Hi lai. I believe that I already responded to the identical post that you made in a different discussion. Let me know if you can't find my answers to your questions and I will try to find them for you or answer them again.
I have recently graduated from law school & I have about $100K in student loans from undergrad & law school. The loans are not yet in repayment. Are these loans (1) affecting my credit score; and (2) will this affect me getting financed? I owe less that $800 in credit card debt (or any other debt for that matter). I DESPERATELY need a car. Please help. Thanks!
Hello, I am new here but from what I have read so far it seems there is a lot of useful information here. I am 24 and looking to buy or lease a car new or used but my problem like many young people is my credit situation. Unfortunately besides being 28,000 in debt with student loans I also did a lot of damage with my credit cards. I've currently entered a credit repair program but when I went to look at cars and they ran my credit the guy told me I had a little under a 500. I know crazy!! I do think there might be some things wrong with it and I've also moved a lot in the past few years so I am wondering if that has anything to do with it. I was going to order Suz Orman's FICO kit. It includes all 3 reports and advice on how to repair your credit, it also helps you fix it there as well. Because I live in NY the free report will not be available to me until september of this year. Has anyone ever ordered this before? Any advice regarding my situation?? Thanks
She lost any credibility she may have once had pimping GM's 0% financing. A personal finance expert advising people to buy a new car? You've got to be kidding me.
Anyway, you can get credit reports directly from the credit bureaus for something like $9 each, or if you must you can buy whatsherface's kit as long as it's not too much more than that. You can also get a free report if you've been denied credit in the last 60 days. Here's the Equifax page to get you started - I'm pretty sure the other bureaus have similar programs. http://www.equifax.com/corp/free-credit-report.htm The free reports don't include the credit score but you can find any errors and get them resolved. The score is nice to have if you're applying for loans, but you don't need it to fix your credit.
Bottom line, to improve your credit you need to pay your bills on time and improve your debt to income ratio. Get the free reports, fix any errors, and cut up your credit cards. Total cost: $0. Then in a few months your score may have improved to the point that you can buy an inexpensive, boring, reliable car. Good luck!
Or, you can contact the 3 CBs and complain about the 40 MILLION MC & Visa records that were hacked and insist on a free report. They'll give you one.
That whole thing is going to be a mess. I found a $200 charge from a city and state that neither me or my wife were in at the time!
Check your monthly statements CAREFULY everyone. I'm thinking of putting my "record" on "fraud alert" on all 3 CBs. We use our cards too much for this hack to start messing us up, especially with me going away again soon.
Hi, all! I am currently paying awful interest on my Cavalier. I applied to refiance, and I have been approved. The catch? It's 1/2 a point lower than my current interest rate! That's it! Should I bother, or not? Should I try again after paying off my credit cards? Should I refinance for a shorter term, like 2 years ( I am currently 7 months into a 5 year note)? Please advise! Thanks, Chevy Girl
Well, if you are making your car payments on time now, you will probably be better served by putting the extra money toward credit card debt. Paying off those credit cards on time and quickly will help you in the long term more than paying off your car in 2 years, and will free up more of your income to put toward your next car. 1/2 point is not enough to get excited about.
MODERATOR /ADMINISTRATOR Find me at kirstie_h@edmunds.com - or send a private message by clicking on my name. 2015 Kia Soul, 2021 Subaru Forester (kirstie_h), 2024 GMC Sierra 1500 (mr. kirstie_h) Review your vehicle
Yeah, there was an acronym, and unfortunately the post had to be removed (twice). I am hopeful that the member will re-post so we can all benefit from the question/response.
MODERATOR /ADMINISTRATOR Find me at kirstie_h@edmunds.com - or send a private message by clicking on my name. 2015 Kia Soul, 2021 Subaru Forester (kirstie_h), 2024 GMC Sierra 1500 (mr. kirstie_h) Review your vehicle
I'm considering purchasing a used car in the next week or two (financing part of it). I have a $4k balance on a credit card that has a $15k limit, and will be making a $2k payment this month on this card, bringing the balance to $2k. Will the $2k payment make a change in my FICO score (i.e. - does the FICO change real time with each payment)? I found the car I want, but am hesitant to wait. Will the credit company likely take into account past balances, like the fact that this card once had a much larger balance on it?
