Hi,
In the last months I tried to lease a dodge charger. Here’s the thing: I have high credit scores (over 750), but never had a lease / any kind of loan before, and I have the credit card for less than 3 years.
So in Sept. I went happily to a dodge dealer after getting a great quote by phone / online ($370 / month & 1.5k dp) just to step outside after wasting few hours without any car, because after the credit application the price went high to $500 / month because they put me on tier 3.
Then, at the end of Sept. I went to a lease broker and he got me the same charger for $405 / month & 1.5k dp. (I almost sign the lease, but both me and the broker were not available at the delivery day, and then it was Oct. , new price, etc.)
Then now on Dec. I went to another 2-3 dealers, trying to get the end of the year sales - apparently now I was not even approved by the bank (same answer - you have high scores, very light activity… , tier 3… , not approved).
So I got confused.
What’s the trick? And how come by one dealer I was approved - but for $500 / month. The broker got me the same car for $405. On Dec. I got denied by the bank. What’s the story?
What the trick here? How come the broker got me this price? Because at the end of the day, also the broker send my credit application to the dealer, who sends it to the same bank (probably Chrysler capital / US Bank…)
Also, on Dec. the broker was able to get me approve, but for $475 / month.
So I’m totally confused. It always changing
I’d be happy to get some clarifications.
I don’t know much but what I can tell you because I’m trying to get into a lease now is through the dealership they went through Chrysler Capital for the bank. I got numbers from a leasing company and they came back at a better price but used a different bank to get the lease from ( Cal Automotive). Im guessing each bank has their own criteria to base your price on and whether to approve or not. Hope this helps a little
I don’t really remember because it was on Sept. It was pretty much a very standard lease - 10k miles / year. Dodge Charger SXT Plus RWD, $1500 down payment, 36 month.
Then on Dec. it was also the most standard lease: Dodge Charger GT AWD, Navigation group, one dealer even had it with a beats audio group, $1500 down payment, 10k miles / year, 36 months. The most standard lease.
The thing is that on Sept. I got approved. On Dec. I got denied - and my credit scores are pretty much the same. Maybe 5 points less because of the hard inquiry on Sept.
So I’m really confused: 1. what have been changed from Sept and Dec.
2. How come the broker could get me approved / lower price - what’s his trick? I thought the bank is the one that determine the price and makes all the decisions. From what I understood even the dealer is very limit with pricing, etc. - is that true?
There is no trick here, most likely no communication or misunderstanding. The dealers and brokers may have been using different banks (USBank/Ally) instead of Chrysler Financial which uses chase.
Also, as Urus stated, it’s possible your Auto FICO score suffered immensely with such limited history and inquiries without actually buying anything. Generally you have around 90 days to make inquiries without a serious hit, but you seem to have stretched that out with multiple inquiries and no commitment. It’s eapecially fickle considering your limited borrowing history for auto loans.
Are you absolutely sold on the charger? I feel as if you’ll have a better chance on something like Accord EX-L 2.0T.
I can’t imagine paying 430 effective payment on a Charger SXT. Then again, I’m a car guy.
So I checked and my score is still over 700
I’m not interested in Honda / Toyota / Hyundai / Nissan …
I liked the dodge (I really liked the Challenger, my wife wouldn’t approve 2 doors… - so I have to stick to the charger … )
Why are you applying for credit so often? You can just tell them you’re top tier and not have them run your credit until you have the deal agreed. You need to go back to basics now, either research your credit profile and identify the issues and wait for it to improve, or seek professional help from someone who will check your file and sort any issues out faster.
Once you step in the dealer, after try the car and discussed the price the next thing they’d do is run credit
How can I get to tier 1?
My broker said I should get another 1-2 credit cards - is that true? I was google it and it says it has no benefits, besides the fact that the utilization ratio will be better, according to most of the articles I was reading is not really necessary. My credit line is $10,000 and realistically I’m not using more than few hundreds / month in my credit card. Some groceries / clothing / etc.
Does Chrysler capital / Ally / US bank really look how many credit card I have?
A friend told me to get a credit build loan (a ~$3-4k loan that you get only after finish paying the loan) on credit union and all these small banks - can it really help? If I’ll take a 6 month $3000 loan, pay it every month - will in July / Aug. I’ll be on a higher tier with better chances to lease a dodge charger?
Go to the last dealer that denied you and request the exact reason they denied you and a copy of the credit report they used to come to that decision. They may tell you to ask the bank directly, but you are entitled to that info by law.
There could be something negative on there that you don’t even know about. Also, stop applying for credit until you are sure the problem is resolved.
Check your wife’s credit history and score as well, and you can just lease it under her name if she can get approved.
Might help him get through this. Also, stop applying for credit every time you walk into a dealer. Stop walking into dealers until you have a deal! Do everything over email.
Google ‘10 ways to improve my credit score’ and follow the guide lines as best as possible. All kinds of ratios are used. More than 1 card is OK but they may look at your available credit to income ration. If you make $30K but have $40K of credit available that’s not always good.
Keep in mind that there are many different FICO scores ……you may have a 700 for one 675 for another or 725 for yet another.
My credits always been good. A few years ago we decided to try and get our scores as high as possible. Follow the guidelines.
Use a BROKER. Dealers will look for any weakness and exploit it.
A dealer wants to make a sale so they will do whatever they can to get someone approved or bumped up a tier to get the payment lower. They’re not going to want someone to get bumped down or denied because that could prevent them from making a sale. This “advice” has no basis in fact
Um ok. Not all dealers want to make a sale, case in point my Lexus. And my BMW before that. I’ve had dealers flat out tell me NO, we will not match prices or deals. A dealer will try to jack your rate up in any way possible. That is a fact.
I think the point Jim is trying to make is that most dealers will lie and cheat as much as they can to pull the most profit out of a deal. You are also correct that a dealer will do everything they can to prevent a deal from falling through.
Well they won’t fight to bump you to a lower tier. That’s a fact. Agreeing on price versus getting financed are two very different things. Of course some dealers are not interested in making a deal because the customer is unreasonable, already hit quotas, or any other reason
I had similar problem. Score was just about 700. When chrysler pulled they said i couldnt qualify for a lease with them at all even though gmac and nmac offered me tier 1. Come to find out after talking to owner of local jeep dealer, he stated that chrysler uses there own internal scoring system that he has never been able to figure out.
