Prius c on not so great credit

No idea about TFS, but you may want to move your banking to a local credit union and establish a solid history with them over the next year.

 

One of the first things the dealer would ask you is if you know your fico score, and how much. Other factors play a role in loan decisions/apr as well, such as your income, and employment/residence history, etc.

I had a 788 score, which apparently is in the second tier, but dealers say its really good. Chase was willing to finance me @ a competitive rate, TFS gave me a really good rate, but my CU wouldn't approve one for me. My score and income was good enough, but they said the fact that I just landed a new job and moved to a new place 3 months ago made me a high risk . I was like, OK, TFS gave me a better deal anyways, so I went with them.

Dealers would get ANYONE financed. But you're right, the apr would likely be high. If you can't get a good rate now and don't want to wait, you can always refinance at a better rate later down the road.

 

One thing I learned while getting my C was that the dealers use the automotive score rather than the normal FICO score that is pulled for mortgage type purchases.

In short, it's consumerism at it's best. I have a 776 which qualifies me for 1.79% at my bank, but the dealer ran me at 6.35 because I have never paid a vehicle off in 5 years. I ALWAYS pay them off in less than 2, thinking that my reduction in debt is bettering my overall FICO (which it does) actually hurt my auto score (700) because I basically don't earn lenders any money in interest as compared to going with minimum payments and paying through the life of the term.

I was not happy at all with finding this out, but it helped me understand how a friend of mine who had bought two vehicles over a 7 year period, both paid off at 5 year terms got a better deal than I did thru the dealer despite his credit score of 710 vs my 776.


If you take the opportunity to get with a reputable credit union as stated earlier and focus on paying off debt liabilities, you should be good. Also, you might want to look at taking some classes on credit.

Bottom line: if you have the money to pay on top of the minimum payment, your APR has negligible impact, so if you are trying to prepare for the purchase with a car that gets 18mpg, you might very well be paying more in gas than you would in the increased APR rate.

Just something to think about.

 

If you don't have high debt right now, I'd check with a bank first. If you get approved, at the very least, you'd have a number for them to beat. I was told my Experian credit score was 725 and then two weeks later when I applied for an auto loan with my bank, it was suddenly 680 (though I did nothing weird in between). So assuming it actually WAS 680, that's the number I got a 4.97% APR with from Toyota (Hollywood) a few days later. They didn't tell me my credit when they ran it, but they said it was "fair" (though they were telling me a lot of stuff about how NO ONE but them would give me financing and a good price because I'm a first time buyer blah blah blah load of bs). I have a limited credit history too, as I'm only 24.

 

Part of taking better control over your credit score is finding out what it is. Although you can check online the report annually for free, you need to pay for the score, and it's worth doing.

You're right that with a low score APR will be higher.

788 is well above average, I'd have considered it first tier and I've actually never heard of a loan that would have given you a sub-optimal rate based on that number. Few people have a score higher than 800. Mortgages and auto loans I think normally advertise rates requiring a 720, maybe 740 score. I think that I recently heard an ad on the radio requiring a 780 for best rate, but 788 should get you the best rate from anywhere, really. Puts you in top 20%

http://www.creditscoring.com/average/

 

If you're part of a credit union, some of them will run your credit score for you for free. Then you at least know what you're going in with. I didn't do that, but it turns out I have a 732 credit score! Nor bad for a 21-year-old. That (along with a large down payment) got me a 2.49% rate through my credit union.

Now that I have auto debt in addition to student debt, my score might go down some...but if I keep paying it all on time, it should do wonders by the time we're ready to buy a house

 

anything over 720 is tier 1

dealers and or CU's are just working you.


moving has nothing to do with a loan as long as your score says you pay back your loans

 

I wish I could sell you your prius and we deliver to your neck of the woods

But, you need to know your exact score,. If your high 500's or low 600's your rate is going to be high. At this time your best bet is to start saving downpayment money and trying to rebuild your credit.

taking on a 20K plus loan at a high rate isnt the best thing and could be setting yourself up for failure.


fair might not be to bad, but theres more to a score then meets the eye. some 650's I cant sell to, others I can get a good rate.


Toyota does often give decent rates down to tier 3, but on a prius there not at this time. tier 1 and 1+up

 

Same thing happened to me when I bought my current car. FICO was higher than my auto score. Fico was tier 1 and auto was tier 2. I told the dealer they either get me tier one rates or we did not have a deal. His response was "you are not going to buy the car over difference of $10 a moth in the payment?". I said yes. Its not the $10.00 its the principle. If you don't want to use my Fico then I will buy from another manufacturer. They had to make some calls, but they did get me the rate. This is the first time this has ever happened. They have always used my FICO.