Thanks for any insight ... credit is a mystery to me.
Chances are that your score will not change that fast. The credit card companies only report to your bureau once per month, so unless you pay it and they happen to be reporting the same day that the payment is processed it will probably take a month or so. That said, a $4k balance on a $15k card shouldn't affect your score all that much. Now if you owed $14k on it, that would hurt you.
............ Depends .. and I don't mean the kind you wear .......
It could take 4 weeks, or it could take 4 months - no guarantee's ..... you need to have your receipts and the copy of the paid check if you really feel it will make a difference on the loan and it's become a debt ratio thing ..... but like Dan1 said, if it was a $14,000 credit card balance then it would make a BIG difference .....
I can't imagine that your FICO score would change more than a couple of points. My understanding is that time will have a greater impact.
It might make more sense to spend the 2K on the car as a down payment. It might affect the interest rate enough to be worth it. Or, as in my case, Navy Federal Credit Union would only loan me 17.5K (without adding my wife to the loan) so I needed to write a check for the remaining 4k on my Mazda3 (20k + 8% sales tax. ewww. Makes me wish I was back in Montana with NO sales tax).
I was actually in your exact situation - 4k balance on a 15k card. But I was at less than 30% of the card maximum. If I was at 14k I shudder to think how it would have affected my credit score.
Last year we got a new credit card - 1/2 the interest rate. The old card had 4k on a 5k limit. We transfered the entire balance to the new 15k limit card and our credit scores went UP.
Ok, in an effort to control my spending and improve my FICO score, I have "frozen" all my credit card accounts. Literally. In a block of ice! If I am not able to charge them up as fast as I pay them down, I should be below the 30% by August, and paid off by September. Then, I will be TRULY ready to refi or trade in! Wish me luck! Hugs, Chevy Girl PS I am also on an allowance. That new Wrangler had better be worth it!
You will be so much better off when you get those paid off. Congratulations on making an excellent money decision. When we paid off all our consumer debt, the rewards are tremendous - better FICO, better rate on home mortgage, better cash flow each month....
In order to upgrade my oldest credit card from "standard" ($25 annual fee) to "gold" (no annual fee) they will have to close my old CC-account and open a new one. Will that have an effect on my credit history, as the card in question is my oldest credit card or will a closing of an account for an upgrade not be noticed? I wonder whether it might be better to keep paying the $25 per year and have an older credit history...
This is the government sponsored link for the once per year free report - which is supposed to (at least as far as the LAW was written) to provide the score too. But it only provides the report. So much for the CBs complying with the law. You can get all 3 reports here. Despite what CR said was a hard to use site (yet another reason for me to distrust them) it was easy and quick.
If you live in "zone 4" (northeast) you have to wait until Sept 1.
If I check my FICO only on a regular basis, will it show up on my credit report (i.e. - will it make me look like I'm concerned about my credit)? When I checked a few months ago (when my balance was much higher on a CC), it was a 670 - what kind of interest rate will that get me (assuming it hasn't changed much)? Any ballpark ideas? I will be putting $10k down on a $20k used car and financing for 5 years.
You can check your credit an infinite number of times without it affecting your score. If businesses check your credit without your consent for advertising purposes (think credit card applications) it does not affect your score either.
What DOES affect your score is applying for credit.
My credit union is offering 5.9% on a 60 month used car loan. With your credit I would think 7-8% would be a good deal - but it depends on where you are getting the loan from.
....... $10 grand down ......? .. Retail purchase, right ..?
Don't let anyone fool ya, with $10 big ones down on a $20,000 purchase you "should" be able to get almost a preferred rate (or close to) --- unless you saved all that money by not paying your bills .l.o.l....
Get with your local bank or try visiting your local Credit Union ...
