alarabie

Anybody looking into Mazda finance to finance your 8.

The internet rate are 4.39% on 60 months now.

Can Mazda do better, anybody know?

ZoomZoomH

iTrader: (1)

i doubt they'll bring out 0% financing for the RX-8 for a long time...

although they are already offering 2.9% for 4cyl Mazda6's IIRC

VWjet

That's the same quote I found on the internet and I highly doubt Mazda will match that. Look for 5.9 or 6.9 at 5 years...

MaRX8

Your best bet for financing is, to shop around. First check a local credit union, or if you already belong to one try them.

Also check your bank, if you have a good relationship doing business with your bank, i.e. home loans, car loans. You can sometimes get a good deal there also.

Also I would check a few Internet sites. Though I haven't used them, I plan to see what kind of rate I can get from www.peoplefirst.com

Once you’re armed with your rate, and you’re at the negotiation table see what Mazda can offer you? See if they can beat your lowest rate. Sometime they can, just so they can win your business.

When you do get ready to finance your car, do it all in a couple of days before your getting ready to purchase. Seeking for a car loan will usually only count as a single check against your credit. Even though many banks are requesting your credit rating. It really does pay to shop around.
(Because if you have too many companies checking your credit, over a longer period of time it can lower your score a small bit)

alarabie

The internet loans (People First) issue you a check for the amount you want to finance, the check is good for 45 days, there are no fees and the rate is locked from the day they issue the check.

I'm planning on doing this in the next few days, which would give me until mid june to finalize the deal with the dealer.

There is no obligation for you to utilize the money, you just let it lapse and it becomes a void check.

If Mazda can beat the deal, great, if not your financing is already done.

notb

For anyone interested in financing, do yourself a favor and spend some time on aaa.com. Their rates vary by region, but for us in the North East, you can secure a 60 months for 3.50%. I think that's pretty damn good.

zoom44

i've got 4.9% from the USAA credit union. it's good thru the middle of june so i hope my car gets here by then.

Elara

Me too - there was also one that was good through April 6th, so even if this latest one expires, we'll probably have another one within less than a month if the car still isn't here. Navy Federal has rates as low as 3.99% right now, so I'm going to see if I can snag a pre-approval through them for that at the beginning of June. If not, I'll stick with USAA.

Rx4FUN

If you belong to Costco, try going through their website. (Services/Auto Finance). They use PeopleFirst.com, but you actually get a lower rate by going through Costco. They are currently advertising 4.11% for 60mo. I have financed two purchases and refinance another auto this way. Each time they beat every other rate I was quoted. Even cocky dealers saying they could beat any rate had to back down when they heard the rate.

Just make sure that when you get the paperwork along with the check that it is for the correct rate. The first time I used them the rate was at the standard rate and not the special Costco rate. A simple phone call was all that was required to correct the problem.

~Robert

MaRX8

Wow, really great information everyone, I even have more options now to try...

I've got Costco, AAA, and USAA.

justinm2

Somthing to keep in mind when getting a loan from an online loan service is that some dealerships won't even accept a draft from them because of the hassle that is involved with the dealer getting funded from them. Of the dealerships that do accept them, most won't allow you to take delivery of your new car until they receive funding, which sometimes takes up to 3 months. Of the online loan services E-loan.com is the worst. Of course credit union, or personal bank drafts are always okay, but most dealerships can normally beat their rates. Through one of the banks we use we can get interest rates into the 3% range.

Elara

Are you sure about that? They generally can wire in the money, or, if you've got a site draft, which a lot of places will give you when you're preapproved, it works like a check. I've heard this before, but never been able to get this claim substantiated. I have a feeling it's just another way for the dealer to try and convince you that you need to finance through them. But, as usual, I could be wrong.

alarabie

This is the write-up on the people choice site.

It sounds like a no brainer to me.


A PeopleFirst.com Blank Check® works just like a personal check. You specify the loan amount you need and if approved, PeopleFirst will issue a check good up to the approved amount with your name and address printed on it.

When you've found the vehicle you want, make the check payable to the seller. It's that easy!

