My New Car Approval!!!

Congrats, fellow Alero owner! Mine is black, loaded - they are sweet cars... but repairs that are not covered under "warranty" are painful to the credit card

 

But $395 a month? Isn't that a little steep? You'll be paying $23,500 for a $17,000 car. I'm sure your interest rate wasn't so hot because of your past credit problems, but still...what was the interest rate on that if I can ask?

 

excuse me, a $14,000 car. Is it really worth it, to pay nearly twice the amount?

 

Yeah I don't think it's a good idea, 5 years is a very long time and this is a lot of money not including insurance and all the other expenses. It would be better to spend around $4000 on a used car and drive it for about 2 years.

 

Sounds like a beautiful car! GMAC is a great reference.

wave when you drive by - dogman

 

PSU Girl You are the one that had the Reliant right? I'm glad you are happy with your new car. I know what it's like when you get something you want... it's a great feeling. I just got a motorcycle a few months ago and I was in super AWE.
Anyway check some things out. I don't think anyone was going to do you a favor by approving you. Unless your just drop dead gorgeous. (LOL) You are the customer and your spending the money. Also 18% is usually reserved for horrible credit. Look at refinancing the car after a year at your local bank or credit union. With the Olds brand-name retired it will probably have an adverse effect on it's value along the way. Also read the HELL out of your extended warrenty. They usually cover all the stuff that will only break if the engine is on the verge of blowing up. Meaning Internal engine parts. The other stuff that breaks more often you are comming straight out of pocket on. Look and also see if it's from GM or a third party insurer. That could mean the difference between alot of trouble (third party) when it comes to getting repairs.

 

PSU -- I'd really try to get out from both that 18% interest and the five year car loan as soon as possible. My last five year car loan, I swore I'd pay off in less time (and I was doing better than I can imagine a college student is financially). All my good intentions never made a single extra payment on that loan, and I was upside-down with it the whole term. The last year of the loan the car had many mechanical problems and was literally falling apart and I couldn't get out of it.

You seem to be doing well with your credit, so your best bet is to make some payments and try to refinance somewhere else. Resist the temptation to refinance and keep the five years of payments though. Unless you count maybe the last five or six months on the loan, you will never owe less than this vehicle is worth.

After all that -- congratulations on the new car, and enjoy it!

 

To: PSUgirl

Congrats!. Enjoy your new car and take good care of it (oil changes every 3K miles).

Being 21 and attending Penn State means that you are going places in life!

You got some good advice here about refinancing next year.

My assumption is that you will graduate, get a good job. Then get married (maybe not immediately). When you get married you will have great credit to buy a house, trade in the car on something new etc.

How do I know this?? Am I a fortune teller???

No. I am a former resident of Pennsylvania and I have met a few PSU girls in my younger days.

Enjoy.

 

To: PSUgirl,

Enjoy the car!

Keep posting!

Don't let anyone here bother you! Ignore anyone who is negative.

Best wishes - Jim

 

Congrats PSUgirl. Mother2 here to give you some "motherly love".

1. Definately make your payments on time for 1 year. If you belong to a CU, they may be able to refinance you with a better rate at about 6 to 9 mos of on time payments

2. Study, study, study....don't let the card distract you from your primary goals!

3. I agree, you were offered a deal and you took it. Sometimes you have to take what's offered and turn the negative aspects of the deal into positive ones.

4. Good Luck on your credit repairs and don't accumulate too much debt.

 

PSU- Congrats on the new car.

I don't want to pop your bubble - BUT, this is exactly what the sub-prime pushers try to do!

"As a favor" to make you feel "more desperate" and then, WHAM. I think you got screwed on a few things ...

18% on a completely secured loan is USURY. Prime is 7%. You're buying an automobile from a car company that is CLOSING DOWN (Olds) -- GM has been offering UNBELIEVABLE interest rates (.9%) to clear out the inventory-- 36 mo.@ 0.9%, 48 mo. @ 2.9%, 60 mo. @ 3.9%

The other one is the extended warranty. PLEASE tell me you DIDN'T pay for that (and/or that they didn't bury it into your contract)-- GM is offering FREE 60 MONTH extended warranty on ALL olds purchases - AT NO CHARGE.

Here's why I'm so adamant about this -- it happened to me when I was 21. I had some blemishes on my credit (3 charge-offs and 2 60 day lates)... I didn't think ANYONE would finance me. Someone did (through Ford) and I was so glad to get it I didn't care much about the rate.

I LATER FOUND OUT IT WAS 17%...! To make matters worse, it was later explained to me that the DEALER actually made SERIOUS bucks on my contract - THEY POCKETED about 3%!!! In other words, THEY PUMPED UP THE APR FOR THEIR OWN PROFIT (I was ticked that FMAC allowed that!).

After 3 years, when I wanted to move to a different car, I WAS UPSIDE DOWN BY OVER $2000 --- I owed MORE on the car than it was worth. I had to pay that ON TOP of the new down payment (OUCH!).

I vowed two things after that pain -- (1) NEVER NEVER go over 3 years for a car loan and (2) ALWAYS watch the interest rates.

My partner had 2 charge-offs from 5 years ago when we did his new car. I documented everything, and pled the case to Ford. Got him a 1.9% rate for 48 months (it's OK to go over 3 years when the rate is that low - you're making money by saving the difference between 1.9 and what you earn by investing- it's "free money").

***** PLEASE CONSIDER THIS - FOR YOUR OWN FINANCIAL HEALTH DOWN THE ROAD ***

If you're still within the 3-day period, I'd see if you can un-do the whole thing. Rethink what you want, talk to GMAC personally and try to get a better rate.

If you're willing to walk-away, they may be willing to do something reasonable.

Good luck,
mj