purchased the new car, and paid off the remaining balance on the old loan. In effect, if you cannot pay off the old loan, you don't have sufficient cash to make a real down payment on the new car.
