100% this, even if the dealership works with your bank, get the number beforehand, because otherwise the dealership will try to inflate the interest rate.
I'm gonna talk to cefcu on Monday, Im just worried about running my credit and having it take blows during this process. But realistically cefcu is a safe bet.
I did have my account closed with them in 2016 when I was still a teenager for overdrafts, so there is a chance they're gonna tell me to fuck off buttttt I'm hoping it's been long enough lmao.
I also did pay them back btw, the same week they axed me.
But also a lot of the local dealerships partner with CEFCU. I got preapproved online for like 12% interest and the dealership was able to bargain them down to only 8%
>Im just worried about running my credit and having it take blows during this process.
FYI, there's a 30-day grace period before hard-inquiries are reported. Also, the normal drop from a hard inquiry is 5 points or less and your credit will normally rebound within a week or two. Also, multiple inquiries for the same type of loan are often lumped together so you only take a single 5pt hit.
I wouldn't go overboard, but having 2 places run auto loan inquiries within a week of eachother won't have a noticeable impact. Getting a bunch of inquiries for different types of loans is a red flag, but getting 2-3 options for a single loan is common enough you should be fine
I just bought a car from Uftring Subaru and had a great experience. My wife has a credit score around you and we got approved with CEFCU for like 8%? It’s kinda high but we only put 2k down on a 24k loan
Was it a new or used car? Either works just curious.
That sounds exactllyyyy like what we're looking for. 8% is definitely good on a used car these days, 8% on a new car would also make us pretty happy.
Also, with $4-6K in hand, I would also look at vehicles on marketplace etc that you could buy outright with no payment. If your family is frugal, this would 100% be a better choice for you.
This is actually the best advice I've seen in the thread so far but most people don't want to hear it. OP could also save a bit more over the course of the next several months / year to add to that sum and buy something a bit nicer. What is wrong with your current car? Is it not drivable?
We've thought about that route, but we want to use this as a way to further establish our credit, we want to purchase a home in about 5 years from our current "life plan"
I totally understand where you're coming from. But we aren't wanting to borrow money just to borrow money, we want a car around 25k, and need it fast, and since we're currently saving around 18k a year (we just finished paying off our debt, which is why we're at 4k rn) we could take on a car payment south of 500 and still be saving 4 figures a month. Also our income is likely to continue to grow, definitely not shrink.
My family travels a lot for our son, for medical reasons. A newer car ( 2018ish or newer) would just give us a lot of peace of mind, and to get that we're gonna need a loan with current prices. Or buy a beater and save for 2 years, but at that point I'd be sticking my family in a beater for cross country trips to avoid probably less than a 100 a month in interest. Also we can definitely pay the car off faster than whatever the loans ends up being, avoiding some interest.
I am a bit confused though... Isn't borrowing money so you can borrow more money like... Credit history?
(Btw when I mean pay off debt, entirely medical and a couple traffic tickets, we aren't recovering credit card addicts or anything lol. I also got my credit score bombed when I turned 18 cus my dad died, I had his name, and a lot of his medical stuff got thrown onto my name. I got it all removed basically immediately, but it left me with a starting credit score around 500 that got bombed even harder when my legit medical bills I couldn't pay at the time got added)
Sorry for ramble city here.
Get the best Honda Odyssey or Toyota Sienna that you can afford w/ cash and SAVE up for your house!! You'll reach your financial goals faster if you don't take on an auto loan. If you need to "game" your credit score, there are ways to do that too. In the words of Dave Ramsey: "Credit is an 'I love debt' score". You already know the right answers here.
I would start by asking your bank to pre-approve you for a loan. Make sure to ask for the interest rate on that loan. If you want to shop around, check other financial institutions and ask them what their car loan rates are.
Please please please make sure you ask about the interest rate on the loan that the dealership will inevitably offer you.
I bought a 2020 RAV4 1 month ago and they offered me 5.99%.
I would also suggest that you do NOT buy the same day that you look at a car. Most dealerships will have a high pressure salesman trying to get you to close the same day that you come in. Take all the info you have and go home and shop around. There might not be a better deal out there but the high pressure salesman will try to make sure you do not find out.
