What is an Auto Loan Credit Score?
An auto loan credit score is the number that potential lenders would look at to help determine your credit worthiness, the higher the better in this case. It would also determine your interest rate on the loan for the vehicle you are seeking.
Your score is based on the contents of your credit report, which is why the two go hand-in-hand. A mathematical equation is applied to various aspects of your credit report, and a 3 digit number is then formulated to “score” your overall credit rating.
Is it the same a regular credit score?
Generally, yes, it’s the exact same thing. Potential lenders will usually pull your credit report along with your FICO score. The end result of your score can differ slightly depending on which bureau your lender obtained your credit report from. (Equifax, Experian or TransUnion), but all 3 should be roughly the same, so lenders will normally just pull your credit report and score from one of the credit reporting angencies, and move forward based on that information.
From my experience, auto lenders normally pull my Equifax credit report with my FICO score to determine the risk of lending to me. My FICO score is generally above 780 (which is an excellent credit score) so they are able to offer me their best interest rate on the loan.
If your score is in the 725 range, this will usually put you in the same “excellent” category as a score of 780. In most cases, a score of 700-725 would be considered “good”. However, if your score is below 700, you may not be approved for the best interest rates your lender has to offer, and you should probably work on increasing your credit score before obtaining a loan.
Pull your own Credit Report & Score
It’s always a very good idea to view your credit report and score before applying for an auto loan, or any other kind of loan for that matter. That way you can check for errors on your report, know first hand what your credit score is, and eliminate any surprises when you’re actually in the process of applying for the loan.
Did you know that you can access your own credit report and score without damaging your credit, and it won’t lower your credit score no matter how many times you do it? strong>Did you know that you can also get your credit report and credit score for free? Here’s how.
What if my wife has a better credit score than me, can
I use the better score?
Blewis: In short, yes! If you are looking to buy a car and your wife has great credit, but you do not, then you can still fall back on her credit score to qualify you for the best interest rates. Even if you’re applying jointly for an auto loan, with you as a co-applicant, her credit could still greatly improve your chances for being approved for the best terms on the loan. As long as the payments are made on time, it would also be great for your credit to be a co-applicant.
I just obtained an auto loan from one of the big national banks, and the paperwork said my transunion score was 666, whcih surprised me becuase I had not looked at my Transunion for about a year, but my Experian was 60+ point abouve that. So a few days later I pulled my transunion myself and it was 762. No way it changed that much in less than a week with no other major things occuring. But my friend who sold cars at a delership for years, says the banks use a diferent score from transunion than what I get. Is this true, or did the bank commit loan fraud by saying I had a lower score and giving a higher interest rate?
I went to a Chevy Dealership today to test drive a hummer H3 I wasn’t going to buy it but he talked me into it I had checked my FICA in the morning, score 650 ,so he ran it on their system and it said it was 547 why is there a difference that’s over 100 points
AJ, my guess is you checked your credit score based on a report from a different credit bureau than your dealership did. For instance, if you checked your credit score based on your Trans Union credit report, and your dealer checked your score based on your Equifax report, your score can vary between the two (not usually by 100 points, however). There are times when some creditors will not report your payment/loan history to all 3 credit bureaus, which usually the reason for the difference. I had an auto loan from a C.U. years ago, which only reported to Trans Union and not Experian or Equifax, this resulted in an increased credit score if it was based on my Trans Union credit report.
You will have to pull all 3 of your credit reports to find out for sure.
Admin,
it was from Equifax ;still it is kinda crazy I also checked it today 650 same so that tells me something is wrong with our system I have checked all 3 and they don’t very that much a little with Trans Union ,Experian Higher say what ?
I just came across this site and wanted to add and ask a question similar to AJ. I paid to have my credit score pulled from Experian and got a 750 (excellent right?). I then applied for a auto loan from a credit union and was turned down! It was not debt to income (I make plenty). She, the loan officer, said my credit score from Experian was 667! How could I be seeing a 750 and she has a 667…from the same agency!
Any insight would be greatly appreciated…
rotobadger: a few items could cause this discrepancy.
1) auto credit scores do differ from other credit scores (such as real estate loans).
2) depending on the type of credit accounts you have, pulling the report at a different time of the month will cause changes
3) perhaps in the interim from when you pulled to when she pulled, something new reported to your Experian score.
If you have a copy of the report I would be happy to review it with you and show you how to raise your score, or why it is where it is.
Good luck!
I went to get an auto loan and they showed my Experian credit score at 641, but I knew it was higher. I got on the browser on my phone and got an Experian report and score and it showed 705. The lender still denied me because the score they got back from Experian was 641. How can I get a score from the Experian site of 704 at the exact time the auto dealer pulls my report and Experian gave them a 641? I tried calling Experian but since it is July 4th, they are closed.
