The Toyota financial process can be a bit confusing. One area that is often misunderstood is pre-approval. Sure, you need to get pre-approved, but there are so many ways to do it that don’t require paying absurd interest rates. Here at Heritage Toyota Catonsville, we want to make sure that you know the facts.
Follow this guide to learn all about the pre-approval process.
How to Get Pre-Approved
Getting pre-approved highly depends on your credit score. You can learn your credit score typically through your bank’s phone app, or by contacting them. Your credit score is a number that gives lenders a good idea of how likely you are to pay back a loan.
A good credit score is in the 700s, but the higher the better. You can still get pre-approved if your credit score is lower, but you may have to do a bit more legwork.
However, a poor credit score doesn’t mean you can’t get pre-approved; it just means you need to be smarter about your purchase.
Pre-Approval with Low Credit
For example, a lot of drivers make large down payments to help with the pre-approval process. A large down payment means that you do not owe as much overall, so you get more wiggle room with how large your monthly payments are, and how long you loan term will be.
To help with your down payment, you can trade in your old vehicle. Our team here at Heritage Toyota Catonsville will pay a fair price for trade-in vehicles, and you can use the Kelley Blue Book value calculator to make sure both of us are getting a good deal.
Finally, you can also have a cosigner. A cosigner is someone you know (typically a friend or family member) with a good credit score. They agree to take on your payments should you default on your purchase.
Our staff wants to get you inside of the car of your dreams, so stop by to learn how we can make that dream a reality!
