According to Car and Driver, “Most used auto loans go to borrowers with minimum credit scores of at least 675. For new auto loans, most borrowers have scores of around 730. The minimum credit score needed for a new car may be around 600, but those with excellent credit often get lower rates and lower monthly payments.”
There is no minimum credit score required to buy a car, but most lenders have minimum requirements for financing. Most borrowers need a FICO score of at least 600 to get a competitive rate on an auto loan.
For a score with a range of 300 to 850, a credit score of 670 to 739 is considered good. Credit scores of 740 and above are very good while 800 and higher are excellent. For credit scores that range from 300 to 850, a credit score in the mid to high 600s or above is generally considered good.
16% of all consumers have FICO® Scores in the Very Poor range (300-579).
Nearly half of Americans score between 750 and 850, in the very good to exceptional range, while less than 25% of Americans have a score between 300 and 649, the poor to fair credit score range.
Many dealers use a FICO Auto Score instead of a traditional FICO Score or VantageScore when evaluating your car loan application. Your FICO Auto Score can range from 250 to 900, depending on your previous auto loans.
It's total loan amount (including interest) divided by the loan term (number of months you have to repay the loan. For example, the total interest for a $30,000, 60-month loan at 7% would be $6,497.40. So the monthly payment would be $608.29 ($30,000 + $6,497.40 ÷ 60 = $552.50).
What is the highest credit score possible? To start off: No, it's not possible to have a 900 credit score in the United States. In some countries that use other models, like Canada, people could have a score of 900. The current scoring models in the U.S. have a maximum of 850.
There's no specific minimum credit score required to qualify for a car loan. Still, if you have poor credit, it could be difficult to get approved for a car loan. Even with the best auto loans for poor credit, watch out for high interest rates, which can make it very expensive to borrow money.
However, you can fix a bad credit score by paying bills on time, keeping credit card balances low and using credit-strengthening products like secured credit cards.
What's the Highest Possible Credit Score? The most commonly used credit scoring models have scores ranging from 300 to 850, so the highest score you can have is 850. However, some scores have bigger ranges, such as the 250 to 900 range for FICO's industry-specific scores.
In general, lenders want to see borrowers with fair credit — a FICO score of 620 or higher — although there are many banks and some online lenders that set much higher minimums. If your credit score is lower than the lender's requirement, you will immediately be denied.
Check Your Credit Score
Your credit score can be a major factor in whether you'll get approved for an auto loan and the interest rate you receive. You can check your FICO® Score☉ for free from Experian.
NerdWallet recommends spending no more than 10% of your take-home pay on your monthly auto loan payment. So if your after-tax pay each month is $3,000, you could afford a $300 car payment. Check if you can really afford the payment by depositing that amount into a savings account for a few months.
How much should you put down on a car? A down payment between 10 to 20 percent of the vehicle price is the general recommendation.
Only borrowers with gold-plated credit usually qualify for 0% APR financing deals. That means you need a credit score in the Super Prime category that Experian pegs at 781-850.
What does a car dealership see when they run your credit? When they run your credit, they get a report and credit score from one or more credit reporting agencies. This will help them gauge the risk of granting you car financing.
exceedingly rare for anyone to have a credit score over 900, as most credit scoring models have a maximum limit of 850, and even achieving that score is uncommon.
The average FICO credit score in the US is 717, according to the latest FICO data. The average VantageScore is 701 as of January 2024.
Overall, Credit Karma may produce a different result than one or more of the three major credit bureaus directly. The slight differences in calculations between FICO and VantageScore can lead to significant variances in credit scores, making Credit Karma less accurate than most may appreciate.