Well tomorrow is the BIG day!!!

I sell mortgages for a living. In our industry, 740+ gets you into the highest tier. Here are some tips to get you scores up so you can get the best rate you can...

Obviously, pay bills on time. Check your credit, if there is an error, get it fixed ASAP since it take about 30-60 days for that to show on your credit.

Don't take out any new credit until you buy the car. Don't close any accounts either.... longer you have history on an account, the better. Exception, if you have a dozen open accounts, you may want to close a few that aren't being used. ***Try to keep the amount owed on a cc to 25% or less then the credit limit. Having a high balance or maxed out cc hurts your credit.

Credit is very fickel and the scoring is a lot more harder on people today than in the past. Negotiate hard with finance guy as you did for sale of car. Rates overall are at historical lows. Any money saved is better in your pocket than theres. Even $20/mo saved is better than nothing.

Good luck with your purchase! Congrats!!
 
Rich,

Agreed. One thing to watch for that makes me really mad. I've purchased several new vehicles recently (replacing the 3-5 year old fleet) and they ran my credit at each dealership, even though I paid cash for two of them. Now I have multiptle inquiries (two with no corresponding account because I paid cash!) and no doubt my score will go down a little for a while. I guess that is okay, because I don't plan on buying anything for a while, but still, it makes me mad. When you go in saying you are paying cash that should be it. No credit pull, nothing. I know why the do it, because they repeatedly try to get you to finance, but it is not fair to the buyer. Also, I can't see how they are making much, in anything, on the rates they offered.