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     | Wednesday, January 05, 2000 - 05:39 pm  I am about to buy a car. I have been actively paying off my cards, keeping my credit in good standing, got a real good job that pays a lot and have perfect rental history. Now, granted, I have some blemishes on my credit but I don't think I'll have a problem getting *some* sort of financing. With that in mind, is it better to go through a bank (pro: having check in hand when you walk into the dealer, con: you might not get approved which will toughen the approval process when you apply at the dealer) or should I go through the lender at the dealer (pro: dealer will be ecstatic you're working through them, con: high interest rates) Thoughts? Thanks in advance
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| | Thursday, January 06, 2000 - 08:05 am I would get pre-qualified through a bank(credit union?) and show up at the dealer. If he gives you a better rate like those promotional 2.9% APR then go for it. If not, you can fall back on your pre-qual letter.
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| | Thursday, January 06, 2000 - 08:56 am Well, if I'm not a member of a CU already, what is the best way to go about becoming one. And, do I have to be member for a long time in order to get a decent rate on a loan?
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| | Thursday, January 06, 2000 - 09:09 am Last year I read the real helpful section on car buying at http://www.fool.com
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| | Thursday, January 06, 2000 - 04:48 pm My experiences with CUs have been very positive, one allowed me to open up a checking account with $40 in it and a month later gave me an unsecured loan for $5000. All of them have some kind of requirement, but ask around, some only require that you are a state employee, for example, some others that you work for a particular corporation. In my opinion, it's worth the look to see if you can join one. I've gotten my car financing from my CU since then for a full percentage point less than the dealer or any other financial institution in town.
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| | Thursday, January 06, 2000 - 07:29 pm And they will gladly finance me for $20K? Right off the bat? It's a new car. Forgive my ignornace but I guess I've been a pessimist all my life.
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| | Friday, January 07, 2000 - 09:54 am Your credit and income will determine how much someone is willing to loan you. Joining a CU just gives you access to the CU loan products. The length of your "relationship" won't matter. For instance, if you applied for an auto loan at a dealerships' financial company, and you had no prior realtionship with them, but your credit and income fit their req'mts, they would give you a loan. I've found that a CU's loan products has less strict requirements than a "regular" bank, that's why I recommend them. Anyone else have similar experiences?
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| | Tuesday, January 11, 2000 - 03:30 am Credit unions are great. In addition, when I wanted to refinance my auto loan (23% bad credit), they did pull a credit report, but do NOT use FICO scores. I was talking to the loan processor downstairs about this. The downside was they did require my collection items to be resolved. Since I was in the process of cleaning things up to by a house, that was no problem. Of course I am sure that some credit unions do use FICO scores. And some don't care about collection items. But it was nice to find a place that relies on my individuality instead of my score. I now try to do everything through them.
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| | Tuesday, January 11, 2000 - 11:11 am Don, that's real nice to hear. What CU is that?
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