Where do I go from here? My family of 5 is about to become a family of 6 in 3 months, we've outgrown our chevy malibu, not to mention it's a piece of crap, and we NEED a new vehicle that accomodates 7. We're thinking minivan. I have a co-signer, who has deep pockets, and it still doesn't matter to the lenders. I can't even get approved on roadloans or hsbc! My husband makes a decent salary and our mortgage is low. Can anyone advise what to do? Where to go? If we wait a month or so, will that make a difference? Thanks so much for any help, this is causing me much stress!

Lori
BK ch 7 10-05
DC'ed 2-06

I would probably select the desired vehicle and then visit a dealer with a competent F&I person and explain your situation. You may be able to get financing after a discharged bankruptcy. If you can bring a downpayment then that should improve your chances. A qualified co-signer should help matters.

Forgot to mention that pre-BK we paid off a vehicle through Ford. I have heard that Ford is bk friendly. With my dad as a co-signer, and $2k down, could we expect to get an ok deal through Ford? Anyone have experience with Ford post-BK? Thanks!

Lori
BK Ch 7 10-05
DC'ed 2-06

Don't burn all your bridges with lenders by applying on your own.

Competent F&I people should be able to assist.

Thanks Marv! The only people I had applied to were through Lending Tree & HSBC, so I haven't done much on my own. I did apply today to a Ford dealership in Dallas. It's several hours away, but I figured the competetiveness of the market might help us get a loan. Can a good F&I guy get me affordable rates or can I just expect something horrible this soon after dc?

Thanks!
Lori

Will I use HSBC, so if THEY turned you down on your own app, They would to me also.

You burned that bridge behind you.

and HSBC for us dealers is ultra easy to work with.

Well that's not good news! If we wait a month or so, and then an F&I guy tried HSBC again, would they still turn us down?

30 day wait required. approvals expire then normally.

For clarification purposes : It is my understanding that the above question is "If I have been declined by a lender prior to visiting a dealeship then will waiting a month allow F&I to use that lender ?" MarvBear can either confirm or deny my claim that the answer to the above is likely to be no. Denials quite likely will remain on file for more than 30 days. I have the impression - which I am quite sure that MarvBear will quickly correct in the event that I am wrong - that MarvBear is answering the scenario of "How long is an approval good for and at what point will a loan application need to be resubmitted" which answer is most likely as stated above being 30 days.

Yes hoapres is correct.

If, however F&I is good enough AFTER 30 days have passed it is conceivable they could restructure a loan and net an approval.

Also, and please be aware that I strongly recommend that you don't shop the loan before visiting the dealership, there exists a (very) slight possibility that F&I can overturn a prior decline most likely using the argument "Work with me on this one as I have sent you a lot of paper", one should be aware that F&I will quite likely be reluctant to use up favors without a good reason -(unless there is at least a slightly greater profit for the dealership then F&I may not call in a favor) - to ask the lender to overturn the prior decline.

One of the chronic complaints among F&I is customers having their loans declined by numerous lenders prior to visiting the dealership. F&I is likely to cringe when they see a CR with 10+ prior declines.

How can a dealer tell if the inquiry was an approval or decline? Is that some where on the credit report they pull?

I just call and ask em.

I know em all anyways.

Common sense?

Seems to me that if the consumer had the approval in the pocket, they would not be trying to jump through F&I hoops to get another approval...