Looking to lease a car but don’t know what to expect when I go in with a 618 credit score also I have only 4,000 saved for new car any useful advice out there ? I live in Staten Island ny
I’ve heard getting approved to assume an existing lease is easier than getting approved for a new lease, so you can maybe try swapalease or leaseswapp. 618 is going to be hard though, I think they look for at least 650 to 680.
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It seems like there are some subprime specific incentives available currently, particularly on CDJR products, and I believe I’ve seen a few GM on select models recently, so that might help if you absolutely need to lease something new. You might want to see if you can find out your FICO Auto score somewhere, since it doesn’t always necessarily line up with the regular 3 bureau scores. That said, if you have 4k lying around and you’re not terribly picky you might just want to look into an inexpensive used car via private sale, and start working on improving your credit before you get soaked at a dealership on subprime interest rates. Sell the beater when you get above 720 and revisit things then. You’ll have at least a couple of grand to put towards inception fees if needed, and you’ll probably save several thousand long term with better rates.
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I agree, get a used car and work on fixing your credit score in the meantime. It’s not worth paying really high interest just for the new car smell.
One more thing I would explore is a 1-pay lease on something like the Buick encore for 24 mo. Should be around the $4k. They might do something like that since you’re basically paying the whole lease upfront at once. Might have to wait for better timing to get the best deal. Maybe @mani_is_kool can chime in, he knows those encore deals pretty well.
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Perhaps, but you are still getting charged interest on the one pay, no? Wouldn’t the deal be based on the higher subprime MF, just subtracting the One pay MF reduction, and possibly the acquisition fee reduction if paid up front? I’m not sure where that would leave you price wise. That also assumes qualifying for conquest or loyalty too.
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I’m not saying it’s the answer, I’m saying it’s worth exploring. He might live in a household with a conquest car. You def didn’t need loyalty for the encore deals. As for interest, I think the MF gets reduced for doing a 1-pay, not sure where the starting MF would be given the credit score but again, I would explore this option if I was in OP’s position.
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That’s definitely a way to do it, but I could just see a dealer, especially on Staten Island just licking their chops having someone in this situation credit and experience wise try to hammer this out. This might be a good time to use a broker if it’s definitely the way they want to go.
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Stay way from GMF. GM uses Equifax and the tier structure is horrible. You need 720 to be A1, A2 is below 720 to i think 690.
Volvo believe it or not is the best. Above 600, and you get bumped like 25 to 35 bucks a month. 680 and above and you are good for any deal a 800 score holder is for.
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Volvo is going to look at the whole picture as well as the FICO score. There will be some other requirements, but Volvo has only on tier for all leases if the FICO is 600 or more. They do have tiers for retail finance, though.
@RaulRodriguez - you should go to annualcreditreport.com and pull a free copy (once a year) of all your credit reports and look into improving your score, possibly dispute erroneous information, etc.
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I agree, but I would like to add that once dealer sees a low credit score, they pull out the machete. OP should be prepared for that. Dealers see low credit score as a bonus to scare the client, specially first timers. We have all heard the stories about not having a prior auto loan history and score being low, etc etc.
They will most likely try to bump up between 50 to 100 bucks.
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Now I feel like getting a Volvo 
Aren’t also Jeep/Chrysler more accessible to lower FICO scores?
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uh… might be too late for the S90s lol but check on the forums and edmunds because the incentives vary for regions. Not sure about Jeep/Chrysler but even if they do, you still have to fight the dealers.
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Hyundai and Kia have lease programs for low credit scored customers. Not going to be top rates but they will approve leases when some other brands won’t. And don’t put that $4k down as Cost Cap reduction.
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