Used Cars: used car loans?, money down, car loans

Question
Shane, you helped me before. Thanks.  I'm ready to go get a used car for around $15,000, and i'll be putting at least $5000 down.  My credit scores are hovering in the mid 600's and I keep hearing stories about people with really good credit getting rejected for different types of loans so I'm wondering if I should start shopping or should I wait for this whole bank mess to clear itself up?  Thanks.

Answer
You should be fine with the down payment you have. The loans that you have been hearing about are mostly for people with good credit trying to buy with little or no money down. That used to be very common but banks have decided to stop offering this kind of financing because those tended to be the loans that were being charged off. The new banking theory is to require 20-30% down. They do this with the thinking that people who put that kind of money down will follow through with their payments as they have an investment in the car as well. Mid 600 score you can expect a rate around 9-10 percent. This is on a 2003 or newer car, the older the vehicle the higher the rate will be. Don't wait, banks are hungry right now and yours is the type of loan they want. Hope this helps, feel free to ask me anything else, Thanks, Shane