You are under no obligation to PeopleFirst until you actually use your Blank Check®. By signing the check, you will be accepting the terms and conditions of the loan agreement attached to the check.

justinm2

Big emphasis on "if approved" They will go ahead and give you a conditional approval based on a million bs stipulations that they wont tell you about. So you come into the dealership check in hand fill in the amount your paying for the car and hand it over. Than we submit the check and get a notice back from what ever lending institution it is, listing all the stipulations. It is a huge pain in the ***. By the time (if) we finally get all the stipulations handled, your so sick of hearing from us you hate the dealership you bought the car from, and then 90% of the online loan services even after all the stipulations are taken care of still drag their feet funding us the money. If it was a simple wire transfer it would be no problem, but the lending institutions make it so difficult and time consuming that most dealerships won't accept payment from an online lender, and of those that will, most won't let you take delivery until they are funded on the car. There was one instance where I sold a 2002 Millenia S to a customer using and E loan. Being as this was the first time we used them we went ahead and let them take the car home. 3 months later we still had not received our money from the lending institution, and we had $32,000 worth of car driving around that we still own. Since then we have gone to the policy that if you want to use and online lender, that's no problem, but you can't take delivery of the car until we get funded, whether it takes 2 days or 3 months (a couple of weeks is typical). However, like i mentioned before we rarely if ever have a problem getting funded from credit unions, or personl banks so taking delivery of the car the same day you buy it is common practice.

justinm2

I forgot to add this part to the above post.

VWjet

I just applied for peoplefirst.com through Costco. I'll report out on the rate actually attained. Online the rates are:

peoplefirst.com through Costco
12-36 mos: 3.74%
37-60 mos: 4.14%
61-72 mos: 4.74%
These rates apply if you choose to have the monthly amount withdrawn from a checking acc't, etc. otherwise, it is 0.5% higher

TreknMazda

I'm planning on using my credit union. It's 4.5% at the moment. But my dealer also told me they have established a realtionship with one of the local banks for financing that is beating any credit union offer by .5% or more.

I would rather give the interest my credit union than the bank or some other lender. After all, I am a member of the credit union. It will all boil down to whether there is a significant difference in that monthly payment

Goldenhue22

Anyone else thinking about finacing through the equity line of credit you have on your house, for example? You don't have to jump through hoops to get the money since you are putting your house up as collateral. The interest rates on equity lines are dirt cheap, somewhere around 3.5%. That is the only thing that really makes sense to me, unless you can walk into a dealership with 30K. Anyone else on my wavelength?

rxtreme

iTrader: (1)

Elara, thanks for the USAA Credit Union idea. I'm embarassed but I didn't even know USAA had a credit union. I'm wondering if I'm eligible for the Navy's credit union.

VWjet

Yeah, I'm totally on that wavelength. The interest paid on a home equity line of credit is tax deductible - how does that not make sense? So, here's my question. I just bought a house in August 2002. I took an immediate home equity loan to settle the 20% and not have to pay PMI. Is it possible to have 2 lines of credit on the same equity of the house? I wouldn't think so, but I got to thinking and said why not? Any advice is much appreciated.

RotaryStalker

VWJet I believe that's possible. I'm definately interested in using equity in the house to finance the car and will be checking out this option soon. Thanks for the advice.

RotaryStalker

Elara

You don't even have to be a member of the USAA credit union- I have all my insurance through them, and a credit card, but I'm not in the credit union part. I am a member of Navy Federal credit unnion though. The nice thing about USAA and Navy Federal is that they don't sell your loans, ever- they all stay in-house. That's one reason we'll probably finance our house through them, when we get around to buying one.

rxtreme

iTrader: (1)

Elara, help me out. I just got off the phone with USAA FCU and they told me that I wasn't eligible because I'm not an employee of USAA. I'm in the same boat as you, USAA credit card, accounts, and insurance, but I'm not a member of USAA FCU. I'm wondering if it's the same deal with Navy FCU. I'm an active duty officer in the Army that will soon be living in Virginia and I'm trying to see what credit unions I'll be eligible for. USAA financial (the bank itself) has sorry rates compared to the credit unions.

Elara

Hmm.I really don't know. Do you have access to your accounts online with them? I know I've got the preapproval because I log on, and go to the banking section, it tells me I'm preapproved for a $30k auto loan. And while this time it doesn't state the %, last month it said 4.99% APR, which was their lowest rate at the time, and now the lowest rate for the 60 month loan is a variable 4.25%, or 5.75% fixed. Try Navy Federal- I don't know if it's open to the Army or not, and you may have to open a small savings account, but it's worth a try. website is nfcu.org, I think.

Sorry, I'm not much help...

pmacwill

you do realize, you DON'T want to do a variable rate on your car right? interest rates are extremely low now so you should get a fixed rate. you are taking a gamble with the variable, and seeing how things historically go, the variable rate is only likely to increase over the next year or 2 if not further as well. and as far as fixed rates go, 5.75% is ridiculously high when you can get a 60 mo for $30k for around 4.25-4.5% fixed from peopleschoice or somewhere else.

I have accounts with both USAA and navy federal, but as far as loans go, just look for the lowest fixed rate you can get and go with it. who cares if you already have a history or an account with the bank or what they invest your interest in, what they do with your loan once they have it. all you are responsible for is the monthly fixed payment, so you should focus on getting it as low as you can.