Bamagirl77

Hi all! I have been reading these forums for a few years now and have a question about Acura financing. My lease will be up on my Accord in a few months. I am very strongly considering the RDX (at the top of my list) and was wondering if a 745 beacon qualifies you for decent financing. I only expect that to go up by the time I am ready to buy. It has never been a problem before. Everyone has always bragged about my credit score (Honda). Now Acura is saying it doesn't qualify me for Super Preferred financing. I would greatly appreciate any advice or help ya'll could give.[/SIZE][/FONT]

BlackDogRDX

That's a very strong score. I've heard of some places considering 700+ top tier and others looking for upwards of 760. While it can usually save time and effort to have the dealer shop for interest rates you may be surprised at how competitive the rates are.

I was able to find a 1.74% 60 month rate up here in New York through our local credit union. The only requirement to be a member of the credit union was to live in New York State and to have a savings account - so I handed them a dollar bill and took out the loan!

Edit: Most banking/lending instutions will be very upfront with what they consider a preferred score. If you call them and say "I'm a 745 what can you do for me?" I would hope they would give you that information without going through the hassle of actually applying.

jfarabaugh

i was in the 740s (lowest of the 3 scrores pulled the day before highest being 767) and had no issues getting the best rate. The weird thing was when picking the rdx up the score they had for me was like a 660. I went into a panic and was like WTF. they said their internal system scores differently and was not your acutally score.
Your income will also be looked at to make sure you can handle the payements. you can have a good credit score and still not have the income to safely make payments.

QN52

Rates in Canada are terrible - 4.5% for 60 months through Acura and the bank's rates aren't much better for a fixed rate.

TranPlanner

Check with a different Acura dealer. He may be marking up the money factor. I had one Acura dealer try and do that on me so I went to the next closest dealer, got a better price on the car and also got the better money factor.

Good luck.

TLtrigirl

iTrader: (1)

local credit unions. get preapproved first, then take that rate to the dealer. see if they will match it. they probably will. i did this for all my car purchases.

try bankrate.com to find the best rate or search out the local credit union for their rates.

Bamagirl77

Good evening all! I really appreciate all the responses so far. I did forget to mention that I plan to lease. I bought my Accord Dec. 2010 and it only has 11,500 miles on it which makes me a great lease candidate.

I am a teacher so I make decent money, don't have a mortgage payment, and don't have a lot of debt. I have all green lights on my credit-NEVER late or defaulted. I have been a Honda Finance customer for 10 years-3 Accords so I thought I would be a great Acura candidate.

I have been in contact with another dealer (5 hours away in Tallahassee) and they have been very willing to help and assured me they could get me out of my Accord in a few months. I am just not quite far enough into my lease to get out.

I am thinking a 2014 FWD TECH may be the way to go anyway.

Thanks again for the advice!!

weather

^^^ 2014? That means you are not buying until the fall of next year, or did you intend to say 2013?

Bamagirl77

Hi weather! Well, I would like a 2013 but am not sure if Acura will be able to get me out of my lease a little early or not. If not, I will be right on the border between the '13 and '14. Hopefully, I won't have to wait until the 2014 model, but they are not sure at this point. The salesman I have been communicating with 5 hours away told he that he would stay on top of everything and let me know as soon as he can do something. Keeping my fingers crossed.

nj2pa2nc

Many acura dealers along with other brands offer low financing (0%,0.9%, 1.9%) at different times during the year. When I bought my tsx in 06 I was able to get 0%. Helps to have a excellent credit score. Try not going to too many places to try to get financing. Each time your credit is checked your score can be effected. Right now the top credit is 850. I am happy to say mine is in the 800s

TLtrigirl

iTrader: (1)

your score is not really affected IF you are looking for auto loan or mortgage loan. there might be a limit as to how many "checks" (like 5) you can have but your score will not take a hit. it's only when you have CC and others checking into your credit or closing CC accounts when you take a hit to your score.

nj2pa2nc

I agree-that is why I wrote Can be. I worked for a bank for 10+yrs, my father worked at a bank and my brother worked at a bank.

Bamagirl77

Hi again all! I just wanted to let you know that I received a response from the dealer in Tallahassee and he told me that anything above a 720 is considered excellent and that I would qualify for Super Preferred on Acura Leases!! I am so relieved to find that out! The other salesperson had me in a panic!!

