Financing Tips
 

Now that we're getting closer to the time it's released to the public, I'm sure the majority of interested buyers will NOT be able to pay cash for thier new Challenger. With that in mind, I'm posting this F.Y.I. that I authored several months ago which appears as a "sticky" in another forum.

If anyone has any questions, I'd be happy to answer them as soon as I can. I visit this forum daily, so a reply will "usually" come within 24 hours.
If you feel uncomfortable discussing anything in public (in the forum), feel free to PM me and I'll keep my reply (and your info) confidential.
I'm offering this "no strings attached". I don't stand to gain anything here except the satisfaction of helping a few folks save what could be many thousands of dollars in financing costs, and share "inside information" that the dealerships would rather you didn't know.



[center][color=#330066]Vehicle Financing Tips


I’ve worked for a number of banks over many years, and have a great deal of experience and education in banking and economics. I was a consumer credit underwriter, with the majority of my experience in automobile loans – indirect. I was the guy that the dealership’s F&I manager would fax your generic auto loan application to when the salesman told you “We’ll arrange the financing for you!”

I assure you that I have no current affiliation with any financial institution other than from a consumer/customer standpoint. My main objective here is to give you some simple guidelines for getting the most out of auto-financing. Hopefully, using these guidelines, you’ll save a lot of money on your next car purchase.


- Rates & Terms -

Shop for your car loan! You’d do the same to get the best deal on a car, why not the financing? You can usually save a great deal of money by shopping for the best rates and arranging the financing yourself! Yeah, it’s a bit of a pain, but when you consider the money you’ll save compared to the time it takes, you’ll basically be paying yourself a substantial hourly rate of pay for relatively little work.

Look at your Credit Union’s rates first (if you’re a member). Usually Credit Union rates are lower than commercial banks, BUT their lending requirements are a bit stricter, so it may be harder to qualify. On the other hand, Credit Unions are owned by the depositors not shareholders, so the service is more personal and it’s usually a friendlier place to do business. Additionally, CU’s tend to have more variation in their interest rates, so it’s usually easier to find an interest rate and loan term better suited to your needs than at a bank or through a dealership.

Check out “Dealer Incentives” on financing. They’re typically in a “Cash Back OR X.xx% financing” form. Do the math! Have the dealer calculate the payments BOTH ways (with cash back AND discounted interest financing) before agreeing to one or the other. It could be advantageous to take the cash back offer over zero/near zero percent financing when interest rates are low OR when you’re financing substantially less than the MSRP on the car due to a substantial trade or down payment.

Calculating the payments and comparing is the only sure way to determine what the best deal is for you! Additionally, Cash Back can be applied to a deal as a down payment, making it appear that you have more equity in the car at the onset than you actually do. This can make for a more appealing application to a credit union, bank or finance company (and lower interest rate for you) – especially if your credit isn’t “exemplary”.

While incentives such as “Employee Pricing” save you money, they rarely benefit you in financing a car. BUT every dollar saved is another in your pocket, so get whatever you can as it’s available!

BEWARE! DON’T be sucked into the pitch from the salesman that goes something like [i]“What kind of payment