So it works something like buying a house? The more down the lower the rate?
The car loan rates I can get through my CU don't take the amount down into consideration. Which loan agencies do? The manufacturer captive credit agencies?
Many of my fellow sailors have non-existent credit. It's not bad, it's just not there. Many come to me for free financial advice because I received a finance degree in my pre-Navy life. And if money down makes that much of a difference, it might be good advice on what to do with their bonus (aside from saving it which they wouldn't do anyway)
Thanks for all of the insight. I've paid my CC down - from my unemployed days - have paid all the bills on time ;-) - to a very small balance and am hoping my old car will hold out until it's totally gone. I'm shocked at how much having a high CC balance for about a year can affect FICO - my only other current debt is student loans. Using the cash for the CC payoff isn't an option.
Do you get better rates on retail purchases than private purchases? One last question to all you financial experts - is one entitled to a free credit report after fraudulent charges (merchant database hacked, not my fault) are made on a CC? I used my free pass for the year already.
.. **So it works something like buying a house? The more down the lower the rate?** ...
Well kinda .. mortgage rates are a little different and so are the lenders .. plus, mortgage rates are very regional .. a guy in Columbus Oh is going to pay a little more than perhaps the guy Columbia SC ....
As far as car loans, you should be able to find a local bank or the Navy Fed CU to take up the slack, also a captive lender like Chrysler, GMAC, Fomoco is buying deep ... that said, you need to make sure you get a fair rate and that doesn't mean paying 9% for a loan that can be had for 6.5% or less, so you really need to shop around because dealers can load up the point spread (just like mortgages) and your paying for the "right" of having a big downstroke, so be careful .......
You should be ok with GMAC assuming that your previous car loans were paid as agreed. I can't tell you about Ford to be certain, but I have heard that they are buying everything now.
This is probably a stupid question, and a far fectched dream. Is it possible to Make a large enough down payment to get a decent % rate with bad credit?
Hello all! Hope everyone is enjoying their summer! Just a quick note to let you know that I did get my car refinanced. I went through HSBC (Have a credit card through them and was prequalified) and they lowered my rate from 19.85% to 11.49%. Still a simple interest loan, and any amount over the minimum payment each month is applied directly to principle. (With Capital One, I had to send two checks to two different places to do this). What a difference! I am so happy and relieved not to be paying stupid interest anymore, and happy to be keeping my Chevy, as I am fairly attached to her at this point. So far, the folks at HSBC seem curteous and polite, so its seems to be an all around win! Thanks for oyur help and support! Chevygirl
May you continue on your way to fiscal soundness and get an even better rate on your next car.
My first car (that I didn't buy from my Mom) was at 7.5% purchased with my girlfriend (now wife). The loan was $5500 and total interest was $650. After improving my credit my current loan is for $17500 and at 2.9% for the same time period (3 years). Total interest is only $150 more!!
You will be saving a bundle in interest that you can use to pay down the car even faster and save even more money.
It's also great that you like your car. A well liked car is a well cared for car and that means you will keep it longer and it will stay in better shape.
I recently purchased (I think) a farily new car (2005 Sebring with 18200 miles). The finance person at the dealership said "it was a done deal". I received a notice from the bank for my payments and then the first bill came and I made arrangements to make the payment already. I purchased the car July 17th and now I get a notice from the finance company that they won't accept me because of the Bankruptcy (2001) and no colateral information was received. My question is, can they now take back the car? especially since it's been a month?
Hi blueeyes4. It is strange that your deal would have gotten this far before the bank noticed your bankruptcy. Normally this sort of situation occurs when dealerships do a spot delivery of a vehicle to a consumer without their being fully approved to finance it yet. I suppose that since you haven't technically made a payment on your car yet that the bank that you thought you were approved by might actually be able to deny you financing. You need to contact the dealer that you bought this car from ASAP and explain your situation. It also would be in your best interest to try to get approved to finance your Sebring on your own. Doing so will give you a backup plan if the dealer cannot get you financed or if they quote you an outrageous interest rate.