I guess that since I get a new car every year, that hurts my score even though I have never missed a payment in my entire life.

Is there someplace to go to find out what your auto score is?

 

no it doesnt hurt your score at all.


you should pull your credit every 6 months just to keep track.



most dealers will take a run at you for rate, no matter what your score is, just to see if hey can make a few bucks, BUT more often then not they leave a higher rate so the finance manager can be the hero getting you the lower rate so he has better chances of selling you a warranty

 

call your local toyota dealer, and have them run it over the phone.

key is ask what your experian score is, its used more then transunion or equifax

 

Some banks have a subscription service through the credit bureaus that let you pull your score frequently.

While you can get a free report once a year from each reporting agency you must usually pay additionally for the score.

When I was prepping for my mortgage I subscribed and must have pulled a daily report despite no changes 29-30 days of the month just WAITING to see the fruits of my debt payoff labor so I could see how repayments and revolving debt impacted when new billing cycles posted and balances were updated.

You could look into one of these services for the next year to help get intimately familiar with how you are rated.

 

Tell that to my CU! Lol!
In terms of auto financing, the many Toyota dealers I visited told me I was top tier, but upon other inquiries such as credit cards and such, they tell me I'm tier 2, and tier 1 is 800 or some number above mine ...

 

Dealers will screw you if you have bad credit. Apply for PenFed at 1.99% and use that for leveraging a lower rate against the dealer. If PenFed does not approve you I would fix your credit before buying more debt.

https://www.penfed.org/New-Auto-Loan/?intcid=ad-NewAutoLoan-home-FeaturedBenefits

 

Penfed is awesome, for non-military types u can donate 25 bucks to join Penfed, the rates are worth it

 

I asked the same question online about 6 months ago, as I wanted to get a Prius vee three. I had about 720 credit score, but not a whole lot of credit. I received the same unhelpful answers you are (no offense to the well meaning people on here). I had bought a few year old Civic a few years before, and had only one low limit credit card (and did the horrible thing where I paid it off each month...that's a no-no which added up to ok but little credit). Neither banks nor my newish credit union wanted anything to do with me. I ended up going through Truecar.com in general just to get a good quote. I called the dealership that quoted the lowest price in my area ($500 below invoice at the time which was December of last year). Talked to a salesperson and told him my deal, and he said to come in and he was sure I could get approved. I didn't even tell them about Truecar.com right off the bat. I had about $2500 to put down. They quoted me something way above MSRP, and then I told them my quote on Truecar. I was given that quote, minus a bit of negative equity from my Civic (which basically made my down payment null), and a 6% interest rate.

So while people say not to go through a dealership for financing, that you'll get screwed, I'd suggest checking out Truecar (that way you go in with a rock solid quote), and then doing exactly what I did. Know what you are willing to pay and don't pay more. I ended up buying my car from Toyota Vallejo (across from Six Flags). If you want I can give you the name of my salesperson up there. I don't think you'd have any issue.

One last thing, what was fun about using Truecar (sorry if this sounds like a commercial), is before I mentioned it, just going back and forth haggling with the salesperson I don't think he was trying to screw me any more than any other salesperson is going to, but it was way higher than I was quoted. And as soon as I said, "actually I got a quote from your dealership through truecar and..." and he went to the finance person or manager or whatever and it immediately dropped to the quoted price. So I got to see what I was working with for a couple hours without Truecar and then what happened when I mentioned it.

 

I was approved by TFS for the Prius C II and I had a Transunion Score of 659, Experian of 644 and Equifax of 649. They gave me a decent interest rate of 10.5% (compared to the 24% i had on my previous loan through Drivetime) and No Money Down, No Cosigner.

 

To the original poster:

There is in some sense an arbitrage right now where resale on a Gen 1 is abnormally high due to gas prices, while MSRP on a C is abnormally low. We don't know all the details about your financial and credit profile, but the seasonally higher resale on your Gen 1 makes this a good time to sell it.

Contact outhouse and DianneWhitmire (Carson, CA) for quotes on a C and financing.

Sell your Gen 1 on craigslist and use the cash for down payment. A Gen 1 in good working order is worth a few thousand more than one with a failed battery or transaxle. In between selling your Gen 1 and taking delivery on the C, get a rental car for a week, which you can then drive to whichever dealership you have chosen for you car; most rental companies allow you to drop off the car in a different place than where you rent from without charge if it is in the same state.

 

Exactly what they did to me! And I thought the finance manager was doing me a favor. lol..