Hi folks, I want to lease a EV9 but it seems like my credit score is not high enough to get the kia promo deals… I’ve moved into the US 2 years ago and had many credit checks for leasing a car 2023 May so I think that’s why. (believe it or not it’s 30 credit checks, I hope that the rumor that the credit checks for one purpose within 2 weeks is regarded as 1 is true…) I would think that the credit score if I do a real hard pull will be lower a bit, any suggestions if I want to lease with this score?
It’s not just Score, it’s Score + Income + length of credit history.
30 checks would completely tank you for at least 30 days…why do you keep doing pulls?
I just didn’t know how the credit system in the US works… so I shopped around the dealers with many credit checks during 2023 May and got Jeep GC4xe which I like, now I need to lease one more for my wife but I see that my credit score is low.
Last credit check is at around feb for making two credit cards, since then the score keeps going down from 735 to 700 although I’m paying off the credit card balance every day.
It shouldn’t keep going down, unless you keep doing apps.
The credit card does affect your score if you keep maxing it out and then paying it out.
But it should solve it after a few weeks. Pulls do ‘fall off’
That’s what I was expecting too, because my credit usage is close to 0% due to my payoff everyday habit… if I pull now for leasing probably I won’t have a good deal, right
dang, I just did check the scores in experian and credit karma which are respectively showing my credit score:
equifax 750
transunion 735
experian 778
why chase app is showing 703
Anyways in this case what score would be used for leasing?
Experian usually shows your FICO score which is the model used by most manufacturers to determine your credit worthiness so I would use that
So I just signed up for Experian’s 7 days free FICO score display of three credit bureaus
where
equifax 793
transunion 771
experian 778
In this case would it be possible to get the best deals from the dealers if I’m not wrong?
You will be just fine with all of those
1 Like
I see… I would blame Chase for showing a wrong score 
Did you actually lease a car yet or were you just doing credit pulls this past two years? If you have a thin credit history and no prior auto history that could be the issue, regardless of your regular consumer scores.
I have my gc 4xe lease going on, and I want to lease another car now.
There are many different types of credit scores, not just one. Auto decisions are basically FICO 8 or 9, sometimes both, depending on the lessor.
Free scores from credit karma or credit card companies that use vantage 3.0 are usually worthless. The score doesn’t mean anything from a lending perspective.
Some lenders use all three scores, dropping the highest and the lowest. Some average all three scores, some only use one of the three without bothering about the others.
Every lender has their own pricing and risk models. In everyone’s case, the score is only one factor. Length of credit history, types of accounts on file, debt-to-income ratio, income, total exposure, etc. So many factors that there is no one answer.
In your case, you’ll probably get another lease, depending on make/model and lessor. But no idea if it would be the best deal. You’re right on the threshold by score, that you could squeak in.
Not trying to burst your bubble but setting expectations; one year’s of history doesn’t tell the models much… need more data.
so if I’m not wrong the score from experian free trial is FICO 8 or 9 so that I am likely to land on so called tier 1 credit to get lease promos…?
All of the scores you posted just above from EX/EQ/TU are good enough for tier 1. Depending on the bank sometimes all you need is 700 for tier 1.
So with decent income, a good credit score, and an existing lease that you’ve been paying on time now you probably won’t have approval issues at most mainstream banks. But ultimately that depends on exactly what make/model/bank you’re interested in and your income etc.
Just keep in mind that even though your credit qualifies your for tier 1 rates the dealer doesn’t have to give them to you.
The impact of credit inquiries is grossly misunderstood (it’s practically nil).
And even then:
Most common FICO models ignore any inquiries after the 6th one for scoring purposes, and ignore them entirely after a year.
No rumor, the FICO algorithms know that people rate shop.
Also, the only score model that matters is the one that’s used to decision/price your credit application.
If you want to be sure that you know where you stand, you need to know which bureau and score model the lessor will use, and then get that score.
A friend recently leased with credit around 650. It increased his payments on about 30 dollars (negotiated everything before running credit).
My suggestion is to agree on price and payments before allowing them to run your credit. There’s no point in getting an inquire if the dealer won’t agree with the discount you have in mind.
Clean out as many of those hard inquiries as possible. Here’s how.
- Go over your report. Find ANYTHING wrong. And I do mean ANYTHING. Misspelled name, wrong phone number, wrong address. Likely something is wrong. Find it.
- Go here https://www.identitytheft.gov/
- File a data breach claim bc of Equifax.
- Get the printed report when completed.
- MAIL in the US MAIL to Equifax, Experian and Transunion a very simple dispute form where you list all the inquiries and say they are not yours and attach the data breach file.
Costs 3 stamps. Takes 30 days. Worked for me. I was impacted by the Equifax data breach. We all were. Use it to your advantage.
2 Likes
I’m really surprised and appreciating all the helps from all of you, it’s so incredible…