I recently bought ny wife a new '05 4Runner. I was up front and said it would be a CASH DEAL. They pulled our credit and I had a 805 FICO and my wife's was a 769. They said they couldn't give us blue book on the trade. I then said there was no-deal. They tried and tried to get us to finance the "difference" ( based on our EXCELLENT CREDIT) that of course would be bigger than originally anticipated. After about an hour, they then dropped the price of the new car to (about $2,000) UNDER INVOICE to compensate for what they could give us on a trade. I wrote a check and we walked out. The moral of the story is that even dealers can even use your good credit against you....to try to make you pay more. I for the life of me can't explain how they can sell a car for $2,000.00 under invoice. My only guess is they are going to make it up on the trade! :confuse:
I'll tell you about my girlfriend who I'm trying to get financed:
22 year old, responsible college student, bounced around with a bunch of jobs like everyone her age, but has been at her current place of employment for 5 months. Her credit report shows her with a 525 score (no idea what her FICO is) primarily because of debts she doesn't owe.
She's got two deferred student loans totalling less than $3K and four collections: 1) A $100 Gas Co. bill that her sister opened in her name 2) A mystery $50 bill she's never been contacted about 3) A medical bill that was sent to collections that should have been easily paid by her insurance company (either way dealerships are supposed to consider medical bills) 4) A phone bill which is actually a legitimate bill, but she was never informed it was going to collections.
In the past, I spent about 2 months cleaning up inaccuracies on my credit report, so I know how to negotiate with these collection agencies. But in my research I found out that the big secret is that the collection agencies are very willing to erase a negative credit history as long as you pay off the account.
Nonethless, our only barrier right now is time - she wants to be rolling by the end of this week, and the last month of August is the second best time of the year to negotiate car deals. So the best I'm hoping for is filing disputes and letters from the collection agencies with updates on the status of the accounts.
A word about 19-24% rates: they are crap. If they're given to you by a dealer they could be marked up all to high heaven. If your score is a 540 the absolute worst your rate should be is 15%. These dealers know you know your credit is bad so they feed on that to tell you how difficult it was for them to find a bank yada yada yada, when really the bank is financing you at 12.9 or 13.9 and they're getting the rest. If a dealer came back at me and said 19% is the best rate I could find. I would look them dead in the eye, tell them I'll give him anohter half an hour to find a significantly better rate and then I'll go to a finance manager who has that "rapport with the banks" or at worst wait 2-6 weeks when 2 or 3 of the collections will have been removed. At which point we won't be coming back to your dealership since he has no bargaining power.
It's really this simple: if you're such a high risk, why are they willing to loan you $15K+, at 19% at that?
What other business in this country operates that way?
My point is be firm with these guys. And if you really want to shock 'em ask them how much they marked up the rate.
you would be lucky to get anything less than 19-24%. Most subprime lenders will not even consider anyone with a FICO of 500 or less and your girlfriend is dangerously close to that level. Maybe she should try to find a co-signer. What type/price range are you guys looking in?
.......... Interesting story .. lets see if I have this one right ..........
1) **A $100 Gas Co. bill that her sister opened in her name** .... if it's from her sister and she had permission and it ended up in collection .. then your g/f needs pay it and get a receipt, then take it up with the sister via family ties or court .... this ain't a dealer thing.
2) **A mystery $50 bill she's never been contacted about** ...... thats why God made "Free credit reports.com" and a host of other very fine sites that will show whats there and whats not supposed to be there, it's her responsibility ....... again, this isn't a dealer thing, it's a girlfriend thing.
3) **A medical bill that was sent to collections that should have been easily paid by her insurance company (either way dealerships are supposed to consider medical bills)** ...... here we go again .. I'm sure she received multiple notices from the medical billing department .. because this is what they do best, send oodles of bills and it was your g/f's responsibility to respond -or- to take 20/25 minutes to get on the horn with the insurance company and get it straightened out .. she's a student, not a brain surgeon at the Mayo Clinic, so she had time ........ this is a g/f problem not a dealer problem.
