ben_r_

Man I wish my car would get paid off in 8 months! No guys... Im in it for the long run unless a really big contract comes up as a gift from god and I get a huge amount of money! Then its pay off the car and get a new condo!

Evitzee

That works IF you have the discipline to really invest the money, and if you really can get 8-9% on your investments (pre-tax). The last few years it's been easy to outpace that rate, but if we go into a bear market all bets are off. In my experience most people talk about investing this money, but they rarely do.

al503

Let's be a little optimistic and for argument's sake say the OP can get 8.5% (instead of the 9-10% he was quoted). If he finances $10,000 and invests that money instead, he'd have to get a 10% rate of return on his investment to break even (paying the minimum 15% long term capital gains tax rate.)

If you know where we can get >10% rate of return on our investment without any risk, I'm all ears. If you can't do it without any risk, you're gambling, pure and simple.

Even if you could get a 6% interest rate, you'd still have to get something over 7% to make it worthwhile. I still don't know of any investment that doesn't include the element of risk.

07Txlex

I got a 5.XX% from Lexus Financial on my 350 in September

RocketGuy3

iTrader: (1)

Well even if you can break even (and at 6% that is not all that hard), it is still a good idea to invest IMO. If you have the ability to keep more money in savings without losing anything, you should do it.

And financing makes it much easier for someone like me to put the max amount in investments such as my Roth IRA... and I'm fairly confident the returns there will beat the interest on my loan. But of course there is always some risk involved.

ReLexin

I also financed my Lexus, through Lexus Financial. 6.9% for 60 months. I traded in my 98 GS400 and they gave me $14,500. I plan to pay the car off within a year so the high percent doesn't bother me. it my first car loan so i was surprised at the rate anyways. Only other credit builder was my Amex Gold card that my mom gave to me.

Dj_AmtraX

iTrader: (2)

paid cash for mine

linh811

I agree 100%

Daisy1

I paid 11,100 and financed 30,000. @7%

OutlawsX

FICA 800+, 20k down, 6.2% lowest at the time I got the car, and 430 payments.

IRCRomeo

Both. Paid around $25k cash and financed the rest at 6.09%.

warrionex

In my location a good credit score have to be higher than 700, excellent is higher than 890. Mine is 900 flat and it is wrong I will fight this with TransUnion and Experian. It should be at least 930. Another thing, if you are authorizing companies to look into your credit history or report, your score is automatically lowered every single time this happens. This can really hurt your credit score.

Try Pentagon Federal. Their current offer is 5.79% up to 72 months.

mt1

I don't know what a FICA score is, but FICO scores range from 500 to 850.

The rates below are for 30 year mortgages, but illustrate the difference the FICO score can make when financing.

760-850 5.918% $1,783
700-759 6.140% $1,826
660-699 6.424% $1,881
620-659 7.234% $2,043
580-619 8.777% $2,366
500-579 9.670% $2,560

For my car, my credit union gave me a 0 down, 72 month loan at 6.3% (I had agreed to 6.6 when I applied, but the rate went down just before my car was delivered). The dealer, carsdirect, and some minimal web searching could not offer me better terms. My fico is 770.

AsianGirl007

iTrader: (1)

Holy crap 9% is high. At 680 fico you should be Tier 2, which is decent. You can try the dealership. The credit score they get is sometimes different than what consumers get. Also, depending on why you have 680, they might be able to give you a tier "bump".

Don't lay down for the 9%, it's too high.

Good luck.

is4fsr

FICA 830. Paid cash.