Ok yeah i see it now, thanks.

 

Ok, so I applied to Penfed earlier tonight and hope to find out soon. In the meantime I hope someone can answer a few questions I have.

I took a loan for 20,000 for a Mini that is msrp 24200. The 4200 will obviously go towards downpayment. I understand there will be a dealer fee, but are tax and title figured into the msrp that I get from the website(which is basically the same number I got when I went to Mini the other day)?

As I understand it , if I put down an extra 5,000 for the down payment, the payments and therefore the interest payments will be less, but the length of the loan will still be 72 months.

However, I'm moving in August and am a little nervous of spending all my savings on the downpayment, making my monthly budget tight.

Point is, if after a few months of seeing what my new budget is like, I decide to put the other 5,000 into the loan that I took out, what exactly happens?

A) Does the length of the loan stay the same but lower amounts per payment?

B) Do the payment amounts stay the same but with a shorter life of the loan?

C) Or is it up the me to decide?

Thanks

 

my reply in red

IN a few hours check the status of your loan....the upper right of the screen is a drop down box that says "manage your accounts" and there is an option that says "check loan application"
if there is a view comments selection, click the circle and click continue to see if they need anymore information from you. I have to send in verification of income before they will approve me.

Good luck!!

 

As taxes vary tremendously state (and sometimes city) to state, there is no way to integrate it into MSRP. Your final price will include local taxes, title, registration and dealer fees as well as any accessory or dealer packages you purchase. You should call your MA for this final price, it is not MSRP, it is probably several thousand higher.

I say hold onto the $5000. The main reasons to put down a significant amount in the beginning are either to 1) lower the total amount you are financing or 2) lower your risk to the lender, thus improving your rate. With PenFed your rate is already set, so there is no gain to #2. Paying the $5000 up front is going to lower your payments by about $72 a month, but you're only going to be saving yourself from $212 in interest over 6 years. In the grand scheme of things, $212 paid out across six years is probably a far more acceptable risk than moving without any savings in August.

I believe your only path will be Option B. If you decided to put down the $5000 in....October, there are two real outcomes that might play out depending on how they apply your $5000. I don't know exactly how this works as I've not started payments to PenFed yet...however I'm going to go on the paperwork I've read so far. You will pay $5000 and PenFed will probably pay it against your monthly payments, meaning that you will not have to make a payment for # of months = $5000 / monthly payment amount. This would mean your loan continues to it's original termination date, you've just made a significant amount of prepayments. If you continue to make monthly payments anyway, as suggested by jjp007, your loan termination date will move up because you will have paid off your loan sooner.

PenFed might also offer you the chance to take your $5000 and apply it directly to the principle loan you owe (financed amount). This would mean your loan termination date ends earlier because you've effectively cancelled out your last year or more of payments AND the interest that goes along with it. Most banks allow this, but don't publicize it, as they make more money if your extra money is taken as "pre-payments" for future months and you fall into the trap of not continuing to make regular payments. In that case your principle amount doesnt go down and the total interest they earn is higher.

Isn't banking fun?

 

20k is the min for a 72 month loan which is 315/month
at 15k its 277/month

I applied last night, got denied today, which I kinda suspected would happen. They said due to length of employment(been working here 4 months, had a gap and previous job was 8 months...before that I was in school for about 2 years). They also said due to delinquent payments in the past.

I'm still gonna go ahead and order my Mini though and apply in two months or so when I've worked there for 6 months. If that doesn't go through, then I can have my folks co sign with me.

Question on that though, does anyone know if I co sign, can I after a year get the loan put in my name(b/c at that point they should have no problem with my length of employment)

 

Stay on the job for atleast a year before applying for a loan. If you try to re-finance, they will process it as a used car. Not the same as financing a new car. Shorter terms, higher rates ext.

 

I applied for a Capital One on-line car loan before going to the dealer. Just had to answer a few questions, enter the estimated amount of the loan, the desired length of the loan, and in a few days I had a "blank" check. Interest was 5.1%. The check was good for 45 days. Unfortunately, when I went to the dealer, I found out it was going to take at least 8 weeks to get the car so I called Cap One and they said all I had to do was called and get an extension for another 45 days when I found out when the car would be available (same interest rate) but if it went over 90 days I'd have to re-apply. Last time I checked the interest had gone up to 5.3% (not bad).

