MylesGirl

The new Optimas are really nice. I bought a Sportage because I just fell in love with it. My husband, however, also liked the Optima and if it wasn't for wanting an SUV I might have bought an Optima. Husband drives a Jaguar and is a bit of a car snob but he has admitted how surprised he is with the quality of the new Kias.

I haven't dealt with it through my current bank (actually a credit union) but I had issues in the past with another bank with online bill pay when the company I was paying simply claimed they never got the money. Having it cleared up was a just a big hassle. So I started making all my payments online through the website of the company receiving the money. (No one else I use has ever charged for that service.) That usually gives me some sort of confirmation number to trace the payment which makes things much easier should there ever be an issue (although there hasn't been in any place I've ever paid directly). I think that's generally good advice, but I didn't trust Santander enough to do it any other way. I read stories about problems with their auto debit, and stories of people sending in checks, just to have them posted late, and sometimes not at all. They apparently also had someone working from them that was stealing the information from customer checks. In this situation I didn't feel there was any other way I felt safe making the payment. Again, just glad to be finished with them.

My last loan was with them. Not by choice - it was with CitiFinancial and they sold their auto loans Santander. They massively screwed up in the beginning. I had auto pay with CitiFinancial that I turned off because we were going to be switching banks and I wanted to control what came out of where, and when. I made the last few payments to CitiFinancial manually through their website. Had the auto pay cancelled (which CitiFinancial acknowledged). When I got the letter saying Santander was taking over the loan I went to their website, created an account and signed up for auto pay with them - with the new bank information. The first payment was made. Saw the charge come through the bank account via online banking. Thought no more of it and went about my way. By random chance I logged into the Santander website again the day the next payment was due. They had added a $25 fee to the account. Under the details it had the date (4 days after the last payment) and said "account - frozen." So I went to the online chat to figure out what that was all about. They said it was an NSF fee because my automated payment had bounced. I told them I saw it clear my bank account the previous month, they said they would have tried a second time and they got it that time, but they still charge a fee because it bounced the first time. That made no sense to me, so I called the bank. They said it only was attempted the one time and agreed, based on the balance of the account at that time that there was no reason it wouldn't have gone through. They also said they could tell if it was attempted more than once and I would have seen that through the online banking, and it wasn't. Said they would put together whatever paperwork Santander needed to assure this was the case and remove the fee. Santander insists on the reason and I fax paperwork from the bank to them to dispute. When speaking on the phone to a LaToya at Santander I asked her about the auto debit and if they would take the regular payment or the payment and the $25. Was assured the auto debit was just for the payment and I could pay the fee later (yeah, right). The next day I log into the account and now it says the current payment is one day late. The person on the online chat told me that's because the auto debit was cancelled after the last payment bounced. Something LaToya should have told me the day before when I asked her how much would be auto debited. She had my account information in front of me, she should have told me it wasn't going to happen. But she didn't. The online chat person says that happens automatically if the last try had failed. Long story short (too late, I know) what happened was when Santander bought the loan they got all the information they had on file from CitiFinancial. So they got the old banking information in my file. Even though I had cancelled the auto debit (because we were switching banks - remember I manually made payements to CitiFinancial after cancelling the auto debit) Santander decided to go ahead and run that too. Of course it bounced, we had closed that bank account. Their customer service was a joke. Over and over again they said it was my fault my account was frozen because the auto debit bounced. They were just rude about it the whole time. They never listened to the logic that I set up auto debit with them that worked, and that the old banking account information that they should have never attempted wasn't current or accurate so that attempted charge was *their* mistake. I should have told them. That I banked with another bank I no longer had an account with before they owned my auto loan?? I've banked with a lot of places during my life, do they need my entire history? I provided them with current information and whatever transferred from CitiFinancial included that the auto debit wasn't currently active. I will say eventually that someone I never talked to removed the $25 fee. I never did turn the auto debit back on with them. Instead I manually paid every month, a few day early, set to go on the due date. And paid an extra $10.95 fee through Western Union (online) to do so. And I kept every freaking transaction receipt. I didn't ever want to confuse them by paying on a different date or giving them a different amount. Every month on the due date, exactly what was due so that nothing should be confusing for them. Getting away from them was actually a factor in purchasing a new vehicle last month. I'd stay away from them unless you had no other real options.

They really have. I never would have considered Kia before. My husband is super picky when it comes to cars (his car of choice is a Jaguar convertible) and he was the one who suggested the Sportage when I said I was interested in having an SUV again. We are loving it!

APPROVING BANK Capital One (Blank Check) BUREAU PULLED Equifax CREDIT SCORE 564 CUSTOMER STATE OF RESIDENCE Texas NEW/USED Used YEAR OF VEHICLE 2011 MILEAGE 16,000 RETAIL/LEASE Retail AMOUNT OF LOAN $19,200 TERM CONTRACTED 60 mo. APR/LEASE RATE 11.87% MONTHLY PAYMENT $425 MISCELLANEOUS COMMENTARY: $2000 down and $2000 for trade, plus the dealer paid off the remaining balance ($650) on the old car. Low credit score due to being in debt settlement and a tax lien.

Well we did it! My husband didn't want a new vehicle so we ended up with a 2011 Kia Sportage. Certified pre-owned so we got the warranty. Capitol One would probably have let us buy new, but we found what filled all our requirements. I didn't want to deal with dealer financing, I was just glad to have that part finished. I'm actually sitting here at the dealership waiting for it to be detailed.

