Car loans and mortgages, question
 

Do banks give you better rates if you have accounts with them or have certain balances in accounts?

I'm just wondering we are saving money for a down payment for a house and I wasn't sure if a bank would give you a better rate based on your account balance or whatever.

I have 2 banks that I use, a local credit union and USAA. (Both advertise amazing rates btw)
But I'm just wondering if it would be better to pile up the cash in one place so when I'm ready they will cooperate better.

Just curious, i'm also planning on taking out my first real car loan too.

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

Financing with the dealer is generally your best option, assuming they work with multiple lenders like we do. There's three reasons for this, but ultimately we'll get you a better rate 9 times out of 10. Here's why:

- If we get more than 1 bank approval we'll send it back and forth between those banks and let them fight it out.
- We broker more loans for the banks in a week than most people take out in a life time. They're going to give us a better rate.
- We get paid more as a dealership when you fiance with us (the banks pay us)
We have a financial incentive to offer you a better rate.

That 1 out of 10 times when we can't beat your bank is like when someone works at a bank, or is going to use a 401k loan. However, I have seen us beat the rate of some bank employees.

PS. Come see me! I can get you just about any make and model in our 71 dealership group.

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

I would shop around and see what banks would do. But I dont think if you bank with them.means you get better rate. but I have a car loan right now with my bank. I have about 6 bucks in my account there and they gave me a loan. The interest rate is crazy low. You could take a bank into a better deal if you offer them more of you business. like move all your money over to them.

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

The dealership offered me a better rate than my bank, and the bank offered a good rate in the first place. If you are buying private, than your balances could be considered, and debt to earnings ratio will be factored in.

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

Things that affect your ability to get a loan are credit score, debt to income ratio, and length of history*.

*There are different types of credit. When you use your credit card and pay it off, it's different from a structured monthly loan that you pay off. If you only had one or the other, having a scheduled loan that you've paid looks better than paying a credit card that you only use once every few months.

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

Dealers have never once beat my credit union. We've taken out 6 different auto loans now. What they did do however when we bought one of the cars is check with 12 different banks, pull our credit 12 times and fucking murder our credit for about 2 years and still didn't find a better rate, or even equivalent rate for that matter. never again will I finance through a dealership. If you already bank with a credit union, anyone would be hard pressed to beat their rates. I think most people who get better rates through dealers most likely bank with giant banks like US Bank, Wells Fargo, etc that don't offer very good rates even to people with great credit scores.

Text me or something and I can tell you more of my experiences, I don't feel like posting details online.

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

I just bought a house and I searched and searched forever. I got my best deal with wintrust mortgage from a guy named jeff papus. Best mortgage person I have ever delt with. There were so many times that We could not make it to his office to sign papers or drop off things that he needed from us and he came to us at work or wherever we were. Hands down the BEST! Best rate was with him also. Credit union never even came close. You want more info let me know and message me i can give you his number.

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

Woh! That's stupid... what dealership did that? Generally, that's one of the benefits of working with the dealership. We pull your credit once and shop it around. Sounds like whoever that was really fucked you big time.

In the 7 months I've worked at the dealership, I've only run across us not being able to beat someone's credit union twice. Another time was a US Bank employee, and another was a 401k loan. So in total its only happened to me 4 times where we couldn't get a lower rate.

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

I agree with trogdor. I have had two credit unions and not once have Ive ever taken a loan through them unless it was some sort of CD.

Now Im at one credit union and have been there for almost 12 yrs and do quite a bit of business through them, including my Business and personal.

To the question about how much money you have in the bank? That only helps if your credit score is on the lowerside and a bigger down payment is just to show them that you are putting up your own money. So what you borrow has a less chance to default since you have more of your "monies" into it.

Also if you havent bought a house before you more than likely qualify for a first time homebuyers mortgage. This means you can finance 100% plus closing costs into your loan leaving you with the down payment in the bank. 3%-10% down on a home really isnt that much money considering how long you will have the loan and will probably only shave a few dollars off your total monthly payment.

If I were you I would finace the house at 100% as its still a semi good investment that you will be paying on for a while in hope to one day see a return.

Buying a car on the other hand pay as much as you can up front cause the sooner you pay it off the better you dont wanna get upside down in a car loan. Plus they depriciate usually quick to.

*I was once told by someone that the best thing to do for a car loan is take the 3.49% interest rate that your bank offers you, combined with the special offers of bonus cash the dealer gives (0% or $xxxx amount back at purchase) can usually be the best deal hands down though. As the cash you recieve back from the dealer will be more than the 3.49% interest paid on the loan.

Maybe Trogdor can answer the Cash allowances?