Hopefully, I will be in a new RDX TECH very soon!!

Thanks again for all the information!!

hawkeye62

One last thought. My credit score is just over 800, so I always qualify for the best loan terms. When I bought my 2013 RDX in May, my dealer told me that Acura didn't have the lowest interest car loans and that a credit union would be a better option. I ended up with a local credit union loan. So, be sure to check before you go with Acura financing.

Good luck, Jim

beach109

Rule of thumb.

If your score is 700+ and you already have/had/ending a perfectly paid Honda Finance account, they would love to give you another. Honda & Acura finance are identical, and rather than what you were told, you should have been told there should be no issue at all.

As bad as it sounds to say, even if you're not going to pay other bills, pay Honda/Acura finance and with that good history, even with a terrible score, they will keep your business the next go around.

745 and current Honda account, as long as income isn't too low to raise a question, you should qualify for most best programs.

Bamagirl77

Thanks beach109 and hawkey62. Actually, I have been a Honda Finance customer since 2002 on 4 different occasions (3 leases and 1 purchase of a lease and all Accords). I have never been late on a single payment and have always paid extra. I wonder if I will qualify for the loyalty program.

I make great money as a teacher. As I have stated before no rent or mortgage or credit card debt, which I know is a plus. I feel so much better about everything and am looking forward to becoming a first-time Acura owner in the near future.

Thanks again to all for the advice and information! I knew I would be okay posting my question here!

buzzdsm

Not to be preachy but....

I have a bad history of buying/selling cars every couple of years. About 10 years ago I decided that I was never going to have another car loan. If I couldn't afford to pay cash for a car than I didn't need one. This was a little hard at first but I bought a cheap car with cash and just started saving like I actually had a car payment. Each car since I've paid cash. If the wife wanted a new car that costs more than we had in this "car fund" than she knows she would just have to wait. Now we have a 2008G35x and a 2013 RDX sitting in the garage that are fully paid for and I have $20K in the "car fund" in case I want to upgrade the G35 at some point. In 2008 when all hell broke loose in the market and everyone was losing their jobs it felt really good to know that we had both cars paid off.


Now I need to work on the mortgage......

On a side note, every time I've ran the lease numbers on a new car they never made financial sense to me regardless on how long I kept the car.

hawkeye62

Yeah, BUT, paying cash for major items like cars and houses may not make financial sense IF, the interest rate on a loan is less than you are making on the assets in your "car" account.

I have never been able to pencil an advantage on a car lease either. Lease payments always seem to be about what a loan payment would be and at the end of the lease, you have no car. Maybe someone here could explain what makes a lease attractive for someone other than a business?

Regards, Jim

buzzdsm

I usually put this money in a employee stock purchase plan that gets me a 15% discount so it's always worked out fine but for me it's something even more than the 4-5% that I would pay on a car loan. If times get tough I could just stop contributing to my espp. With a car loan you can't just stop making payments. Once I get a sizable chunk in that espp I just move it over to something safer.

As far as the leas, my guess is that 90+% do it to be able to afford a payment on a car they could not normally afford. I think total cost gets thrown out the window with a lot of people. Paying $399 on a $40K car sounds a lot better than paying $850/month on a traditional loan. If car companies were not making money on these leases they probably wouldn't be offering them as an option.


BTW-Are you a Iowa Hawkeye fan?

hawkeye62

I graduated from the University of Iowa, so I guess that makes me a Hawkeye fan.

Jim

buzzdsm

44-41

hawkeye62

??? Sorry. I don't understand. Looks like a football score.

Jim

buzzdsm

I've been going to ISU football games for the last 15 years. Had to take a jab at a Hawkeye fan since it's a rare occurance.

hawkeye62

Gosh! I forgot about that.

, Jim

Mr Marco

Mine is a solid 250, that's good, right?

hawkeye62

Yup, you will never have any worries about missing a loan payment.

Jim

Rocketsfan

Being a Houston Rockets fan, thank you for Royce White. Hopefully he does well.

Ok, I'm done - back on topic again...

dcrdx

Try BB&T, they gave me a great rate. They had a tie to BB&T at the dealership.