Financing Question

[EldoFan]

I'm 23 and soon to get out of school.....when I do though, I'm hoping to wait no longer than a month before buying my first car. It'll be used for sure and after browsing around I'd say my price range is roughly anywhere from $2-6K.

What I'm wondering about has to do with financing. I don't have a credit card and besides my phone bill and student loans (from the feds) there's really nothing out there with my name on it.

The cars I've been looking at are are located at GM dealers with 2-3 at used car lots. Now with me making anywhere from $1600-1700/mo (hopefully more if I score a real job...) & my parents willing to co-sign, how hard of a time would I have trying to get approval for financing??

[MalibuMaxxSS]

with your parents on board prolly be easy, however banks do have a minimum they will finance, here it is 7500 bucks, outside of that you have to use someplace like Traverlers, or Wells Fargo and rates go up a lot sometimes, maybe look for a car around the 8-10 range, this would keep you arond a couple hundred bucks a month and get you a newer car with some warranty, I gots 06 Cobalts of around 10 Gran so im sure someone there does, warranty and all...

least then as a young guy you dont have to shovel money out on repairs.

[Aerodynamix]

^^^ Same in my neck of the woods - er, I mean Canada...

[mjdart]

GM offers sudents a significant break by making your first 2 payments (lease or purchase) and with 2.9% financing on Pontiac G6 you could get a pretty good deal. Credit is the most important thing a young person can establish and this could be a good start for you.

[MalibuMaxxSS]

Originally Posted by mjdart

GM offers sudents a significant break by making your first 2 payments (lease or purchase) and with 2.9% financing on Pontiac G6 you could get a pretty good deal. Credit is the most important thing a young person can establish and this could be a good start for you.

on a new car only....not many new cars for unde 10 grand

[pgill00]

Originally Posted by MalibuMaxxSS

on a new car only....not many new cars for unde 10 grand

Go to your bank and take out a $1000 loan. Put it in the bank and pay it back over 3 months. It will cost you a bit but it will do wonders for your credit. Do that 3 times and then finance $8000 on a car without your parents co-signing. You will be glad you waited and built your own credit. In the mean time, save $300 per month and you will have a $2700 down payment after 9 months.

It is going to be rough to hold off buying, but if you trust me you are going to be in amazing shape when you get this one paid off and finance your next one at 0% when it comes around.

[t-rex]

pgill00 beat me to the punch!

Good credit isn't about how much you borrow, it's about how consistent you are in repaying. I did the same thing pgill00 suggested when I was young. I took out a few 90 day loans, paid the interest on them, and my credit score shot up within a year. Sure my parents could have kicked in, but I wanted to be able to start life on my own two feet.

And I can't stress to today's young people the importance of building up a substantial savings account. Credit does NOT equal wealth. Cash equals wealth. Okay it's more complicated than that, but do what you can to avoid the play now, pay later mentality. Remember the old adage mind the pennies and the pounds will mind themselves.

But as for your immediate situation, you'll likely need a cosigner. If your parents have good credit and are willing to cosign a loan, you'll have no problem buying a new ride. Just do whatever it takes to make each payment on time. Keep your income-to-debt ratio reasonable, never be late on a payment, and you'll save yourself possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars in the long run by getting the low interest rates good credit affords.

Keeping good credit is so friggin' easy that it astounds me how so many people manage to screw it up.

[MalibuMaxxSS]

Originally Posted by t-rex

pgill00 beat me to the punch!

Good credit isn't about how much you borrow, it's about how consistent you are in repaying. I did the same thing pgill00 suggested when I was young. I took out a few 90 day loans, paid the interest on them, and my credit score shot up within a year. Sure my parents could have kicked in, but I wanted to be able to start life on my own two feet.

And I can't stress to today's young people the importance of building up a substantial savings account. Credit does NOT equal wealth. Cash equals wealth. Okay it's more complicated than that, but do what you can to avoid the play now, pay later mentality. Remember the old adage mind the pennies and the pounds will mind themselves.

But as for your immediate situation, you'll likely need a cosigner. If your parents have good credit and are willing to cosign a loan, you'll have no problem buying a new ride. Just do whatever it takes to make each payment on time. Keep your income-to-debt ratio reasonable, never be late on a payment, and you'll save yourself possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars in the long run by getting the low interest rates good credit affords.

Keeping good credit is so friggin' easy that it astounds me how so many people manage to screw it up.

its easy to screw it up, go thru a divorce...that will put you almost bankrupt in no time...then try 1200 a month for child support after that, plus everything else, I can see how....now some of it we can control but hey **** happens sometimes.