Car dealerships partner with banks for their financing options and most financial institutions use FICO® Auto Scores to determine your creditworthiness for auto loans.
FICO® Auto Scores use either FICO® 8 or 9 as a base and are then modified by various factors from any previous auto loans you may have had.
This means that the credit score displayed on your Personal Finance Management (PFM) app may not match the FICO® Auto Score that banks use to determine the details of your auto loan.
How Can I Find My FICO® Auto Score?
Most PFM apps only provide a rough approximation of your credit score. In fact, many apps display a VantageScore instead of the more widely-used FICO® Score.
Here are two services that can provide you with your FICO® Auto Score:
- Experian Credit Monitoring (paid plans only)
- Advanced FICO Plan ($29.95 per month)
💡 Note: The other two credit bureaus provide insights regarding your creditworthiness for auto loans but they use their own models instead of FICO® Scores. TransUnion uses the CreditVision model while Equifax uses the Equifax Risk Score.
What is the Minimum FICO® Score for an Auto Loan?
The minimum FICO® Score required for auto loans with decent rates is 660. This is based on the Q1 2024 data of Experian’s State of the Automotive Finance Market which states that 84.92% of new loans for new vehicles are from people with credit scores of 660 and above.
Which Specific FICO® Auto Scores Do Lenders Use?
If you thought having too many different types of FICO® scores was frustrating, we have some bad news for you. There are also different types of FICO® Auto Scores.
FICO® Auto Scores 2, 4, 5, 8, and 9, are the ones that lenders use today. But don’t worry, you don’t need to keep track of all these scores if you want to buy a car.
As long you know your FICO® Score you can get a general idea of your auto score by adding or removing points according to how you repaid your previous auto loans. If you’ve made late payments then expect your auto score to be lower than your general credit score.
Increase Your FICO® Auto Score with Cushion
Since your FICO® Score is still the basis of your auto score, then increasing your general credit score will still help you when financing a vehicle.
Cushion will report on-time Buy Now, Pay Later (Klarna, Afterpay, Zip, etc.) and bill payments to Experian whenever you use the Cushion Debit Card to pay them. This allows you to steadily increase your credit score with your recurring payments.
We can also ensure that you never miss an auto loan payment by streaming your due dates to your Google or Yahoo Calendar (which updates in real-time!).
