Reprinted Articles

If you’re like most people, you don’t have a lot of time to futz around with getting a car loan. Luckily, there are quite a few things you can do to decrease the amount of time you’ll spend getting the loan you need.

It doesn’t matter whether you have good or bad credit. Everyone can benefit from these time-saving tips:

1) Get your paperwork together. To prove your income, you’ll need your most recent paystub. To prove your residence, you’ll need your most recent phone, electric, or cable bill. Finally, if you have any credit problems like collections, bankruptcy, or leftovers from a messy divorce, get that paperwork together too. Put everything in an envelope and bring it with you when you go to see your lender - that way you’ll only have to make one trip.

2) Get your list of personal references together. When you apply for an auto loan, you’re usually required to give the name, address, and phone number of three or more friends or relatives that don’t live with you. If you get this information together ahead of time, you won’t have to scramble to figure it out while you’re completing your application.

3) Most lenders will verify your employment by calling your office manager, boss, or your company’s human resources department. If you tell whomever is in charge of employment verification that an auto lender is going to call them, they will be able to quickly provide accurate information to the bank.

4) You should find out the exact amount of your payoff if you have a trade-in. If you estimate your payoff and your new lender uses this estimate as an exact value, a couple different problems may arise. If it turns out that your payoff is significantly higher than what you estimated, your loan might have to be re-approved for the actual (higher) amount. If it turns out that your payoff is significantly lower than what you estimated, you may have been eligible for a lower interest rate than the one you got that was based on your estimated payoff. If you find out your exact payoff before applying for a new car loan, you will save everyone time and may save yourself money.

5) It is important that you complete your credit application as accurately and truthful as possible. If you are required to provide former employers, former residences, etc., accuracy helps your application to be processed faster. The lender will most likely know if you lie on your credit application and then check on every aspect or your credit, which will slow down your application approval significantly. However, lying may also cause your application to be turned-down completely.

Follow these five tips and your next car loan application will be processed quickly and efficiently, and you’ll get your loan as fast as possible!

Last 5 posts by Jason Lancaster

• The 5 Mistakes You're Making that Ruin Your Credit Rating - July 19th, 2008
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Tags: Finance