I recently consolidated all of my student loans (9 of them). They were all current. I was wondering if the consolidation will help my credit score. I want to buy a car and I am trying to do anything and everything I can to boost my credit score of 563. Any advice? Anyone apply for car financing with similar score? I am nervous to even go into a dealership!!!
How many years did you go to school? 9?? WOW! With a score in that range, you're looking at sub-prime lending. You may be able to find someone local if you watch late night television or read the newspaper to find someone who lends credit to "anyone". Be prepared... The interest rate will kill you! I would guess somewhere in the 18-20% range and you'll still have to make the appropriate ratios work. If you can, find someone to cosign with you! It's your best bet. If you HAVE to have a car (yours is missing or dead!), try to refinance in six months or a year to get the rate down. You're not going to be having much go to the principal anyway. Good luck!
I hate to admit it, but years ago I bought a car and paid 28% interest! The guy at the dealership laughed at me as I left and said that if I could keep up the payments of $475 per month on my 2 year old bare-bones Geo Prism that I should come back and he would put me in a new Corvette for the same price! I couldn't. I now drive a 12 year old Toyota and desperately want and can afford a newer car. But my credit is about the same as yours. I have vowed that I will NEVER go into a car dealership for anything other than to PICK UP my car--internet car loan shopping is the way to go. I have just started to work on my credit. I'm in the 2nd round. It is screwed mostly because I have 5 charged-off student loans that I consolidated BEFORE I rehabilitated. I will hopefully start applying online for loans by November. Good luck.
I bought my new car about 18 months ago. At that time my credit was awful. I had 8 student loans in default with collection agencies. I'm sure my fico was far less than 500. I went into a high volume new car dealership at the end of the month with 2K in hand for a down payment. I explained to the finance guy my credit situation. He smiled ear to ear when I said I had 2K for a down payment. At the end of the month the dealership had a quota to meet. The finance guy was able to put my credit application in with some other well qualified people and squeeze me through. He got me financed for 17K through Chase Automotive Finance @ 15%. 15% is not prime by any means but it's a lot better than 20% from Americredit. Look in the automotive section of your local paper. Odds are that you'll see large dealerships advertising 99% approval rates Bad Credit/ No Credit/ charge off's etc... Now is a great time to buy a car most new car dealers are really hurting in the present economy. Good Luck. Ed
Householdauto.com will probably finance you, but as others have said, bend over and drop your shorts. Don't be fooled by the "You can refinance it a year later trick either". By the time your credit is spotless to refinance, the car will be too old, and the principal will be too high to refinance without more CASH down payment. If you can get about 30-35% down payment on a new car, you'll be able to get a decent "non-qualifying" rate of about 8-9% interest. Of course thats a big down payment, but it reduces the lenders risk to hardly anything. Make sure you can afford the insurance payments, since they'll check your credit for policy rates just as well.
Thanks Everyone....... My status is that I do have a co-signer with excellent credit. My student loans were current before the consolidation. I have 4 sub prime credit cards, 2 from First Premier, 1 from Orchard, 1 from First National Credit Card...all current and not late in the last 8 months. I do have 2 charge off's ( Cross country, and providian from 1999) I have judgement for $2000, that just showed up that I know nothing about any legal action(that a whole other issue) I also Have an old hospital bill held by a collection agency. And to add to the mix I had made a post a month or so ago about AMEX and plaza associates. Plaza associates contacted me via mail and offered to give me back my AMEX card privileges if I paid a 10 year old AMEX bill. I contacted AMEX and the referred me back to plaza and they are sending me a promise letter that If I pay the bill, they will guarantee my approval for Optima with $700 limit.......
Also for the car I will put down $3000 and my trade is Kelly BB for $2000. ~$5000 total. I know for some seasoned car buyers this may seem like no problem, but I am completely new to car financing and I really want a new car so i need opinions on my odds for obtaining financing.
I was in School for 5 years....Stafford Subsidized and Unsubsidized are separate loans, and i was eligible every year for both.
Bigjim, With that much down, and not the worst credit you will have no problem getting financed. Hell, I'd be kinda bold about it if I were in your shoes. (I had no positive tradelines, PLENTY negatives and a judgement when I got financed in Jan, but I had $2500 cash money). Have you picked out what you want yet? ;-) Deb
I am not sure if you have seen the new Mercedes C Coupe....It is new for 2002.....Base msrp 24,950....Thats what I want........
Thanks sam, I have Geico Insurance already on my current car...they do not check credit when writing policies. I have been very happy with my coverage with them. They are a little selective about your driving history, but hopefully I can keep my record clean and insure my new car with them also.
I wound up financing $10k (approx, 10,115) for a 1996 Honda Accord 25th Anniversary Edition with 44k miles (which is why I jumped on it). My rate is bad, 20.5%, but I am going to refinance with my credit union in Jan 02. But again, like I said, I had NO positive tradelines, and about 15 or so negative/collection lines... Deb GOOD LUCK! NICE CHOICE
Honda's are great, I currently have an accord. Thanks for the info.....and good luck on the refinance.
No problem BigJim... and BTW, that was at the dearlership (not a scam place). They advertised that they could financing anyone, but they couldn't finance me 2 years ago (1999) when I had NO downpayment and the crappy credit. I was blown away when they said that they could the second time I went in.... as they say, MONEY TALKS! Deb
The Honda Dealerships in my area Westchester County NY have signs in their windows that they can finance anyone. I love Honda's and have been tempted to go in and talk to them. I love my Accord that I currently own, I would not hesitate to buy another.