4) **A phone bill which is actually a legitimate bill, but she was never informed it was going to collections** .......... if this was a legitimate bill, then why didn't she pay it ..? it's called responsibility ......... this is how all this bill paying stuff works, you don't pay (after the 50th notice) then they charge it off to collections - simple.! ..... again, this a g/f problem, not a dealer thing.
**But in my research I found out that the big secret is that the collection agencies are very willing to erase a negative credit history as long as you pay off the account** ......... this isn't true, collection agencies do what they do best -collect- .. all they can do is show the account *paid* -- and there is no such thing as "erase" ..........
Dealers don't approve deals, lenders do .. so this ends up being a very simple situation .. if you don't like the rate you're getting from the dealer, then use your Credit Union or the local lender .... have you thought about a new g/f ..l.o.l...??
"I'll tell you about my girlfriend who I'm trying to get financed:"
Dude... don't finance her.. pay cash... You realize the loan terms on financing a girlfriend? You will be paying her off for the rest of your life... :surprise:
In this case, you might be better off leasing her..
Comments
It's not the Fico score that predicates the rate, it's the credit history and the type of vehicle .....
Terry.
Car_man
Host
Smart Shopper Forum
Anyway, you can get credit reports directly from the credit bureaus for something like $9 each, or if you must you can buy whatsherface's kit as long as it's not too much more than that. You can also get a free report if you've been denied credit in the last 60 days. Here's the Equifax page to get you started - I'm pretty sure the other bureaus have similar programs. http://www.equifax.com/corp/free-credit-report.htm
The free reports don't include the credit score but you can find any errors and get them resolved. The score is nice to have if you're applying for loans, but you don't need it to fix your credit.
Bottom line, to improve your credit you need to pay your bills on time and improve your debt to income ratio. Get the free reports, fix any errors, and cut up your credit cards. Total cost: $0. Then in a few months your score may have improved to the point that you can buy an inexpensive, boring, reliable car. Good luck!
-Jason
That whole thing is going to be a mess. I found a $200 charge from a city and state that neither me or my wife were in at the time!
Check your monthly statements CAREFULY everyone. I'm thinking of putting my "record" on "fraud alert" on all 3 CBs. We use our cards too much for this hack to start messing us up, especially with me going away again soon.
Sad, what things have come to...
A conventional lender probably won't touch you which leaves the sharks.
I think I would set my sights a bit lower than that Scion and shop around a bit for the best rate you can get. Good luck.
Thanks,
Chevy Girl
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GM offers $500 rebate,thanks.
Or were you referring to another post with a dirty little acronym???
MODERATOR /ADMINISTRATOR
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2015 Kia Soul, 2021 Subaru Forester (kirstie_h), 2024 GMC Sierra 1500 (mr. kirstie_h)
Review your vehicle
Chevy Girl
Dang.! ... I miss all the good stuff ....
Terry.
Thanks for any insight ... credit is a mystery to me.
It could take 4 weeks, or it could take 4 months - no guarantee's ..... you need to have your receipts and the copy of the paid check if you really feel it will make a difference on the loan and it's become a debt ratio thing ..... but like Dan1 said, if it was a $14,000 credit card balance then it would make a BIG difference .....
Terry.
It might make more sense to spend the 2K on the car as a down payment. It might affect the interest rate enough to be worth it. Or, as in my case, Navy Federal Credit Union would only loan me 17.5K (without adding my wife to the loan) so I needed to write a check for the remaining 4k on my Mazda3 (20k + 8% sales tax. ewww. Makes me wish I was back in Montana with NO sales tax).
I was actually in your exact situation - 4k balance on a 15k card. But I was at less than 30% of the card maximum. If I was at 14k I shudder to think how it would have affected my credit score.
Last year we got a new credit card - 1/2 the interest rate. The old card had 4k on a 5k limit. We transfered the entire balance to the new 15k limit card and our credit scores went UP.
Wish me luck!