Aaron whats the need of having two accounts? I had two credit union accounts and now Im down to one. Just move your money to the better bank of the two and use one. More money or business you give them the easier and faster they will work for you. At least in my case. But again I would never use them for a 5-30 yr loan

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

Basically, I used to bank at wells fargo completely then they sucked so we went to a credit union after hearing so many great things.

Then I heard about USAA and they are freaking awesome, it was always a pain to make it down to fridley to cash checks and then to find certain ATMs.
With USAA i just take a pic of the check and its ready instantly and I can do up to ATM transactions a month wherever I want to and the pay me back the fees i pay so its free.
The credit union was also part of me hearing from lots of people about how they give the best rates on loans and such, they did just send 1.25% on a new car for Sam up to $30,000, even she said it was good.

Thanks for the help guys, you answers have been helpful.

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

Ive also had the same experience as goodhart with the dealership giving 10 hard pulls on my credit (It was Luther), i was so fucking pissed. dropped my credit a couple points.
Three things got my credit jumped 65 points in 3 months. (as well as my mistake)
- Accounts definitely matter when it comes time to get approved for a loan. Banks look for stability. If your balances are going up and down in dramatic fashion they see that as risk. One thing i did, is have multiple accounts, one checking account was kept at a steady balance of a little over my down payment i had chosen, the other account was for bills and misc expenses, Then when it comes time to give up the account information, you throw that one at them to keep it clean.
- Pull your credit OFTEN, (i used two services that did soft pulls, one through my bank that was free and allowed 1 pull a month, and one called creditchecktotal.com or something, its often called CCT, it allows daily pulls so you can watch the exact day shit comes off your credit.) Take care of everything on your report. If there is a nick on there, call the credit company and dispute dispute dispute, and if that doesnt get it off of there, call them and see if you can settle the account and have them take it off of your credit period. It will help your score dramatically. Even late payments can be changed to current if you talk to the company, whether in the past or current. I actually found it fun watching shit drop off, but do not take any of the places that you pull your credit from as a correct score, They are are not true scores.
- Get ready to give them every piece of information that has been in your life for sometimes years. They question everything, every deposit that you put at the bank, you better be able to back it up with a reason.

My main mistake: DO NOT GET AN AUTO LOAN. It does NOTHING but hurt your change of buying a car. I bought my lancer, thinking i needed more credit out there, it hurt me more than it helped, auto loans only help after years of established payments.

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

Actually ann auto loan will start helping you establish credit after about a year.

Having an auto loan will affect your ability to get a second car, yes. Unless you make an ass load of money banks don't like to see open auto loans when you are applying for a second auto loan. In fact, a friend of mine has an open auto loan, with very little remaining on it. He is looking to buy a car from me, and even though he makes enough to buy his current car and the new car he wants in cash, the bank still wants him to close his first loan (its less than $2000 left).

P.S. the Luther's suck - don't even get me started on them.

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

I worked in auto finance for a while. It is true that they can sometimes beat the best rate you'll find, you're still better off checking on your own just in case, especially with USAA, they are among the best if you're a vet. Depending on the dealer and the bank they finance with, they can raise your rate a certain amount and pocket it, so you can do better on your own with the right credit union, especially if you have a 720 or better credit score.

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

We shopped at 3 different banks for our home loan (associated, wells, bank of america). Wells is our main bank and we have a lot of money with them. But bank of America gave us the best rate. Wells ended up matching them. Wells ended up being a horrible experience doing our loan and I wish we would have chosen someone else. But kinda goes to show in our case, didn't matter how much money we had with them, they still didn't give a crap. Pretty soon we will be looking for a new place to bank, somewhere small ideally.

As for car loans, I personally hate them all together and avoid them as much as possible. What's wrong with ur civics?

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

^ I have Wells as my second mortgage. They are the worst to deal with. I used to have auto payment them but they tend to take out the money prior to the due date even though it does not fall on a holiday or weekend. Their policy, they can and at will take money whenever they want. You got to be carefully with smaller banks, their fee schedules have gotten like tcf. I think credit unions are way to go...

Tudor, I think allot of dealers are shady.... Beef up all the apr when they know you really need a car. However, I do believe everyone once in their life is a sucker buying their first car being rape with fees and apr...

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

Im glad I went with US bank, pretty easy mortgage process for me, no problems at all.

I agree with people on Shady dealers and credit pulls. Id rather go to a bank I have had a good history with, the rates right now are all pretty comparable and low. I use US bank for everything now.

Also, car loans suck! I agree with B, rock the civics.

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

Just doing some learning guys, thanks. I'm rocking my civic till it becomes a flintstone mobile.

