Securing online financing for a new or used car purchase is much easier that most people think. But one thing that people do not consider when looking for a new car is that online car loans can help save the purchaser money overall.
Consider this: you don’t have any alternative when you are acquiring financing from the same dealership or car lot you intend to purchase your car from. Unless you have auto financing in place when you enter the establishment, you are probably at the mercy of the dealer’s finance company.
In many cases, dealer financing is much higher than even a bad credit car loan that you could lock in yourself with a little legwork. Also, consider that the loan that you do get is probably not going to be the most attractive of competitive loan that can be found. Dealerships are out to do one thing, and that to sell cars. And, sadly, more than few dealerships are resorting to underhanded tricks and deceptions to sell cars at overinflated prices.
Let’s take a look at one of the tricks used by dealerships to inflate the amount of money that you have to pay them in the long term of a car loan. It’s a scam based on your credit and finance charges that will have to be applied to the loan.
It usually works like this: you buy a car from a dealership. You go in, fill out the applications, get approved and drive your new auto home. You think that all is fine, after all, you were approved for the loan, and you’ve taken possession of the car.
But then, a few week later, you receive a call from the dealership, telling you that you will be paying a higher rate on your original car loan than what you agreed on. What happened with that and how did it happen? After all, you signed a contract, they ran your credit, said everything was fine, and they let you take the car home.
Here’s what the dealer says happened, and here’s the scam: even though they took your application, approved the sale, and let you drive the car home, the dealership was “unable” to secure the right financing for the car because of your bad or low credit score. And since there is a “subject to loan approval” clause in every car sales contract, you are now given two choices—either return the car or pay an new, higher amount every month.
Most people who find themselves in this situation have few options, and in the end, opt to pay the extra money, by either changing the terms with the dealer or putting more down for the down payment. And remember all of this happened AFTER you came to an agreement of purchase, and signed a contract at the original price.
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