Is 10.18% a decent APR for a $10,000 auto loan?

Lesharo

Hmm...

This depends. Is your FICO credit score below 600 (risky credit)? If so, then that's a reasonable rate.

If your score is above 600 but below 650 (average credit), then it depends on whether or not you have any other debt and/or have missed any payments in the past 2 years. Your rate could vary anywhere from 6-8%.

If it's above 650 (good credit), then that rate is a serious rip-off. In that case your rate should be anywhere from 5.5 to 6.5%.

In general, if your score is above 700 (excellent credit), then your rate should be somewhere near 4 to 5%. If above 800, then you'll probably get below 4%.

Credit unions tend to give the best rates. You can save as much as 1-3% with them, depending on your score. Never finance with an auto dealer on their lot, as they tend to have loans with the worst terms and tend to structure the loans to where you pay a penalty if you try to pay it off early (read: serious rip-off). Dealers have often learned that you can make much more money financing the car than in the actual sale of the car itself.

If your score is hurt or low due to lack of history, one thing you can do to instantly improve it is to have your parents, a close friend or a relative put you on their credit card as a "authorized user". You can tell them that they don't have to give you the card and instead cut it up. What will happen is that their entire credit history on that card is copied to your report and now it's yours. After that, you can apply for credit in your name and when they run your report, they'll see their history as yours. I'm 24, but I have a 34-year credit history because my parents did this. My credit score is 820 and I've only my own credit card for 6 years.

If you don't have a credit union that you are eligible for, there are two that I know of that are easy to join.

The first one is Pentagon Federal Credit Union ("PenFed"), which primarily serves employees of the Pentagon. The second is Alliant Credit Union, which primarily serves airline employees and school teachers. You don't necessarily have to work in those fields to qualify. There are backdoors to entry if you make a small tax-deductible donation to some cause they support.

For PenFed, you can qualify by joining the National Military Family Association for like $20. As an added bonus you also qualify for a reduced GEICO auto insurance premium if you join NMFA and PenFed. PenFed also has some real nice credit card and certificate of deposit deals.

As for Alliant, you can join if you donate $25 to the National PTA and become a member through that. I've heard that if you call them first and tell Alliant that you are joining this way, often they will pay the fee for you. They also give you $5 free in your savings account just for signing up. They tend to have high savings yields and excellent health savings accounts (HSAs). I personally keep my HSA there.

Both Alliant and PenFed tend to have some really attractive auto loan rates and being a member means that you also qualify for some other good deals as well.

cugal

That's pretty high!!!!

Marie C

If your credit is less than wonderful, and the car is six years old, that is not a bad APR. You might want to shop around a little, though. Try a local community bank or credit union, especially if you're a customer at one. They may be able to give you a better rate, because smaller banks don't usually put as much emphasis on credit scores.

Ralfcoder

In your first payment, you'll pay about $84 in interest at this rate. My credit union is offering rates as low as 5.35%. The 1st interest pmt would be a bit under $45. I'd shop around a bit, and see if you can't pay off some of your outstanding debts, especially if they're overdue.

The car sounds expensive, though, depending on what you're getting. I just got a 2004 Saturn with 88,500 on the clock for about $4500. If I was financing a car this old, I wouldn't do it for more than 24 months, tops. If you can't afford the payments you'd have to make to pay this off in that amount of time, you can't afford the car. You will run the risk of owing more than the car is worth, and if it breaks down or dies, you're screwed.

If you're going for a big flashy pimpmobile here, you could help your credit rating (and wallet) by finding something smaller at a better price.

Common_Cents

Depends on your actual credit score.. If your score is lower than 600 than it is a good APR.

Wild Bill

for a 2003 with low to average credit I would say not bad....if you shop around you might do better but remember every time someone checks your credit it lowers your score

Meenee

NO THAT IS A CRAZY APR.....go to your local credit union they should be able to get you lower.

AHHHHH!!!!!!!

sex.

no way.

i had 0%apr on my brand new civic a few years back.
when i missed a payment, it increased to 4.9%...

10% means they'll tack on an extra $1,000 per year to your vehicle's total cost.

don't do it. especially on a 2003!!!!!!! holy cow. that's just ridiculous.
you can do better.
with the way our economy is right now, there should be wayyyy better deals out there.

angel_baby

Yeah thats actually good if you have little credit. Depending on the car $10,000 sounds a bit high for an 03 though

Michael J

Way tooo muuch

Connie P

It should really save you some money to just get an auto loan price on the web to see what the going rates are. You might be totally happy. Also if your credit is not the best, a lot of online loaners are more willing to help you.

What I always tell friends is that an online quote at http://autoloan.saverightnow.info is the way to go.

Missus

NO! That seems really high to me!!

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