what's good comrades. tl;dr i didn't learn to drive until i was 27. i'm 31 now. in those 4 years, i've had two cars i bought cheap outright with cash, so i have never financed a more expensive car. these were 800 bucks each.
i only got a credit card at the beginning of 2024, i was terrified of debt my whole life so i never even wanted to get one. but i figure, i need credit to exist in amerikkka so the time has come. my score is 650 on one site and 697 on another. so let's assume it's like 670 actually.
i've applied for two auto loans but was turned down due to 'limited credit' but i see teenagers who work at wendy's driving nicer/newer cars they were able to finance, and i'm not even trying to get anything like that. i'm only looking to get a loan of like 4-6k, to buy cheap reliable used car from like 2005-2013. i see lots of options. i'm trying to avoid the dealer financing tho due to the dude telling me they typically charge like 25% interest through dealership financing.
how exactly does this work? is my only choice to get ripped off with dealer financing? i can't join a credit union, i've tried- limited credit. i don't get at all how credit works. i don't even want this shit. but currently i drive a 1995 toyota avalon that's falling apart and it's not safe to drive so i gotta figure something out
This is how the 2007-2009 housing crises began - greedy bankers lending out to people they know will not be able to pay back. These are predatory loans (I mean, all are, but some are more than others).
Some car makers will offer 0% APR loans, though these typically only apply to newer models. It might be worth it if you can deal with a multi year loan.
Another option is taking a look at 0% APR BNPL introduction offers from credit cards. https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/credit-cards/buy-now-pay-later-is-already-standard-on-some-credit-cards. Chase and Amex have good options - 12-24 months of free loans (the cards aren’t too bad either, both having sign up bonuses, and you can get $900 with chase if you have enough money to park in their bank accounts). I have used both and put several purchases on these 0% APR BNPL plans so I can leave more money in my HYSA. Depending on your credit worthiness, you may get over $10k in credit for each card which you can probably split your car purchase. I was kind of dumb and decided to sign up for these to fund my hobbies and tuition. If I was a little smarter, I would wait until I had more responsibilities and take advantage of the free loans for things like rent and bills.