Thank you. I'm still nervous about letting a dealer run our credit, but I guess I will deal with that bridge if I come to it.

So we got approved for a Capitol One loan with their "blank check" via lendingtree.com. It's for a used vehicle, less than 70,000 miles and no older than 7 years. That is standard according to their website. I applied specifically for a used car because I found one I loved, but it turns out the "7 years" idea only goes back to 2006. I guess because some 2013 vehicles are already out? Anyway, what I was looking at was a 2005. So back to the drawing board. We are going out to look today. I have read several times that people who have been approved by Capitol One actually end up getting better deals when at the dealership. With our credit bumps I really hate the financing stuff, so I'd rather stay away from it if possible, but don't want to lose out on potentially a better deal. Also my husband prefers used cars because (as everyone knows) brand new cars depreciate the second you drive them off the lot. But the APR is higher the older the car. I wonder if anyone that was approved through Capitol One for a used car ever got that turned into a new car loan after the fact? Not sure I could talk my husband into a new car, but I'm still loving that Juke and what they approved us for used could also get us into a Juke, if approved for the same amount for new. Anyone have any experiences they can share? Thanks!

Thanks Marv!

I should also add that the tax lien was placed in 2003. It was for tax years 1998-1999. Those years have been paid off, although we are currently in an installment agreement for 2010 and 2011 because my going back to work resulted in much higher than expected owed in taxes. But we are making monthly payments and in "good standing" with the IRS, for what that is worth. I am now looking into whether or not we can get the lien removed or at least marked at paid, since the taxes that the lien was for have been paid.

Can you answer this question, I'm afraid I don't know what debt settlement is Sorry. We are not in credit counseling we are in debt settlement. The company is called Care One and they do debt management and debt settlement. Settlement is basically what it sounds like. They deal with the creditors and settle our accounts for less than the original amount due. We were pushed into that when the IRS threatened to garnish my husband's wages for back taxes. Which was the result of a business he owned that he later discovered the gal doing his payroll pocketed the payroll taxes instead of paying the IRS. Thousands of dollars owed, most of it fees and interest since many years had past. Big mess but we have an agreement with the IRS. Of course they don't care if you have debt. Which at the time left us with bankruptcy or debt settlement if we wanted to keep our house and pay for the basics. I was pregnant with our daughter and had just left my job. It felt like paying something on our debts was better than nothing. We always try to do the right thing but you know life doesn't usually care. Sorry for the long answer just trying to tell you how we got to where we are. Not that it would probably matter in the long run.

We are in debt settlement with Care One. Two years next month.

Hello all, I am new to the forums and I've been doing some reading. I wanted to do the application form Marv has so kindly offered but I was afraid I couldn't answer all the questions so it would be a waste of time. So I will try to explain the situation and see if getting a new car loan seems feasible. We (my husband and I) are in debt settlement with Care One. It's a 5 year plan, we are at the 2 year mark next month. There is a tax lien on his credit report filed in 2003 by the IRS, but we have an installment agreement with them and make monthly payments to them. His current numbers are as follows: TransUnion: 558 Equifax: 563 Experian:536 There are 3 small things showing as in collections that I was not aware of. I will be adding them to our Care One plan. They total a little less than a grand. As far as history with auto loans go, my husband's car is paid off, the loan was through the bank we were with at the time (we are now with a credit union). It was paid off 2 years ago. In 2006 he bought me a 2001 PT Cruiser. It was financed with HSBC, he had the check in hand when he went to the dealership. His credit reports show that was paid off. We later got an offer in the mail from CitiFinancial that was a better deal, so we refinanced with them. They later sold it to Santander. I don't see anything on his credit report from CitiFinancial, which is weird because we paid them for years, but Santander shows on time payments for the entire time they are reporting, starting in March 2010. That loan will be paid off in July. The current payoff on the car is $650. In the summer of 2010 the Cruiser died (needed a new engine and transmission.) We kept paying on it and got me another car from a "buy here pay here place." Had it about a year when the engine on that one went out (totally not my fault, I swear, the mechanic said the problem started long before I bought it and wouldn't have been detected at the time). We made 13 payments on that car, all showing as on time. The dealership actually took it back and let us out of the loan. We got the Cruiser fixed, but the mechanic, we found out after the fact, was shady and I just don't trust it anymore. It's also an 11 year old car and we have a 3 year old and we want something new, reliable and safe for the family. However, car loan history is good. He has been at the same job for nearly 8 years. Monthly income, provable by paystubs, is $6400. (I bring in another $1500-$2000/month, but I guess that's not usable income with just him on the loan. I am "self employed" because I have been on contract with a small company since 2010, although I have set hours and a set job.) He has been in the same house, with an owner financed mortgage, for 12 years. As I said, we have an agreement with the IRS we can show proof of, as well as enrollment in the debt settlement plan now for 2 years. I have fallen in love with the Nissan Juke, but I have no idea how realistic it is to get a new car loan in our situation. Simply looking at our bills as they are now, we can afford the payment and I think having another positive mark on his credit can only be a good thing. Even if the interest rate isn't great (which it certainly won't be.) Trading in the Cruiser should get us about $3000 (KBB) and if we try to buy in June I could have another $3000 in cash as down payment, the car should be about $25,000, so I'm guessing a loan around $20,000. Am I dreaming or could we make this happen?