Car loans and no approval... - Page 2

[kijip]

Try USAA or a credit union. Now that you have the car, you obviously need to find financing or you are out a lot of money and have no car. If it was a good decision or not is now moot. Could it be that they are assuming you have rent expense that you don't have? Is there a person on base or at the car dealership that could help you? I am not getting being able to take the car off the lot without secured financing.

[crazyeight]

Yes we already tried USAA. No we don't pay rent and the USAA knows that.

UPDATE: We got a loan!! I went to the credit union Wed. and got the paperwork started to find out if we would get approved, dh just confirmed to pull his credit over the phone and after sorting out some numbers (they had dh's social wrong!) we got approved! Its 7.20% APR and if we do a direct deposit (which we are) we will get an effective rate of 6.75%!! I was actually surprised at how good of a rate we got/will get!

Although when the woman pulled dh's credit there was a collection for a bank that I don't know what its for. So now I have to sort that out and figure out what in the world its for and most likely have to pay it (about $400). I am so frusterated and some of this stuff! It was through telecheck; the system that tells banks whether or not to open new checking accounts and such.

But at least we have a loan!! We will be signing papers today or tomorrow and deliver the check....and start making payments.

[klg47]

Originally Posted by dhinderliter

believe me that we can afford this car. its EXACTLY the same payments (give or take $10 even at 8% interest...we checked BEFORE buying) as my old car.

First of all, I'm glad you got it resolved! Secondly, when other posters said that you can't afford the car, they weren't thinking at all about your monthly income versus monthly expenses. They (I am also) are of the mindset that if you are getting a loan for anything, that means you can't afford it. It's a totally different way of thinking than most Americans are used to!

[crazyeight]

Originally Posted by klg47

First of all, I'm glad you got it resolved! Secondly, when other posters said that you can't afford the car, they weren't thinking at all about your monthly income versus monthly expenses. They (I am also) are of the mindset that if you are getting a loan for anything, that means you can't afford it. It's a totally different way of thinking than most Americans are used to!

well i wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth and my mother lived on $5000 a year when we were growing up (i know poverty). i am also only 22 years old and had kids when i was 19 and working for $700 a month. I didn't have TIME to save or anything. if we didn't get loans we MIGHT be able to afford a beater, gas hog car made in 1990 that dh and i would have to share.

loans aren't bad...its ABUSING the credit and not realizing what your doing with them that will get you into trouble.

[klg47]

Originally Posted by dhinderliter

well i wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth

Me neither.

Originally Posted by dhinderliter

if we didn't get loans we MIGHT be able to afford a beater, gas hog car made in 1990 that dh and i would have to share.

And there are plenty of people who make that work. My dh and I got married in 2000 when I was 20 and in school. We drove a 1974 Chevelle our first couple of years. I have a friend who has been married 3 years, and she and her husband have made do that whole time without car loans. They've had old cars that cost them $500 or less at times when they needed a car. There are ALWAYS choices and ways, if you want to find them.

Originally Posted by dhinderliter

loans aren't bad...its ABUSING the credit and not realizing what your doing with them that will get you into trouble.

Well, that's your opinion You're in good company - most Americans believe the same.

[skueppers]

Originally Posted by dhinderliter

well i wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth and my mother lived on $5000 a year when we were growing up (i know poverty). i am also only 22 years old and had kids when i was 19 and working for $700 a month. I didn't have TIME to save or anything. if we didn't get loans we MIGHT be able to afford a beater, gas hog car made in 1990 that dh and i would have to share.

For what it's worth, I agree with you that sometimes when you're young, going into debt to buy something like a car can be a good idea. It's a question of balancing what's smart financially (saving up to buy a car) with the rest of your needs.

I know that for me, reliability in a vehicle is really important -- and newer cars are usually more reliable than older cars.

A saving technique that works well for a lot of people is to continue to "make payments" into a savings account even after the car is paid off. That way, if you drive a car for 10 years, by the time it needs to be replaced, you've saved enough to buy a new car.

[Moon Faerie]

Originally Posted by dhinderliter

if we didn't get loans we MIGHT be able to afford a beater, gas hog car made in 1990 that dh and i would have to share.

It happens, and you deal with it. We had a repo in our early 20s after the banks eagerly loaned us the money for a car we really couldn't afford that we had to have. After that, we have decided to go debt free. Other than my student loans, which we're working on, we've accomplished that. 2 years ago, when our dd was born, we had 1 car - an 84 civic hatchback. Today we have 3 cars: a 93 Camry (with 225k miles, my old car, getting sold once we get settled in the new place), a 91 G20 (125K miles, dh's car), and a 00 MPV (only 80k miles, paid cash for it in Jan). Sure, we'd love a brand new car with all of the fun features. However, it doesn't make financial sense, IMO. For example, when the previous owners bought my van new, they paid $30k. I only paid $5500 when I bought it from them. Our Camry seems to have hit bottom in terms of depreciation. It's only worth about $1k less than what we paid for it (used) 4 years ago. So if I sold it today, it would work out that it would be the equivalent of having paid $21/month to drive it. Much better than a $300/month payment to me.

