Just a question. I'm 21, only have had my CC for 5 months, payments on time...

Just a question. I'm 21, only have had my CC for 5 months, payments on time, and I usually barely use more than $500 at any given time on my CC. Pic related is what my score currently sits at. How much more credit would I need to finance a Mazda3 or 6 at a good deal? Some 800-850?

My job is shitty, but I could easily make payments and insurance, and I'm gonna be getting a job that's around 15/hour + in a few months. Now granted, I'm not gonna go run out and finance a car RIGHT NOW, but I might look at one in a year or two.

>financing

>le memes
Sorry dude, I'm not rich like you.

$5 says he's never had a car worth more than $5000.
But either way, your credit score is only part of the equation but for your first note it doesn't mean much. My "credit score" is really good at 767 but I still could only get 4.2% apr for my first car. The best thing to do is get the cheapest thing you can stand to drive and pay it off in 36 months. Then you might be able to get those 0% rates you see ads for.

Save your money. Get a civic for 3k or fix your current car. Buying almost new econoboxes is retarded.

This.
Why would you want to spend your money? Drive an old beater. Live in a shack outside of town. Eat plain rice 3 meals a day. Throw away your phone and computer. Make your own clothes. Wear shoes you found hanging from a power line. The key to being happy is going to work every day and having nothing to show for it and doing nothing to make yourself happy.

Im 28 and you are better off than i was when i was 20. I can honestly say that being patient pays off more. If you are daily grinding now youll be able to have more options in a few years that you may like more. A few years is not along time it may soind like it i found a lot of fun cars in the cheap range that i managed to save a little fore.

First of all, VantageScore isn't a very good way of determining where your're at. Check with your bank, credit card company and see if they offer a free copy of your FICO scores. Those are what lenders are going to use.

Second of all, starting right now, find out when your credit car company statement date is. Make sure on that day every month, you are at or below 9% utilization on your card. nYou credit aging isn't very good, so I would hang tight for another 6 months to break that year mark. Hell if you could even go another year that'd be even better. You'll see your scores increase dramatically. Make NO mistakes. Don't ever pay that card late as that will kill you and put you back for many years.

How much do you care about modern tech and features? If you can deal with everything being a little older an LS400 will last you longer than that mazda and be low enough cost you can probably buy it outright. Sure, it doesn't self drive or have bluetooth but it will allow you to pay off student debt etc without worrying about yet another expense.

Most 21 year olds have stupid amounts of debt. Yeah, live like a hobbit while you're young and can take it or you will be paying for the rest of your life.

anything above 650 will get you a loan, usually.

Why stop there? Think of how much more money you could save by buying a 1996 Ford Probe for $1200. It's got none of the features anyone could ever want and it'll last forever as long as you just replace a part whenever it breaks.
By the way, if all you care about is saving money and you treat cars like an appliance to get from point A to point B, why are you here?

>Leasing

I have not. The car I currently have is a 1993 Honda Accord which I bought for $400. Unfortunately due to a mistake on my part and listening to a girl, I got stuck with my permit and the car had to be worked on, etc. So haven't been able to drive it really. But if I can afford it, I really would like to look at a new vehicle for now until I have a garage to work on a project.

Honestly I'm not that better off. On my second job, both dishwashing. Never had anything more than $1500 at one time in my life. Only got a GED basically, and have no clue where to get to where I want. :^(

I used CreditKarma, but gotcha. I'm certain my bank offers that, I'll have to ask on my days off when I got time to go out to my bank.

I don't have any student debt, I never had a chance to go to college earlier in life, so I have no long standing debts whatsoever. As for tech, I don't care too much, but the only other modern car I like is the Miata and as much as I would like to buy one of those, that's another 10-15k I don't think I could comfortably afford.

>leashing
No one said anything about leasing?

