How do you choose where to get bank loan from and other Q's
 

Hey guys, I'm looking for some advice on who (what lender/bank) to choose for when it comes to taking out an auto loan. I've never taken out an auto loan before so please bare with my newbie-ness.

I'm currently looking into getting a Z soon, and I'm shopping around for who has the best rates. Lately, most of them seem to hover around 2.99-3.49% for 60 months, with excellent credit. I just checked Mortgage Rates Credit Cards Refinance Home CD Rates by Bankrate.com and saw this new one: https://autoclubfinance.com/bankrate/intro.html

They have a pretty good starting rate 1.65% for 36 months for the people with the best credit. So I'm guestimating that 60 months should be slightly higher, but not at the 2.99% range that most are advertising.

I've never heard of them before, so my question is:
- is this company legit and anybody have any feedback?
- should I worry that I've never heard of them before and I might get screwed somehow?
- should I go to a 'bigger' bank (ie: Chase, HSBC, CapitalOne, etc) and pay more just for safety of a name bank, if such a thing exists?
- what happens if I apply for a loan, say for 25k, but the total OTD comes out to less than that amount?

I think that in order, I should - put a deposit on the car and figure out the OTD price first, then shop for the loan second, give dealership check when I take delivery.

Another question is, I'm planning on selling my car to a private seller first and use that as a partial 'downpayment'. I know NYS you have to surrender your plates when you sell your car, transfer title, cancel insurance and have 30 days(?) to turn them in or transfer over to another car. Because my car has the old white/blue plates, I want to transfer them over to the Z. The yellow plates can :gtfo2: When is a good time that I should sell the car? Do I wait until the Z is confirmed built with a VIN number first and then sell? Or just sell first when I put down my deposit?

Any advice is appreciated! :tup:

Try PenFed. I have Chase account and when I applied they don't want to give me the amount that I want and the APR that I want. My credit score is well above 800. When I applied at PenFed, there was no issue at all. They gave me 2.99% (last year) but didn't go through the purchase. This year, I applied again since the check was only good for 90 days and was approved at 2.49% for 60 months. When I picked up my car at the dealer, they found Chase giving me 1.90% APR. Took that instead of PenFed.

If you have a pre-approved check, then whatever you wrote on the check will be the amount of the loan.

Good luck!