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

Yeah, local credit union would be nice, just don't really know of any. I do have an account with Navy Fed and USAA, but neither are local so they'd probably be my last resort. Will eventually start looking around to see what local credit unions/ small banks I can find. We actually just met the owners of Villiage Bank on Saturday, we sat together at a Hibachi place and they bought us all our drinks. Might talk to them once we start becoming serious about looking around.

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

Nice. I'm talking to a realtor and since I have to deal with my history of a short sale, I have to ask my CU and USAA if they would even approve me, he is asking a friend/contact of his at another CU.

I'm glad that I started this, I'm def. not going in blind like I did last time.

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

I would have to say I've had bad experiences with Wells Fargo with any sort of loan other than my student loans. I've been banking with them for a long time, credit card, checking/savings account, student loan and they gave me the worst rate.

I use Hiway Credit Union now for all my loan stuff and they have been super cool and the lowest rates even though I had no business with them in the past and only $5 in a savings account.

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

It's true, some dealers do beef up their APRs and pock the extra cash. It has a name is the car industry, I forget what it is. But even if they do - my point is we get paid when you finance with us. If we don't offer you a lower APR than your bank, than what's your incentive to finance with us?

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

It's called "back door points".

A couple good credit unions to try are Topline Federal, Wings Financial and Teacher's Federal. WF, BOA and the rest of the big banks absolutely suck. I wouldn't ever give them a dime again. WF used to actually charge me an $8 service fee for depositing cash with my business. The customer definitely gets fucked in the banking world unless you watch them religiously, it didn't used to be that way.

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

^ One of my wife accounts pays her through WF eft. They will intentionally hold releasing your money on the day it is paid unless you have an account with them. Tcf is a bitch @$28 bucks a day for over draft. A smaller bank, University does the same now and will charge up $35 bucks to decline the over draft and then charges $25 a day after. Min $200 balance daily'or be charge $10 bucks a month. Charges $2 for statements. I guess banks needs to make money.

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

Todor, no car business truly lose money on a deal... Other wise, they won't let you signed at the dotted line.

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

Actually, in the last few months, we've lost money on a couple deals where the customer wanted to return a car (we don't have a return policy on new cars) and we've allowed them to do that (and get different cars). This ends up costing us money. But we do it from time to time for customer satisfaction.

But that's splitting hairs. You're, for the most part, right. We're not losing money on 99% of our car deals. But my point is that the profit margin is better if you finance with is. Thus we have a financial incentive to offer you a better rate. I doubt it would sound good if I said, "Well Mr. Customer, one of the benefits of allowing us to find you financing is that we work with multiple lenders who will each pull your credit and give you a higher rate than your bank."

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

You guys don't have a return policy? Then what's the 30 day policy you referred to in the past?

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

We have a 7 day refund/30 day exchange on most of our used cars (all of them that are not being sold "as is"). But not on new cars. Like I said, once in a while we will allow people to bring them back after a short period of time. Depends on the situation.

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

When I had my dealership, I lost money on a few cars. Sometimes you just have to cut your losses and hopefully make it up on the next one.

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

BTW, had a 5th instance where we couldn't beat a bank today. In fact, we couldn't even get the kid approved for as much of a loan as his CR would give him.

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

My experience has all been before 2007 so that may be invalid, with today's economy. That said, my experience has been that dealers will give you the best rates for new cars while banks & CUs have always beat dealers for used cars over 2-3 years old.

Also, depending on your circumstances you may want to think of this: when I refinanced my house I took out enough to pay off my car loan, effectively transferring the balance to my house loan. The interest is deductible and the rate was actually a bit cheaper.

Also, in my experience, banks & CUs will not give you a different rate depending on your business. They usually have two rates; one for 0-2 year old cars and a higher one for older cars.

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

I am surprised Trogdor hasn't tried selling an new lancer to Aaron yet in this thread....

Actually the dealership has NEVER beat credit union rate from the credit union I go to. They rate match and always beat the rate by .1%. In fact on my 02 crv I just sold I was able to get 2.7% apr.. which is silly for a used 10 year old car.

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

Wrong

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

Bahaha! touche!

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

Can't beat my 0% from Mitsu :)

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

^Yea but didn't you have to do a 3 year loan on a brand new car too? I don't think too many people can afford that haha. Props though, its a great deal for people that can afford it!! Wish I could afford a sweat deal like that lol

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

Yup, 0% on a 36-month loan.

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

That's some pimp shit right there.

Re: Car loans and mortgages, question
 

ZOMG speaking of loans, I just found out we might be able to do Smart Buy soon through Ally. For those of you not familiar with Smart Buy, is like a lease but you get a title to the car.