Ok, so with my future Mustang purchase, I am pretty set on going outside of the dealer to do my financing. I have just done dealer or payed cash for my other vehicles but this will be my first big time car purchase as my others have been used POS cars.

So my questions are as follows:
When you apply for the loan (i.e. through a bank) you apply with the price you believe you need a loan for and then you are either approved or unapproved. After approval are you obligated to take the loan?
If you are approved, do you know the APR is at this point and can you cancel if you do not receive the APR you wanted?
Does this hurt you or your credit?

Just wondering a few of these things will possibly not allow me to get a 2011 right now.

Thanks everyone, I know there have been threads on this before but it gets exhausting to search and possibly not get the answers I need. I just wanted some personal experience feedback.

 

It might depend on the Bank/Loaner. I recommend Capital One to all my friends. They offer really competitive rates and their approval process is quick. Essentially you go online and provide your information for them to approve you. You will request an credit amount. If they approve you they'll tell you what amount at what rate. If you have good credit you'll get a good rate and the amount you want. (I've tried three times and have always gotten the most competitive rate from other banks and the amount I want). When you request make sure you enter in the amount you want for sure that you want. If you decide you need more you'll have to re-apply. Once approved they'll send you a blank check to use for up to the amount you were approved for. Should you decide to only use part, that’s fine. You'll only have a loan for what you make the check out to. One final thing is to check on their site if your dealer is approved to work with Capital One. One dealers who are approved to work with them can be given that check.

Anyway, I'm a big fan of them. They've treated me very professionally when I've had questions. Let me know if you have any questions too! Hope this helps!

 

i've always heard credit unions are the way to go, but lately i've been getting offers from BofA, Chase, Capital One, Citi, and US Bank, and they've been giving me SUPER low rates (US bank as low as 2.76 for 84 months) and credit as high as 50K.

if you do shop around at various banks, it may affect your credit so be wary. first see what their lowest rate is, then see if you can apply for it.

 

Have you any established credit now?
Credit cards, loans etc.
Those with no credit history sometimes can get hit with higher rates or non-approval.
Sometimes a dealer can actually help push credit through, but at a higher APR.
A large down payment (over 20%) always helps with approval and rates.