PCC, the reason for the discrepancy in your Experian credit score is most likely due to the credit scoring model used when checking your score. There are several different scoring models, with the most popular one being FICO. If you want to see a score closest to what your potential lenders will see, I would recommend checking your FICO score from myfico.com
I would also recommend asking what scoring model your lender is looking at to make sure. It’s most likely your FICO though.
I was told my score for auto was 580 do anyone know where I can get an auto loan with no money down with my score
This just happened to me. I pulled all three scores before applying for an auto loan. Experts say know your score before you apply. Then the lender said my score was 100 points lower than what all three agencies report. The lender said it was because the agencies inflate your score so you will apply for loans and that they are not accurate to your credit worthiness.
If that is true than how in the world can anyone really know their score. Im walking around thinking my credit is good and the lender says know its just below fair. Please explain this to me
Laura, I personally don’t believe what your lender told you is true. I don’t think the credit bureaus purposely inflate your credit scores so you will apply for loans. But there are some facts that can explain why your credit score was so much different than you thought it was.
First of all, was it your FICO score that you checked? Or another credit score? That could be one possible reason, different scoring models use different algorithms and different ranges. FICO has a range of 300-850. Vantage score on the other hand has a range of 501-990. So your scores can vary depending on which scoring model was used to determine the score.
The second thing that comes to mind is your score can also vary at each credit bureau, since not all creditors report to all 3 credit bureaus. Some only report to one or two, which can make a difference on your credit score.
Another likely reason for the difference is lenders usually obtain a score specifically targeted at what sort of credit/loan you are applying for. For instance the lender you mentioned might have been checking a score designed to show your risk as a borrower specifically for repaying an auto loan, as compared to a general score, which is what consumers will probably see when they check their own credit score. Because of this, there is no “real” or “true” credit score, since it’s not just one number over all credit scoring models and credit bureaus.
These are probably the 3 most likely reason for the discrepancy, and it could also be a combination of all 3.
Here’s what I like to do before I apply for an auto loan when I’m unsure if my credit score is high enough: Check your FICO score based on your Equifax credit report, from my experience it’s the closest to the score auto lenders use.
The scores that the big three show you are not actual FICO scores. The only way that you can get those are from a lender or myfico.com.
Also there is a Auto Plus FICO score that car dealerships use. This is more heavily weighted on your past auto loans. This is only something that you can get from the Auto lener. Usually they are ALOT lower than the score on the Big three web sites. And a little bit lower than your actual credit score.
I recently obtained a car loan from Wells Fargo and they said my credit score was 628 and pulled it up from Equifax. I checked it today (about 10 days later) and my score was 698 with Equifax, which was the lowest of the 3. I see that they may use a different model, but that doesn’t make since that they vary that much. It almost seems illegal. When I told them a week ago, they said if I pull my credit score and it’s different on Equifax, then to let them know and they may adjust my rate. What do you think?
Mark, was there a change to one of your credit accounts that hadn’t yet been reported to Equifax, which could raise your credit score? If so, I can understand why they may be kind enough to adjust your interest rate accordingly. Otherwise if there’s no pending changes such as lower credit card balances, negative item being removed etc., then my guess if you’re pretty much stuck with the rate they already gave you. They are going to use their scoring model to determine your rates and it may (and probably does) differ from the score you are seeing even though they are both based on the same Equifax credit data.
Unfortunately there’s no “real” credit score for everyone and every situation. Most lenders do check your score using the FICO model, so if you want the most accurate one go with FICO. But it’s also true that lenders will use different variations of the FICO score geared toward determining your specific risk for an auto loan, mortgage etc.
Same thing just happened to us! Experian says 720 credit score, but auto dealer pulls score last night and gets 623 from Experian!! Like many of you have said — how the heck can it be 100 points difference! While sitting there playing the financing game, I went online and pulled it up to show them the score we see and they said doesn’t make a differnce because dealer sees a “different score”. This is really frustrating; I later read in our financing papers that the dealer “may” receive part of the financing interest $$$. So wow is this a scam or what?!? They knock you down 100 points, jack your interest rate, then both the dealer and finance company benefit from the interest? Good luck out there everyone!
I went for a car loan when I found my credit score via experian, transunion & equifax were 625,629 & 619. When I got to the dealer, I told his what I saw that day & they assured me they can help. All my car loans are excellent. Medical debts is killing my scores.
When they are 2 of the 3, they showed me it was 502 & 510. I GOT MAD! Told him I would sign onto the websites directly & show him what I am seeing. He advised car dealers use a different scoring just like mortgage lenders also use a different system.
Why can consumers see what is their real score? Why so many diffent scoring systems? Just not fair. I’m trying to clean/clear things up. How am I supose to know if I am making headway with have another report ran and going against for it being ran by someone else?