Hugs,
Chevy Girl
PS I am also on an allowance. That new Wrangler had better be worth it!
You will be so much better off when you get those paid off. Congratulations on making an excellent money decision. When we paid off all our consumer debt, the rewards are tremendous - better FICO, better rate on home mortgage, better cash flow each month....
Good luck!
https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp
In order to upgrade my oldest credit card from "standard" ($25 annual fee) to "gold" (no annual fee) they will have to close my old CC-account and open a new one. Will that have an effect on my credit history, as the card in question is my oldest credit card or will a closing of an account for an upgrade not be noticed? I wonder whether it might be better to keep paying the $25 per year and have an older credit history...
Thanks for your advice, folks,
PM
https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp "
This is the government sponsored link for the once per year free report - which is supposed to (at least as far as the LAW was written) to provide the score too. But it only provides the report. So much for the CBs complying with the law. You can get all 3 reports here. Despite what CR said was a hard to use site (yet another reason for me to distrust them) it was easy and quick.
If you live in "zone 4" (northeast) you have to wait until Sept 1.
They offer to SELL you your score for 6-8 bucks!
What DOES affect your score is applying for credit.
My credit union is offering 5.9% on a 60 month used car loan. With your credit I would think 7-8% would be a good deal - but it depends on where you are getting the loan from.
Don't let anyone fool ya, with $10 big ones down on a $20,000 purchase you "should" be able to get almost a preferred rate (or close to) --- unless you saved all that money by not paying your bills .l.o.l....
Get with your local bank or try visiting your local Credit Union ...
Good luck .........
Terry.
The car loan rates I can get through my CU don't take the amount down into consideration. Which loan agencies do? The manufacturer captive credit agencies?
Many of my fellow sailors have non-existent credit. It's not bad, it's just not there. Many come to me for free financial advice because I received a finance degree in my pre-Navy life. And if money down makes that much of a difference, it might be good advice on what to do with their bonus (aside from saving it which they wouldn't do anyway)
Do you get better rates on retail purchases than private purchases? One last question to all you financial experts - is one entitled to a free credit report after fraudulent charges (merchant database hacked, not my fault) are made on a CC? I used my free pass for the year already.
Well kinda .. mortgage rates are a little different and so are the lenders .. plus, mortgage rates are very regional .. a guy in Columbus Oh is going to pay a little more than perhaps the guy Columbia SC ....
As far as car loans, you should be able to find a local bank or the Navy Fed CU to take up the slack, also a captive lender like Chrysler, GMAC, Fomoco is buying deep ... that said, you need to make sure you get a fair rate and that doesn't mean paying 9% for a loan that can be had for 6.5% or less, so you really need to shop around because dealers can load up the point spread (just like mortgages) and your paying for the "right" of having a big downstroke, so be careful .......
Terry. :shades:
I need to replace my wife Ford Focus. We've narrowed it down to either a new Focus or Chevy Cobalt.
After re financing the house, we ran our credit reports and got our FICO scores.
Mine is 632 and hers is 591. Does anybody know the qualifying FICO scores for Ford and GMAC? We're interested in the GMAC SmartBuy.
Thank ya'll
We're really wanting to do the GMAC Smartbuy.
Again thanks.
Thanks for oyur help and support!
Chevygirl
May you continue on your way to fiscal soundness and get an even better rate on your next car.
My first car (that I didn't buy from my Mom) was at 7.5% purchased with my girlfriend (now wife). The loan was $5500 and total interest was $650. After improving my credit my current loan is for $17500 and at 2.9% for the same time period (3 years). Total interest is only $150 more!!
You will be saving a bundle in interest that you can use to pay down the car even faster and save even more money.
It's also great that you like your car. A well liked car is a well cared for car and that means you will keep it longer and it will stay in better shape.
Car_man
Host
Smart Shopper Forum
You can give them $5.00 bucks or so for your FICO.
example.....The rebate on a Mazda6 is $2000 but it becomes $3000 if you finance thru Mazda credit....