Fortunately, I got some balance transfer checks from Chase a couple of weeks ago (good until 9/30) for 3% (until paid off - no specific length but usually the minimum payment is 1 or 2 %) with a $200 processing fee. That's what I'm going with - that way I also get the title to my car instead of the bank holding it until the loan is paid off and I can decide how much I want to pay each month (besides making the minimum). Also, other than the $1000 I put down as a deposit when I ordered, no downpayment required. I figure why take out a loan with colateral (the vehicle of course) when I can just put it on the old credit card - if anything were to happen (God forbid), they won't be repossessing my car!

Just a thought: with the high resale value on MINIs, it might be just as well to buy versus lease (I'm always confused about the whole leasing thing anyway).

 

Wow, that sounds like a great idea. I've seen credit cards offer a low apr, or zero apr, for a certain length of time on transfers but this seems like a nice loophole. Buy your car through a loan, transfer the balance to your 3% credit card and then pay off until your done...title in the hand the entire time..

Very nice!

 

Interesting perspective if you have a 25K credit limit with CHASE.

 

Last friday I reapplied via penfed and a co signer. got approved later that day and got my check on Monday of this week!

According to my folk's financial adviser, despite the fact that my mom is co signed, the loan will affect my credit, not hers, as long as I dont default that is, then it will affect both of our credit. point is though, based on that I really don't need to change it in a year if that s true.



due to this exact reason, and the fact that I would be paying virtually the same amount either way, I chose to buy it!

 

I was going to buy my Mini on a credit card--seemed like a grand idea at 0% for a year. But, alot of the dealers have a maximum amount you can charge.My dealers amount was $2000. So that did not work. My bank ended up giving me a 4.5% 5 year loan. The reason the dealer won't take a card for the entire balance is the 2-4% chargeback from the credit card company.

 

Yeah that's a problem with the credit card - the seller has to pay about 2% (it varies according to their agreement with the credit card company) for the privilege of being a VISA vendor. According to the VISA Vendor Rules and Policies, they are NOT allowed to put a limit on the amount of a purchase beyond the available credit of the holder (they loose their VISA privileges if you report it). However, I read that they do have the right to renogiate the deal (unless you informed them upfront of the payment method and they agree). Anyway, that's why I'm using the balance transfer "checks", I'm picking up the "fee" which is 3% of the purchase but not to exceed $200 (now that's a deal - this baby better be here before it expires). As far as the dealer knows, he got paid "cash". Luckily, I have $26K available credit and I already gave Brecht $1K so ... I'm probably just going to put the rest ($1500) on my other card (0% APR until Jan 2010 - I'll have it paid off long before that).

Oh, if you want to know how much your tax, license, and registration are going to be, check DMV. They (at least in California) have a calculator where you can put in the cost and the city/county and it calculates for you.

 

Just a heads up............Many on here have not been able to take delivery of their MINI until the check has cleared. That usually takes another ten days.

 

I could just deposit the money in my account and then give them cash - hope I don't get robbed on the way! But I have no intention of waiting another 10 days!

 

Or get a cashiers check. Just deposit your CC check into your account ten days before delivery. Then get the bank to issue a cashier's check made out to the dealer on day of delivery.

 

That's an excellent idea. I went back and read the package and it says you can deposit the check directly to your account if you want so that sounds like the way to go.

Thanks!

 

It depends on the dealer. Call and ask them what their policy is on checks.

I paid my downpayment (almost 10K) with a personal check and they didn't even bat an eye.

 

Just found out from my MA that I cannot use a credit card beyond the deposit that I have placed. I may have to go a similar route to depositing one of those credit card checks in my account prior to receiving the vehicle.

 

This morning's Wall Street Journal carries an article that all three US car manufacturers + many banks are substantially reducing or even ELIMINATING lease deals entirely. While the article made no mention of MINI Financial or PenFed, the context was the auto industry as a whole. The manufacturers are doing everything they can to encourage buying.

 

for anyone here still considering leasing: do NOT modify yr car beyond those minor mods that can be easily removed should U decide to turn the car in. some goober here on NAM messed up a ECU self-mod on his *leased* S, which not only voided the OEM warranty, but cost his stupid *** thousands of $$ to get fixed before he could turn the car in.

Live and learn...