Pay down installment loan or make downpayment?

[Thomas Whitestone]

My FICO scores are all around 680, I have been working on removing a few negative items that I hope will be gone within the next month. I need to finance a second car, but I am only halfway through (22 of 48 payments) paying for my first car, which I will not be trading in. I have no late payments with my existing installment auto loan.

 

I have some money that I could use to either make a downpayment on the second car, or to pay off a portion of the existing installment loan. Which is the better action for me to take? Thanks in advance for your help!

 

Tom

[MarvBear]

since it may be difficult to qualify for a 2nd auto loan, I'd recommend that you use as large of a downpayment to increase your chances of an approval.