Could you please clarify a little. When you said that you had spoken with someone at AmEx, who (what division) are you talking about taking over your "existing?" car loan? Does AmEx have a secured title division or were you referring to those 3.9% (or sometimes ZERO percent) checks that they periodically send out? If it's one of the checks and your able to not charge anything else to that account for the duration (a couple of years?) then maybe that's a way to go if you can ensure that they won't raise the rate during the term (like they always try to do). In the past I have always shredded those things BEFORE i even read my bill.

Thanks in advance for your reply.

 

I called custumer service at amex 1800 axp 1000 . Custumer service rep told me they would carry the loan portion only with a locked rate for the remander of the loan. other purchases would be different. Try to give them a call it cant hurt.

 

is this a common practice for corporations to own or have partnerships with credit unions, for employees to use? and is this considered part of your benefits package? ive never heard anything about my employer having a CU partnership, but then again I haven't asked.....

 

For medium to large professional services companies, yes. But I can't speak for other types of companies, though I'm pretty sure lots of other types of companies have credit unions as well. Also, most gov't orgs have credit unions too. Yeah, part of your benefits, and the company can partner with (the norm) or sometimes own the CU.

 

i work for ebay. i ask because it's not part of my benefits package, and everyone there is always ranting and raving about how good the benefits are. thats probably because people are overly concerned with stupid things like life insurance.... me, im not too excited about giving people money when im dead

 

My credit union is associated with my company. I believe about 1800 people work at my work location ( 3 power plants). I do not believe its a benifit, but you can only join if you work there. My brother's company only had a couple hundred people (if that), but he had a credit union that was associated with several similar sized companies.

 

So it does sound like they are willing to extend a non-secure loan on their card at a locked rate. This is similar to the checks they send out. It cost around $65 for the transaction. The only thing you have to be REAL carefull about is the way they do that. They often state that "other charges may carry a higher rate" (as you have already pointed out). What they may not have clarified is that they can change that rate "at the drop of a hat". They probably also did not point out that the lowest rates would be paid off first. This means that if you transferred $10K onto this card at 3.9% and have been making payments around $500/month, you would be golden until you charged the next item (a $2,500 Plasma TV for example). Then all of a sudden, the $2,500 balance Plasma interest rate may be 13.99%. Each payment you make from then forward (until the initial $10K is paid off) would go first to the lower interest rate item. This way they "incrementally" raise the rate "right under your own nose" yet you can't change it. It's not like you can ask them to apply your next five $500 payments to pay off the plasma (with the higher interest), nope, those payments get applied directly to the original low interest rate loan BEFORE ANYTHING is applied to the higher rate/lower balance items. I've seen people not understand this beforehand so I just wanted to point out that the AmEX thing "can" work out but ONLY if you start with a ZERO balance and NEVER charge another thing else EVER to the card. Otherwise, the 3.9% "teaser rate" could easily turn into a 22% nightmare.

 

jeez.. it seems harder than i thought.. so what would be the going rate for borrowing money these days? i mean with very good credit score?

 

I am not in the loan business so these numbers could be off some but here is what I have been finding: It depends on what your trying to borrow for. Prime is around 6.5 (right). Many Home Equity loans are often tied to Prime. There are a few out there with "teaser rates" of prime minus 1 but that's often only good for the first three months (or something similar). If your talking car loans then the other guys on here may be better sources. If your talking 30-year Mortgage notes I understand those can still be had around 5.5% (over 200K loan amount). All these assume a better than average score of above 750 or so.

 

Well guys maybe I can help out a bit here.

I'm a Finance Manager at a Honda store; yes I want an IS350! Rates have been going up on car loans and they will continue to rise, we're not talking about huge amounts though. These rates will eventually stabalize, this will happen probably when around 7% for A++ credit, but that will probably be late 2006. Credit Unions will always get you a lower rate, at least historically. With credit Unions, especially if you finance for longer then average terms (72-96 months) you get amazing rates if your credit allows.

There are also some misconceptions with credit scores. Your score is not an end-all gaurantees such-and-such rate. Every bank looks at what your bureau reads; this is sometimes more important than your score itself. You can have two 700 scoring individuals, if one is 20yrs old and has only had a few credit cards and another is a 45 yr old that has paid bills and has owned previous cars and homes; well the 20 yr old gets a 21% rate and the 45 yr old gets the 5-7% rate.

Also if you have had a history of not paying your bills, even if you score has "bounce" back an is in the high 600's to low 700's you won't get the best interest rate. If your Debt-To-Income (DTI) is too high, you will not get low financing and you may not get financed at all. Your credit bureau says a lot about you, Banks will know everything about you for at least the last 10 yrs, in some cases longer, but that's a different story.

You also have three Credit Bureaus, they are different than your FICO score for home loans; you need to pull all 3 and see what they say about you. They can vary in what is reported and your score itself.

Credit Unions will also sit down and interview with their members, at least here in CO they do, and you can usually get a better rate than what your score and burearu dictate. Larger banks only look at the bureau and if you do not meet there minimum requirements for X% for financing, you don't get it.

Now there's a little something called Dealer Participation. Whatever rates you are quoted by a dealership, don't take it as written in stone. MOST dealerships will mark-up the rate. You may qualify for 5.55 financing, but they may tell you that you can get their best rate of 7.25%. This is just extra money for the dealership. Getting your own financing will always be better for you, but it is more of a hassell and more work for you to do! It's entirely up to you which way you want to go. On a 60 month car note .5-1% extra financing won't make a big difference in your payment, and it only tacks on a few hundred more bucks in interest, but it means less hassell to have the dealership do everything for you.

Right now for instance Honda offers 5.8% (720+) financing for the very best credit out there; but just last month in Nov, Honda offered 4.49% financing to people as low as a 649 credit score. Keep an eye out for special rates like the one I just mentioned; I'm not sure how Lexus works, but with Honda when they offer the special rates, we're not allowed to mark-up the rates; Honda won't accept the contract and fund the deal.

Sorry this is so long, but there were some things thast I saw that needed to be corrected and light shed on in this post.

 

My credit union (Apple FCU) is offering 4.5% for 4-6 yr auto financing, for a credit score of 740+

 

No Kidding? And to think I was happy with 4.4 percent on my 36 month loan!

 

jeez.. yeah if i buy this car.. it will be my first car.. and will have to finance.. so i guess i will need dad to cosign.. and how does that all work if anyone wants to shine some light.. is it that i get the financing of my dad's credit score? combined score?

 

whatever interest rate and loan amount your dad can qualify for, you will qualify for, if he cosigns. your credit means nothing if you have a cosigner

 

i see that makes sense.. so basically i get the credit of the cosigner.. makes sense.. because that person will "look after" me.. or cover me.. haha