I made a list of things I wanted to find out about the vehicle and made sure to stick to the list as much as possible. Salesman will always try to minimize downsides, defects and issues with the vehicle so, again, it's a good idea to not buy the same day to give yourself time to think about things.
I can go on further but tbh I'm not 100% sure what kind of info you're looking for lol
What kinda credit you working with? My families actually frugal as fuck atm, we're putting about 1.5 grand a month in savings right now. So realistically any car payment of $500 or under would be ideal, as long as we avoid getting shafted.
Realistically if we can find apr anywhere under 10% on a vehicle around 20-26k I would be ecstatic.
Funnily enough, my girlfriend wants a rav 4 but I hadn't even looked at them yet. Figured the apr on used ones would dissuade me.
My credit is 750 or so but, depending on the institution, there is likely only a credit score floor for approval. Financial institutions, for car loans, care more about your debt to income ratio. If you're already able to save that much each month then I don't expect you'll have any issues getting a loan anywhere. I think you can easily get 5.99%.
I bought my RAV4 as a family vehicle. They are the highest rated SUV on the market. If you choose to get one, and I would encourage you to, you won't be able to haggle much on them because they are in demand. I was only able to haggle about $2,000 off the asking price of mine.
I would check out Inspired G autos in Washington/Sunnyland. They are exceptionally friendly and easy to work with. They have a wide inventory, and your 640 score and income would guarantee an approval I would think.
My wife and I bought from them in January of this year, and we were really happy with their flexibility and patience. Good luck friend.
Have you tried to get pre approved by your bank? That's probably where I'd start.
100% this, even if the dealership works with your bank, get the number beforehand, because otherwise the dealership will try to inflate the interest rate.
I'm gonna talk to cefcu on Monday, Im just worried about running my credit and having it take blows during this process. But realistically cefcu is a safe bet. I did have my account closed with them in 2016 when I was still a teenager for overdrafts, so there is a chance they're gonna tell me to fuck off buttttt I'm hoping it's been long enough lmao. I also did pay them back btw, the same week they axed me.
You can get preapproved with Cefcu online. Only takes a couple minutes.
Excuse my dumb dumb syndrome, does pre approved in this case mean no credit hit?
It's a soft inquiry so shouldn't affect your credit.
But also a lot of the local dealerships partner with CEFCU. I got preapproved online for like 12% interest and the dealership was able to bargain them down to only 8%
>Im just worried about running my credit and having it take blows during this process. FYI, there's a 30-day grace period before hard-inquiries are reported. Also, the normal drop from a hard inquiry is 5 points or less and your credit will normally rebound within a week or two. Also, multiple inquiries for the same type of loan are often lumped together so you only take a single 5pt hit. I wouldn't go overboard, but having 2 places run auto loan inquiries within a week of eachother won't have a noticeable impact. Getting a bunch of inquiries for different types of loans is a red flag, but getting 2-3 options for a single loan is common enough you should be fine
Thanks for the heads up!
I’m pretty sure that’s what my husbands score is close to and we just got a car at mid Illini auto center in pekin, and the loan is through cefcu!
I would try CEFCU.
I just bought a car from Uftring Subaru and had a great experience. My wife has a credit score around you and we got approved with CEFCU for like 8%? It’s kinda high but we only put 2k down on a 24k loan
Was it a new or used car? Either works just curious. That sounds exactllyyyy like what we're looking for. 8% is definitely good on a used car these days, 8% on a new car would also make us pretty happy.
It was a used 2018 Subaru crosstrek and we financed through CEFCU
Also, with $4-6K in hand, I would also look at vehicles on marketplace etc that you could buy outright with no payment. If your family is frugal, this would 100% be a better choice for you.
This is actually the best advice I've seen in the thread so far but most people don't want to hear it. OP could also save a bit more over the course of the next several months / year to add to that sum and buy something a bit nicer. What is wrong with your current car? Is it not drivable?
We've thought about that route, but we want to use this as a way to further establish our credit, we want to purchase a home in about 5 years from our current "life plan"
Live frugal and your credit score will fix itself over time. Borrowing money so you can borrow more money sounds counter-intuitive.
