 TITLE: What Credit Score Do I Need To Get A Car Loan? CONTENT: How to Improve Your Credit Score Before Applying\n------------------------------------------------\nWhile you can't know for certain which scoring model(s) a given car lender will use, it's a good idea to check your credit score before you start applying for auto loans. If your FICO® Score is good or better, you're unlikely to have trouble getting approved for a car loan. If it's in the fair range, you'll likely qualify as well, though you may have to settle for an offer that carries higher interest charges or fees or requires a relatively high down payment.\nIf you're worried you won't qualify for a loan with good terms, try to improve your credit before applying for a car loan. Here are some suggestions for improving your credit, which will tend to bring improvements on any credit score, regardless of the model used:\n*   **Pay your bills on time.** Even one late payment can hurt your credit score significantly. Ideally, you should try to be sure your recent credit history (the last 12 months, at least) is free of late payments before you apply for a new loan.\n*   **Pay down outstanding credit card balances.** Credit scores are highly sensitive to your credit utilization ratio—the amount of credit you're using relative to your total credit limits. To figure out your utilization rate, divide your total credit card balances by your total credit limits. The lower your utilization, the better. If you currently have a utilization rate over 30%, paying down credit card balances could be a quick way to increase your credit scores. For the best scores, keep your utilization under 6%.\n*   **Keep credit card accounts open.** Closing accounts, even on a card you never use, will lower your available credit and increase your utilization rate. If you're trying to get rid of a card to avoid paying its annual fee, try to hold off until after you've secured your car loan, and then wait a few months and apply for a new (no-fee) card with a spending limit equal to or greater than the card you want to close to avoid reducing your overall borrowing limit.\n*   **Hold off on other loan applications.** Whenever you apply for a new loan or take on additional debt, your credit scores dip. So it may be best to avoid new credit card or loan applications until after you buy a car.\n*   **Consider consolidating credit card debt.** If you can't afford to pay down your credit card balances, you could apply for a debt consolidation loan and use the money to pay off your credit cards. Installment loans, such as personal loans, don't affect your utilization rate, so transferring debt from credit cards to a personal loan could improve your scores—as long as you don't then charge up those cards again. Personal loans typically charge lower interest rates than credit cards as well, so this move can be a money-saver too.\n*   **Check your credit reports** **for errors.** Double-check your reports from the three credit bureaus for errors that may be hurting your scores and file a dispute if you find one. The credit bureau must investigate your claim and either validate, update or delete the information.\n*   **Consider enrolling in Experian Boost™†** : This program allows you to share utility and phone payment information so it can be factored into your FICO® Score based on data from Experian. Many individuals see an instant increase in those scores, and that could benefit you with some auto lenders.\nThese actions could improve all of your credit scores, which can make it easier to get approved for an auto loan with a favorable rate. END