Car loan rant-WTF?

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: isekii
Oh.. and I think they only charge you the transaction fee, if you request the checks to be sent to you. As you said usually about 3%. If you talk with the CC company, they'll most likely wave that.
I called Citi to cancel my cards, and they offered me 0% interest for a whole year. (I didn't have a balance, but they offered free balance transfers from different accounts)

I think I edited more info just as you posted this. Look at the fine print on your CC forms. As far as I know all of those checks charge fees like that. For example look at the 0% CC link I posted above. If you have a link to one with 0% cash advances, please post the as many people will benefit from it.

Incorrect.

I have taken advantage of various offers from about 6 different credit card companies.

Usually it's a standard 3% or $50 flat fee, whichever is greater.

Sometimes they will offer a balance transfer with NO FEES and a fixed APR % until the loan is paid off. This is rare but it does happen. Bank of America offered me NO FEES and 1.9% fixed through the life of the loan.

They are tricky though. If you make regular purchases using the same cc, now you're being charged two different APR's (one for purchases and the promo for balance transfers). Of course they nail you because your payments are first allocated to the lowest APR. So if you balance transfer $5,000 then charge $500 on purchases ... your payments will be applied to your balance transfer, meanwhile you're still being charged regular/high interest for your purchases.

Damn sneaky bastard banks!!!

So my BOFA cc with $12 limit, I paid it off to $0 first, then did a balance transfer for the complete amount.

 

[flot]

Is this a credit union?

My gf went through something similar... she was buying a car for her mom... she could easily afford it, but had iffy credit so wanted to go through her credit union and get a 1-2 year loan to help her credit out.

The people at the credit union were such assclowns, that in their efforts to bend over backwards to "protect" her, they made it almost impossible to buy the car. At one point they were counciling my gf that she really didn't want to buy this car, because she couldn't tell if it had been in an accident or not (we had the carfax, and I (reasonably compentant home mechanic) had spent a good bit of time going over it) and wouldn't she rather buy one of the cars THEY HAD REPOSSESSED from someone instead??

It was utter insanity. If I had been her, I would have closed my accounts and walked out of there for good. Buying the car took *3 hours* at her bank.

...

I got my eloan approval for $30k on a car in 2 minutes. I spent less than 10 minutes dealing with eloan people for the whole process. It was the most painless experience I've ever had. I do, however, have good credit, which does make a big difference in these things.

PS: Go ahead and get the car loan, it WILL help your credit - but if they give you anything higher than a 9% interest rate, be sure to pay it off in 6-12 months at the longest... having that loan opened and then closed will improve your score.

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: notfred
You want to get a bank loan for $550?

No, $1500. It would be incredibly stupid to spend all of my money on something.

 

[isekii]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42

Originally posted by: notfred
You want to get a bank loan for $550?

No, $1500. It would be incredibly stupid to spend all of my money on something.

If you're credit is somewhat decent, just apply for a credit card and do a balance transfer or something.
Why are you making it difficult for yourself ?
If you take out a loan from the bank, they'll hold the lien on the car. You have to get Comprehensive Insurance which will cost you $$$$$$.

If you go with the creditcard method, for such a small amount
you will have the title in hand, and you can get liability insurance which should be a lot less than having full coverage.

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: isekii
If you're credit is somewhat decent, just apply for a credit card and do a balance transfer or something.
Why are you making it difficult for yourself ?
If you take out a loan from the bank, they'll hold the lien on the car. You have to get Comprehensive Insurance which will cost you $$$$$$.

If you go with the creditcard method, for such a small amount
you will have the title in hand, and you can get liability insurance which should be a lot less than having full coverage.

I already got a $1500 signature loan. Slightly higher APR, but I'll be paying it off in 6 months anyway.