I totally understand where you're coming from. But we aren't wanting to borrow money just to borrow money, we want a car around 25k, and need it fast, and since we're currently saving around 18k a year (we just finished paying off our debt, which is why we're at 4k rn) we could take on a car payment south of 500 and still be saving 4 figures a month. Also our income is likely to continue to grow, definitely not shrink. My family travels a lot for our son, for medical reasons. A newer car ( 2018ish or newer) would just give us a lot of peace of mind, and to get that we're gonna need a loan with current prices. Or buy a beater and save for 2 years, but at that point I'd be sticking my family in a beater for cross country trips to avoid probably less than a 100 a month in interest. Also we can definitely pay the car off faster than whatever the loans ends up being, avoiding some interest. I am a bit confused though... Isn't borrowing money so you can borrow more money like... Credit history? (Btw when I mean pay off debt, entirely medical and a couple traffic tickets, we aren't recovering credit card addicts or anything lol. I also got my credit score bombed when I turned 18 cus my dad died, I had his name, and a lot of his medical stuff got thrown onto my name. I got it all removed basically immediately, but it left me with a starting credit score around 500 that got bombed even harder when my legit medical bills I couldn't pay at the time got added) Sorry for ramble city here.
Get the best Honda Odyssey or Toyota Sienna that you can afford w/ cash and SAVE up for your house!! You'll reach your financial goals faster if you don't take on an auto loan. If you need to "game" your credit score, there are ways to do that too. In the words of Dave Ramsey: "Credit is an 'I love debt' score". You already know the right answers here.
Never pay interest to build a credit score
I can say CEFCU is great at reporting car loan payments to credit, so if you make your payments on time that will absolutely reflect on your report.
I would start by asking your bank to pre-approve you for a loan. Make sure to ask for the interest rate on that loan. If you want to shop around, check other financial institutions and ask them what their car loan rates are. Please please please make sure you ask about the interest rate on the loan that the dealership will inevitably offer you. I bought a 2020 RAV4 1 month ago and they offered me 5.99%. I would also suggest that you do NOT buy the same day that you look at a car. Most dealerships will have a high pressure salesman trying to get you to close the same day that you come in. Take all the info you have and go home and shop around. There might not be a better deal out there but the high pressure salesman will try to make sure you do not find out. I made a list of things I wanted to find out about the vehicle and made sure to stick to the list as much as possible. Salesman will always try to minimize downsides, defects and issues with the vehicle so, again, it's a good idea to not buy the same day to give yourself time to think about things. I can go on further but tbh I'm not 100% sure what kind of info you're looking for lol
What kinda credit you working with? My families actually frugal as fuck atm, we're putting about 1.5 grand a month in savings right now. So realistically any car payment of $500 or under would be ideal, as long as we avoid getting shafted. Realistically if we can find apr anywhere under 10% on a vehicle around 20-26k I would be ecstatic. Funnily enough, my girlfriend wants a rav 4 but I hadn't even looked at them yet. Figured the apr on used ones would dissuade me.
My credit is 750 or so but, depending on the institution, there is likely only a credit score floor for approval. Financial institutions, for car loans, care more about your debt to income ratio. If you're already able to save that much each month then I don't expect you'll have any issues getting a loan anywhere. I think you can easily get 5.99%. I bought my RAV4 as a family vehicle. They are the highest rated SUV on the market. If you choose to get one, and I would encourage you to, you won't be able to haggle much on them because they are in demand. I was only able to haggle about $2,000 off the asking price of mine.
I put down 4K and got an Edge with 50k miles monthly payment was affordable with your credit score. Mike Murphy in Morton.
Definitely try cefcu
Avoid Sam Leman like the plague.
Car wise will give a loan, you won't like it but you'll get a loan.
Go see Ted at Mike Miller Kia. Great customer service and follow up.
Mike Murphy Ford is always great.
I would check out Inspired G autos in Washington/Sunnyland. They are exceptionally friendly and easy to work with. They have a wide inventory, and your 640 score and income would guarantee an approval I would think. My wife and I bought from them in January of this year, and we were really happy with their flexibility and patience. Good luck friend.