I applied for financing when my car was delivered, and I was just under Tier 2. The dealer finance manager said they can no longer bump you up a Tier. I’m concerned they’re just trying to inflate the money factor. The other two credit bureaus would qualify me for Tier 2, but they wouldn’t consider those scores. Can anyone provide insight?
Ask to see the approval, if they flinch at all, they are full of 
Every single time I’ve leased or witnessed a lease, I’ve been shown my credit score report. Definitely ask to see yours.
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Couldn’t agree more.
They would only show me the TransUnion number, which seemed a lot lower than when I ran it. They wouldn’t consider Equifax or Experian, which contradicted what they told me over the phone. They offered to comp me AudiCare to compensate.
What really annoyed me, is we negotiated the MF over the phone. They tried to inflate it, but I threatened to walk and the caved to the buy rate. And I had applied for credit online before I went in, so there would be no issues. They said over the phone that even if I was borderline to Tier 1/2, as a prior Audi Financial customer “there were things they could do” and that I shouldn’t worry. But when I got there, suddenly there was nothing they could do and they claimed they could no longer bump me up a Tier. So they offered to comp AudiCare instead. So in the end, the lease payment was about $30 higher.
Ask to see the approval from Audi, not your score
I did, and they said they just get a phone call from Audi Financial. They said there was no approval letter.
Maybe someone else can chime in, but when I worked at a vw dealer 10 years ago we did everything on the computer, no phone call unless we needed a tier bump. I call complete BS. Their was always something with the tier on it, computer screen, fax, etc. They’ll probably stick with their story though so they don’t appear shady
Can I call Audi Financial and get my approval info from them? I’m not saying my Transunion score was incorrect. But they had said over the phone that they take the highest score from the three credit bureaus, and that they can take into account my prior car with Audi Financial. Both statements proved to be false once I arrived at the dealer. They told me they can no longer bump you up a tier due to discrimination law suits. I just have a feeling that they pulled this because I refused to sign an inflated money factor, and this gave them cover to inflate it anyway.
I would contact AFS but be prepared to hear “your Audi dealer is best to handle this request”.
In other words, if the dealer really wanted to make the deal, they have the power to request a tier bump.
I have been denied by 2 dealers to qualify for their “tier 1+ rate”, but one dealer said - no problem since I had a great previous lease…
It’s all up to the dealer to roll the deal.
For my lease Q5 Premium Plus ,the base MF one dealer quoted was .00147 , went to another dealer to look at different options and they were not upfront on MF but got a price which was lower than first dealer by 15$ per month ,so I assumed that that’s bcz of the 550$ difference in MSRP of the car .The finance guy ran my report and gave a MF around .0019 and said that’s what it is approved for with my Experian score of 751 and they can’t do anything which is BS . So dealers does consider Experian. Many are not transparent and mark up the MF.
That’s exactly what I feared. I thought dealers couldn’t play games with credit applications, but I think they used it as a cover to inflate the MF. They had told me they would never lease it at the buy rate, until I threatened to walk. I guess I should have sensed what they were doing and walked away from the finance desk. I had everything negotiated very well, but I wasn’t prepared for their final trick. They lost a future customer over this.
The credit score will vary depending on who is puling it. For example, if you have a few late mortgage payments and a medical collection, but your last 8 cars loans have ben paid perfectly, that score will be higher for the car loans than if your applying for a mortgage. The formula used to tailored to the type of credit your asking for. Some lenders even have their own scoring formula and pull your credit report and review it internally, ignoring any “score” applied by the big 3
I learned all about this 10 years ago when leasing a Subaru. I was in the middle of a mortgage modification and was 3 months behind as the process was going (was denied BTW), however I still qualified for top their lease programs with Chase because I had a history of 8 car loans and leases with them over the years and never was late, ever. The consumer credit score was 680, the dealer showed 702 when they pulled and quick call to Chase and I was qualified for the 720+ lease program. Chase even waived a $350 fee, dropping my lease payment a few more dollars.
Every dealers are like this ,some play more tricks than others . I started with Mazda CX5 ,2019 RAV4 and moved to luxury segment just because the Mazda’s and new RAV4 quotes I received was worse and almost same as GLC/X3/Q5 quotes. The Mazda,Toyota dealers were complete waste of time and not worth it.
The Audi, BMW,Mercedez dealers were far better but still played some tricks but not as bad as other brand dealers . I do not think that you will get a great deal without any hassle unless you have good friends in dealerships. Of the luxury segment , Jaguar dealership experience was not good.
Here’s the latest update: Another dealer and Audi Financial Services both confirmed that AFS considers all three credit bureau scores, and that the dealer has the discretion to bump customers a credit Tier. AFS says there is nothing they can give me that shows my three credit scores on the day they were run, nor their credit approval that was sent to the dealer. And forum members were right; they keep referring me back to the original dealer which will lead no where. The dealer already lied to me, and said they only consider TransUnion, and can’t bump a Tier. It’s clear to me that the dealer used this as a ruse to justify raising my monthly payment and make more profit. I had negotiated them down to the bone, and had leveraged the buy rate MF.
So now what are my options? The lease has been signed, and I am on my second payment. I am definitely going to tell the dealer they’ve lost my business, and my referral business. I don’t mind a dealer making money and refusing to negotiate lower. But I refuse to be lied to.
Do I have any recourse?
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On a related note, is it usual to be bumped down a tier because the buyer is a corporation? Just got bumped down to tier 2 and had my quote go up because the lease is in my company’s name, although I remain a guarantor. Never had this happen before.