It really depends how long your loan is.

the longer monthly loan, the cheaper your monthly payments will be but youll spend more in interest.

the shorter your loan term, the more money you pay upfront.

always finance your auto loan through your bank, you'll get a better interest rate. if you want a brand new mazda, it'll be 400~ on a 4-5 year loan. your insurance will have to be full coverage so that's another 100-175 a month. anyways, dont buy a new car. buy a used car that you can make payments on based on your current budget, not your future budget

Hm fair point, I get you. Part of it is, I just want shit in my life to start working out, and I've been told by others that to make good things happen, you have to work to make them happen.

I don't know, I'm probably not thinking about any of this correctly, my life is pretty shitty right now lol.

loans and leases are pretty much the same thing. I don't buy anything on credit

OP I've been in finance for about 6 years for two large banks and I'm currently a consultant at a credit union. the actual score is only about 1/3 of what institutions look at when determining whether they'll offer you credit and the rate.
-Credit Score
-Types of credit currently had (Do you have a varied mix of credit, e.g LoC/Credit card/loan/mortgage/etc)
-Age of credit (How long have you had a good portion of your cards/loans)
-Payment history
-Debt to income (How much credit you currently have, including the potential of increasing revolving credit in comparison to your income)
These are some of the things banks will consider when offering credit. There are others as well but they don't matter as much.

You're only 21, they also check how long you've had good credit. Keep off financing until you're like 24-25 and have been paying off your card in full every month
In the mean time you're better off saving some money. If you want a Mazda 3 you can get a 2014 for like under $10k now

Anything north of 700 will be fine, the highest tier loans are usually at 740. Anything higher is just having better credit, it won't effect your loan much.

That said, make sure you have a job for a good amount of time, and that your bank statements can show you have been receiving regular pay every month.
Most 21 year olds have student loan debt. Financing 10k on a car is hardly life threatening debt.
>loans and leases are pretty much the same thing.
>t. retard
>your insurance will have to be full coverage so that's another 100-175 a month.
I pay $140/m for full coverage on a 2011 corolla. If I took off uninsured driver protection (been hit by uninsured mexican before), lowered medical coverage, and took off at-fault coverage, it would still be like $90/m. I don't know why I wouldn't want to pay the extra $50/m if you could afford it, the risk of having the slightest fuckup would leave you bankrupt otherwise.

I was also t-boned by a driver that didn't have full coverage insurance as a kid when riding with a babysitter, so instead of his insurance covering my medical payments, he was responsible out of pocket. He was a drunk driver, and ended up on the run for the next 16 years until he died with that debt. My babysitter's insurance covered a good part of it, but he should have been responsible.

You're fucking over more than just yourself if you don't have full coverage, just saying...

How much cash do you have on hand right now? For a down payment or just paying cash

Why do American credit scores start at 300?

>financing a fucking mazda3/6
lmaoing@yourlife

Anything below that and you're probably dead

There isn't anything below that, 300 is in effect 0, you can't get a score of 299, it's just an offset baseline scale and I can't work out the reason for it other than it makes it sound like a lower score better than it is in reality. A score of 500 out of 850 sounds better than a score of 200 out of 550.

>I have no idea what I'm talking about: The Post

I understand where you're coming from OP; I kind of have a similar mental struggle going on right now. I'm in a decent place where I'm not struggling, but I'm not exactly saving quickly either, and while I have a few pleasure items (mainly a motorcycle), most of it's cheaper or older stuff while so many of my friends seem to be all doing so much better than me.

Patience is key. Everyone's situation is different and even if people around you look like they have their lives more together, you don't necessarily know what's going on below the surface. You have a huge boon in that you will never have to worry about student debt unless it's on your terms; this will be huge whenever you advance or get any sort of raise in any job you might have, cause you don't need to worry about funneling that extra money you could've used elsewhere to loans instead.

I'd just say make sure to do the math and find out exactly would would be a comfortable buying price within your budget, and don't try to overextend yourself right now just because you want something nice. You're only 21, and trust me a lot can change in just 5 years or less, so being patient and working hard and keeping your eyes open for opportunity, while difficult at times, is the best advice I can give you.