Got denied a car loan today...

[Kansas1960]

I have not had late payment in 15 years on any of my accounts but because of my high credit card debt I could not get a 5,000 loan for a car. I guess that is a sign my credit is shot. I have not had the nerve to pull a credit report but guess I should. 2 questions for the forum...

1. What is the best way to get a credit report? Which service is the best? Not sure I want to pay for the commercial guys singing in pirate costumes selling fish to tourist in T-shirts

2. Has anyone had any luck buying repossesed cars or trucks? I asked the bank while I was there today and they said they did not sell repossed cars. I would like to buy one from someone who needs to dump it at a loss.

[DaisysMom]

Free Credit Report

Go to http://www.annualcreditreport.com and you can get a free report from each of the three reporting agencies. You can do this yearly.

D...

[HHM]

What are you going to use to buy a repo car?

And, holy crap, your credit is (no offense) in the toilet if you can't get approved for a $5K car loan. Look at it this way, I have yet to see or hear of anyone denied a car loan the DAY AFTER the discharge of their chapter 7 BK. Which means your credit is so shot, that even a person that just filed a Chap 7 BK has better credit than you.

To buy a repo, you actually have to go to the auction, which will usually require that you have the cash on hand to pay for the car.

[Kansas1960]

If I found a good car at great price around 5,000 I would try other sources to get a loan. As a last resort I could use my HELOC but would hate to do that beacause in Kansas only one car for up to 20,000 can be exempt. My wifes car is worth about 5000. I guess 80,000 in unsecred debt and never being late must make credit scores bad. Can't wait to get this over with and be debt free forever. I might just keep my junker car running.. no AC, window won't go down, 190,000 miles on it.
I just tried the annual credit report site and I have not waited the 12 months to get my free copy. I recall getting one last year around this time so I should have free copy coming soon.

[TEW]

So having never been late for a payment what in your report do you suppose if dragging your score down?

[dingdong]

There are quite a few credit monitoring services that offer the first month free. The trick is, you don't want them to auto bill your CC every month if you forget to cancel. I got one of those 25.00 visa gift cards and used that and then spent the balance on gas. Got a free month of unlimited credit pulls and it cost me about 5.00 for the fee for the card. When they couldn't bill my CC anymore,( cause I used all of the balance up) they just auto cancel it. Look for one that has a triple bureau monitoring service.

Also, since you were denied credit, you can get a free report from the bureau they pulled when you applied for the car loan.

[Genenco]

What are you going to use to buy a repo car?

And, holy crap, your credit is (no offense) in the toilet if you can't get approved for a $5K car loan. Look at it this way, I have yet to see or hear of anyone denied a car loan the DAY AFTER the discharge of their chapter 7 BK. Which means your credit is so shot, that even a person that just filed a Chap 7 BK has better credit than you.

To buy a repo, you actually have to go to the auction, which will usually require that you have the cash on hand to pay for the car.

I'd like to include a warning that the car you're (Possibly) buying is also a vehicle which may need SERIOUS repairs.

They are sold "As is" and they MEAN IT.

[JRScott]

Most likely it is your debt ratio to income that is killing you.

You might be more successful after discharge if you can hold off that long, they send me car offers all the time.

Might check to see if the county sells off impounded cars or seized cars. They are generally sold as is. The Sheriff's Dept. could probably tell you if there is such an auction and probably would be a notice on a board at the local courthouse.

[krielly]

As someone else posted, you can obtain a copy from each of the 3 credit bureaus once a year, free of charge.

Also, though.....you should have gotten, or will get a rejection letter from the finance company. Included in that letter it should tell you that according to law, you are entitled to review the credit report from the credit bureau(s) that was used in making the decision. I think you have somewhere around 30-60 days to make the request. Contact the Credit bureau directly and tell them you were declined for the loan and would like to view your report.

Either way works fine, I was just thinking you could start with that one, and use your "free annual reports" later on..... Just a thought!

Good luck!
K