Free preview · from the dealership side of the desk
When your application leaves the finance office, it goes to a lender’s desk (or an automated system) that sorts you into a tier in seconds. The tier decides the rate range, the maximum term, how much of the car’s value they will finance and whether they want money down. The finance manager knows your tier before you do and prices the conversation accordingly. This guide teaches the method so you can walk in knowing it too; it does not give current rates, because they move monthly and vary by lender.
The scores below are illustrative bands. Lenders use their own cutoffs and most pull an auto-specific score model, which can differ from the one your banking app shows by 20–40 points.
Members read the rest · 4 more sections
In the full guide
- The tiers, roughly
- What the tier changes besides the rate
- How the number is really built
- Find your tier before they do
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