Dealer asking for references after sale?

[ecnal]

Hey everyone. I'm Lance, bought my Yaris a couple of days ago. 09 Sedan automatic.

I've never bought a new car (or financed any car) before and have a question. I got a phone call this morning from the salesman asking me to fax him two things: a utility bill (he says for proof of address, which makes sense since my current address isn't on my license) and a sheet with three references on it, since my credit score was below 500. He said handwritten is fine, he just needs three people who do not live with me; names, addresses and phone numbers. He assured me they wouldn't even call them.

This seems mighty strange to me and raises a red flag!

Is this common practice?

Help!

Thanks.

[RedRide]

You evidently do no not have the best of credit.

In these bad economic times, lenders want to extend credit but, they also must be very carfull who they lend mony to.

There seems to be some contorversy about your address and your identity that needs to be settled.

If you are going through Toyota financing I would not worry about it. All they seem to be doing is to do what ever they can to externd credt to you.

Also, there are new economic laws that are part of the "homeland security act" that dictate that addresses and identities must be verified before any major financial transaction takes place.

In better economic times they might have simply said no to your credit requests.

[SuperFunBall]

Did they finalize all the paperwork with you and were approved for financing? Some dealers will let you go with the vehicle before the whole procees is finally approved. Don't mean to worry you, more than likely they will find you finacing but at a higher APR rate.

[ecnal]

Well, my fiancé and I got the loan together. She has immaculate credit, I have a pretty good income but subpar credit. She was the applicant for the loan with me as co-signer.

The paperwork has all been finalized at a 0% APR rate.

It just strikes me as strange they'd ask for this after the fact, that's all. I'm not too worried about the situation you mentioned, SuperFunBall.

However, if they do end up contacting me and saying that I have to pay a higher rate, what options would I have? Could I simply say "Then this is not the deal I agreed to, here's the car back?"? Probably not in that simple of a way, but you know what I mean. Or would I be obligated to pay for the car at a higher rate?

I would think that they need me to come in and redo paperwork for the higher rate, seeing as I agreed to the 0%.

[SuperFunBall]

ecnal, I am no lawyer but if they renig on the offer I do believe that you can walk away from it. But I don't think that they will, maybe just a piece of mind for the financing company. Also if you know that you will marry your fiance for sure and they renig, just put it in her name and make sure they payments are made that way it wont hurt her credit down the road.

[RedRide]

If the contracts are alreafy signed, it's a done deal so, I would not worry about raising intrest rates.

They just seenm to have some loose ends to attent to.

In todays world good cedit and a solid identity are all important.

I used to have a PO Box on my drivers license and it caused all kinds of financial problems concerning loans and bank accounts after the HSA was enactred.

[Altitude]

They will contact those three people in an attempt to find you if you skip out on the loan. Don't worry about it, common practice and they are likely just tying up loose ends.

[ellenbetty]

When I was moving from Maryland to Ohio, in March of 07, my Escort blew it's transmission oil seal for a second time in a year. So I drove the Escort to the nearest Toyota dealer. Then I told the Toyota dealer I wanted to buy a new Yaris with options. Toyota turned me down for a loan. The local Ohio banks turned me down for a loan. I refused to give references. The dealer found a bank in Maryland to give me a loan to buy the Yaris. I paid $500 cash down and $500 cash when I picked up my Yaris. A year and a half later, I traded in my dead brother's Ford Ranger as a down payment for a second used Yaris. Local bank gave me a loan for the second Yaris without asking for references.

[Forrest]

Originally Posted by ellenbetty

When I was moving from Maryland to Ohio, in March of 07, my Escort blew it's transmission oil seal for a second time in a year. So I drove the Escort to the nearest Toyota dealer. Then I told the Toyota dealer I wanted to buy a new Yaris with options. Toyota turned me down for a loan. The local Ohio banks turned me down for a loan. I refused to give references. The dealer found a bank in Maryland to give me a loan to buy the Yaris. I paid $500 cash down and $500 cash when I picked up my Yaris. A year and a half later, I traded in my dead brother's Ford Ranger as a down payment for a second used Yaris. Local bank gave me a loan for the second Yaris without asking for references.

If you kept current with all car payments on the first Yaris, then that would show up as a plus for you and perhaps that is why the second loan went through with out a hitch

To other person, I would think if you signed and completed all of your transactons and you have the car, if they try to renig..tell them...here it is, come and get it ! Doubt they will. This has happened to others on this site and no one had car taken back but some did get better interest offer. Since your's was signed at 0%, cant get any better than that. I would not worry about it.

[talnlnky]

Whats the fiance's credit score? below 500 is shocking. I would think that you would want to raise your credit before hers.

I'm going through a similar venture with my fiance'. I'm 26, she's 24, my credit is 770, her's is round 640. I don't care about my credit anymore because in 1-3 years I'd like to be buying a house. She's going for her master's degree before me, which means she'll have a good income in 12-18months, but a crap credit score unless we raise it quickly. I on the other hand have a great score, but probably won't have a very good paying job (or maybe no job at all if back in school). On home loans they go off of the worst credit score. So... Right now I could easily get 160k maybe even as high as 200k with a job that only pays 29k a year with a good interest rate. She currently makes similar, but would get a smaller loan, at a higher rate... If we went in together... we could get in the 200-300 range... but at a bad rate...

It's really annoying, but raise both of the scores up to the same level unless you plan on buying a house solely on one person's name. And.... last time I checked, co-signers don't earn credit.

[auxmike]

I would NEVER get into and loans etc. with a girlfriend or fiancee.
Things happen, unfortunatly. People change. If (God forbid) you break up before you get to the aisle, you could be looking at a real financial train wreck.
I was engaged to my gf of 7 years. She dumped me the day after her Birthday! She kept all the gifts too! BUT, I got my ring back....
Just my .02.....

[bearda]

Originally Posted by RedRide

If the contracts are alreafy signed, it's a done deal so, I would not worry about raising intrest rates.

I hate to say it, but that isn't necessarily true. A surprising number of dealers now are running a pre-authorization check with a bank to determine if you can get the financing that isn't terribly thorough. They usually sneak in a form stating that although the bank has pre-approved you for the financing they can still reject you, and in that case if the dealer can't line up comparable financing within some amount of time (5 days or so) you have to return the car.

Happened to a friend of mine with less-than-perfect credit. She was a little surprised they approved her for financing in the first place, but went with it and drive off with the car. A week later they called her back and told her she needed to come in with a cosigned, put down a larger downpayment, or return the car. I looked back through the financing papers for my car and lo and behold found a clause saying they could have done the same for my car (from a different dealer).

EDI:
Found the thing I was looking for earlier:
http://www.lemonlaw.com/spotdelivery.html