22 year old, responsible college student, bounced around with a bunch of jobs like everyone her age, but has been at her current place of employment for 5 months. Her credit report shows her with a 525 score (no idea what her FICO is) primarily because of debts she doesn't owe.
She's got two deferred student loans totalling less than $3K and four collections:
1) A $100 Gas Co. bill that her sister opened in her name
2) A mystery $50 bill she's never been contacted about
3) A medical bill that was sent to collections that should have been easily paid by her insurance company (either way dealerships are supposed to consider medical bills)
4) A phone bill which is actually a legitimate bill, but she was never informed it was going to collections.
In the past, I spent about 2 months cleaning up inaccuracies on my credit report, so I know how to negotiate with these collection agencies. But in my research I found out that the big secret is that the collection agencies are very willing to erase a negative credit history as long as you pay off the account.
Nonethless, our only barrier right now is time - she wants to be rolling by the end of this week, and the last month of August is the second best time of the year to negotiate car deals. So the best I'm hoping for is filing disputes and letters from the collection agencies with updates on the status of the accounts.
A word about 19-24% rates: they are crap. If they're given to you by a dealer they could be marked up all to high heaven. If your score is a 540 the absolute worst your rate should be is 15%. These dealers know you know your credit is bad so they feed on that to tell you how difficult it was for them to find a bank yada yada yada, when really the bank is financing you at 12.9 or 13.9 and they're getting the rest. If a dealer came back at me and said 19% is the best rate I could find. I would look them dead in the eye, tell them I'll give him anohter half an hour to find a significantly better rate and then I'll go to a finance manager who has that "rapport with the banks" or at worst wait 2-6 weeks when 2 or 3 of the collections will have been removed. At which point we won't be coming back to your dealership since he has no bargaining power.
It's really this simple: if you're such a high risk, why are they willing to loan you $15K+, at 19% at that?
What other business in this country operates that way?
My point is be firm with these guys. And if you really want to shock 'em ask them how much they marked up the rate.
1) **A $100 Gas Co. bill that her sister opened in her name**
.... if it's from her sister and she had permission and it ended up in collection .. then your g/f needs pay it and get a receipt, then take it up with the sister via family ties or court .... this ain't a dealer thing.
2) **A mystery $50 bill she's never been contacted about**
...... thats why God made "Free credit reports.com" and a host of other very fine sites that will show whats there and whats not supposed to be there, it's her responsibility ....... again, this isn't a dealer thing, it's a girlfriend thing.
3) **A medical bill that was sent to collections that should have been easily paid by her insurance company (either way dealerships are supposed to consider medical bills)**
...... here we go again .. I'm sure she received multiple notices from the medical billing department .. because this is what they do best, send oodles of bills and it was your g/f's responsibility to respond -or- to take 20/25 minutes to get on the horn with the insurance company and get it straightened out .. she's a student, not a brain surgeon at the Mayo Clinic, so she had time ........ this is a g/f problem not a dealer problem.
4) **A phone bill which is actually a legitimate bill, but she was never informed it was going to collections**
.......... if this was a legitimate bill, then why didn't she pay it ..? it's called responsibility ......... this is how all this bill paying stuff works, you don't pay (after the 50th notice) then they charge it off to collections - simple.! ..... again, this a g/f problem, not a dealer thing.
**But in my research I found out that the big secret is that the collection agencies are very willing to erase a negative credit history as long as you pay off the account**
......... this isn't true, collection agencies do what they do best -collect- .. all they can do is show the account *paid* -- and there is no such thing as "erase" ..........
Dealers don't approve deals, lenders do .. so this ends up being a very simple situation .. if you don't like the rate you're getting from the dealer, then use your Credit Union or the local lender .... have you thought about a new g/f ..l.o.l...??
Terry :shades:
It will be interesting to see what type of vehicle she is trying to buy.
Dude... don't finance her.. pay cash... You realize the loan terms on financing a girlfriend? You will be paying her off for the rest of your life... :surprise:
In this case, you might be better off leasing her..
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