[kijip]

Originally Posted by skueppers

For what it's worth, I agree with you that sometimes when you're young, going into debt to buy something like a car can be a good idea. It's a question of balancing what's smart financially (saving up to buy a car) with the rest of your needs.

I know that for me, reliability in a vehicle is really important -- and newer cars are usually more reliable than older cars.

When we bought our first car (I was 21), we needed a reliable car (living in a rural area, and needing to make weekly or 2x monthly trips 500 miles round trip.) We ended up with a three year old Corolla, putting A LOT down and then financing the rest with our credit union. I was happy when we paid it off, but think that a small car loan can be an ends to a means. I don't think that needing a reliable car extends to needing a new car though- a gently used Toyota or whatnot will go for a long time. We are kicking around the idea of replacing it soon but we will be paying cash, in part to savings and in part to inheritance. I don't think I would ever take on another car loan but when we needed to, it was ok. I had seen my friends pour more into beaters than we ever paid for our reliable as rain, no hassles Corolla. Now I am getting all nostalgic and wanting to keep it rather than buying another car...good.

[crazyeight]

reliability is a big concern for me. i live in a big (to me) city and we are pretty much alone. dh, the kids and I are the only family for half the country and i don't have any friends. to be stranded halfway across town in 110 degree weather and have to wait for dh to come get us (which is nearly impossible in a camaro!) or haveing to take the bus (which i have never taken and not really sure if its "safe") was something i didn't want to have to worry about.

the only thing our old car was satisfying was reliability. it had bad gas mileage, no room (dh is 6'2" and couldn't drive it comfortably and couldn't RIDE comfortably etc), no backseat space etc.

i plan to drive the new car until we move out the of the states (3-4 years??). although i wouldn't have minded an older vehicle (03-05) they didn't make these until 06. i looked at many vehicles and compared the pro's, con's and customer reviews. 80% of the time its just me and the kids, another 10% of the time dh is with us and then the other 10% is when we have friends/family to see and i would like us all to fit in one car. this car seats 6 people but for run of the mill days i don't have a huge vehicle, and it still gets good gas mileage, is under warrenty for another 4 years and we aren't upside down on it (could easily sell it for $16-17K right now private party) and it all around fits all the bills i wanted it to. the only downfalls are A.) when you load it down with people you don't get as much power B.) you loose cargo space when you have more than 4 in the vehicle and C.) i wanted the grand touring (ok so this isn't a need its a want!) so i am VERY happy with it. my old car we bought because we had to. my $500 car (i've had several) literally died the day we traded it in. then our family grew another person and we just outgrew the car. thats another thing.....we haven't had a planned pregnancy yet...IF (BIG IF!) we get pregnant again we would have HAD to get another car whether we were fincially able to or not....better to do it on our terms than when we MUST.

since we are in the military i doubt it will be a while before we will ever be able to buy a car outright or even close to it. i would have no problem putting the "car payment" into a savings account had we had a car that was still meeting 60% of our needs but it wasn't.

KLG- i realize that many people make do with one car, or a beater one car but in your examples these people are CHILDLESS. i have TWO children at this age (22 next month). i have never gone to college and we started with NOTHING. hardly even a beater and less than nothing in our checking account. we HAD TO GET a car. we bought a reliable car that we thought would last a while....but then dd came into our lives and our other car was just to small etc. going DOWN to an older less reliable car just wasn't something i would ever do. oh and a chevelle is much better than a 1980 honda civic (no offense to old civic drivers!!) as its a collector car.

[shelbean91]

Danielle- you made the decision that is best for your family. Please don't feel as though you need to defend yourself to others who have made different decisions.

[kijip]

Originally Posted by shelbean91

Danielle- you made the decision that is best for your family. Please don't feel as though you need to defend yourself to others who have made different decisions.

:

[boobybunny]

For what it is worth, the car she bought is the way American family cars should be going. Six passenger, decent MPG, safe, and cleaner burning than most.

On those points along, she should be applauded. So what if she had to do a loan, her husband is military. (meaning he could be deployed at any time) Do you really think it is a good idea for a military mama, with kiddos to be stranded by the roadside with her immediate support system gone?

[klg47]

Originally Posted by dhinderliter

KLG- i realize that many people make do with one car, or a beater one car but in your examples these people are CHILDLESS.

I agree with the other posters that this is your decision and you don't need to justify it. I joined in the conversation just to explain what was meant by "afford". However, you're wrong about my examples. Both the couples I mentioned had kids while they were without cars or driving the cars I mentioned. Our first was born when I was just a week past 21 and a junior in school. We drove that 1974 Chevelle until we were able to get a $5000 car.

This is exactly the same as the UC argument. People will say "I have no choice, I HAVE to have a hospital birth." But it's simply not true, as the UC'ers will always tell you. There are always choices.

[daekini]

We have 2 kids, aged nearly 2 and nearly 4. We did fine on 1 subaru outback. We bought another car because dh had to be to work at 6 a.m. and waking the kids at 5:45 became...too challenging. So we saved up 3K and searched til we got a great deal on a used car. We travelled a couple hours away to get a good car for a good price. We could have afforded a sizeable payment each month but I have made different decisions regarding what I want to spend money on.