Ruth, I know it must seem unfair that we don’t see the exact score your lender might see, but unfortunately that’s the way it works. Your dealership was right, they use slightly different algorithms for car loans, mortgages, etc. so they can specifically guage your risk as a borrower, and at the same time, THEIR risk as a lender, for specific needs. For instance an auto lender might pull a score geared specifically towards determining the likelihood of you making your auto loan payments on time. Which will probably use past auto loans as a major indicator. Same for other needs such as mortgage loans, credit cards, insurance.
The scores we see as consumers when we check our own credit, are mostly for educational use and approximating our credit, rather than exact scores the lenders will see, as you found out.
Was this your first attempt at obtaining an auto loan? That would explain the large discrepancies there. I think most people will probably not experience that big of a difference between the scores they can access themselves, and the one the auto lender sees. Mine usually run about the same at the lender as they do when I check them online.
I just pulled by FICO score with the free trial. Along with that trial, you get a scenerio calculator that will tell you what happens to your score if you take certain actions.
I put in there for it to calculate what will happen to my score if I have someone pully my credit for an auto loan. My score estimator dropped by score by like 40 points.
So, what I get from that, and this conversation on this board is, it might be possible that once the auto lender pulls the score, it drops 40 to 90 points (depending) and that dropped number is what the lender sees.
I don’t think that’s fair. I think if your score dings cause they pulled on it, then it should show them the high score, but then drop for the next creditor who pulls it. Know what I mean? I think it’s unfair that a lender can pull your credit to check how good it is, but his action in doing so will make your credit worse before he even looks at it!
Go get the free trial from myfico.com and try it. You’ll see it drop the moment you type in there that you want to pulls for a car loan. I think the software is cal future fico estimator or something like that.
Navitavi, the amount your score drops due to a credit check such as one from an auto lender, will vary from person to person based on many other factors. However, it drops AFTER your credit is checked, which means the next time your credit is accessed by a lender is when you will see the ding. But it sounds much worse than it generally is for the average person. Even though it does hurt your score to have a hard inquiry performed, which is what you’re talking about, a few within a couple weeks is expected when searching for a loan. So although it may drop 10pts for the first hard pull, the second and third will not affect it as much if for instance you are shopping different lenders for the best rates. The scoring algorithms can usually recognize what’s going on in a case like this and adjust accordingly.
This whole scoring thing is crazy. I pay a company 14.95 a month to keep up with my credit and score. I recently filed bankruptcy so I don’t expect my score to be high. I am trying to buy a new car (despite never missing payments on current car this payment history disappeared with bankruptcy filing despite the fact that I reaffirmed the car – FYI, never ever reaffirm your vehicle even if you want to keep the car – it hurts you in the end) and checked my scored. I go to the auto dealer (claims special financing for discharged bankruptcies – lies) and was told my Equifax score was in the low 500′s. Makes no sense because the score I saw was in the 600′s. Then I went to another dealer that I had been working with all along who said the inquiries from the other dealer had probably caused my score to drop like 40 points. I just checked my scores today and they are exactly the same they were before I went to the dealers. I really don’t understand the whole credit score anymore and truly believe it is just a scam. Depending on which dealer you go to and who you deal with. One place will say you need more income, another says your score is bad, and yet everybody is advertising these “specials” and consumers can’t even get a true score.
I normally never post on these things but Ruth’s experience really resonated with me she and I has almost exactly the same experience.
I am well aware that my scorce needs improving however my car was recently totaled forcing me back into the car buying market before I was ready.
I did what all the experts say to do I checked my credit b/4 leaving the house.Said 646 not great but I was assured that with a down payment I should be fine. I applied for a 19,000 car and was turned down! Said my auto loan score was 478! Over 160 points difference!!! What kind of system is this? We are being raked over the coals! I paid off two cars last year be on my job for seven years before this i had not applied for new creidt in over fours years! Doesnt that count for anything at all! THIS SYSTEM NEED TO BE RESTRUCTURED!!
I Just sat with a local auto Lender in El Centro, CA (Hyundai) and they spent a looong time trying to tell me that auto lenders use a “Different” Credit Score (available only to them apparently) to evaluate credit. My Fico score is currently at 646 (filed banckruptcy 2 years ago)but insisted on the “Auto Lending Scoring System) that my scores were in the 580 range! I called “BS” and they eventually found my Transunion score of 651.. They still didnt budge on an insulting interest rate though.. No new car today!
Yes, unfortunately it’s not BS at all but just lenders way to best determine their risk in lending to you for a specific big ticket item, in this case, a car. The number you see when you check your own credit score is not necessarily the number your potential lender will see. In many cases those numbers will be very similar, but in some cases like yours, it can vary drastically! Sorry to hear you weren’t approved for a low interest rate, keep paying those bills on time, keep your CC balances low and your score will rise!