Ok, here's the lastest with my new car buying adventures.

Friday morning I went to the bank and got my loan pre-approval restarted. I started it back in May but then had surgery a few days later and didn't want to mess with it.

Then I was out near my house looking at Nissan Altimas. I went to a dealership and the guy was nice, not slimy or pushy like the others I've come across, some of them at that very dealership. So he takes me around, and he seemed a little surprised and impressed by the amount of research I've done. I was there for about an hour looking and asking questions. I finally have it narrowed down to an Altima 2.5S, ABS brakes with convience package, mystic emerald in color. I was flip flopping back and forth on whether or not to get the convience package, but I finally realized that I plan on having that car for at least 8 yrs, I might as well get what I want and drive in fun and comfort.

He didn't want to go lower on the price until I signed a paper saying I was prepared to buy. It let the sales manager know I was serious about buying and not taking the quote somewhere else to get a better price. Which was exactly what I was going to do, but oh, well. I asked about the paper, and even though it's called an intent to purchase it isn't legally binding me to buy there. Just if the final price and financing is agreeable to me. I didn't sign it nor did he say anymore about it.

From there to my fully body massage appointment where just from watching me walk across the room and stand he could tell all the places I was sore, and a few I didn't know I was sore at. An hour later and feeling very mellow I left to go to Norman to look at Altimas. I'm glad I took Friday off to do that, because today I realized that OU's first home game of the season is this afternoon and it would have been hell to get in and out of there.

I get to the lot and head over to the Altimas. I had parked right in front of the showroom so I figured someone probably saw me pull up and was on his way out to greet me. I looked over the cars and realized that none of them had ABS breaks and very few had the convience package I wanted. Then I realized that there's no sales guy. So I wandered into the showroom and the place was empty, a mechanic walked though but that was it. Pissed off and holding my keys next to the new roped off 350Z I figured I should leave before I'm arrested for vandalism. I go across the street and park at the Borders. Since I brought a phone book with me I called the dealership. The web guy answered. After explaining that I drove from North Edmond to look at cars and no one was around to help me he said they had taken a whole bunch of cars to the fairgrounds and no one was left to help me. I was so pissed off but he checked the inventory for what I wanted. From there I went home.

~*~

Last night I realized that I might be eligiable for a loan from Tinker Credit Union since mom's a member. So today I went in and and opened a savings account with $5. She said my credit score was 685 out of 900 which was very good but didn't get me a lower rate than my bank. Both offered me 7%. However she told me that closing the accounts I have open but don't or hardly use will raise my score and lower the rate. That would be 3 of the 4 accounts on there.

So I just got off the phone closing my The Limited account. I have an open AT&T Universal account, but they never sent me a new card after the old one expired and that's been about 5 yrs ago. I haven't used my MasterCard for over a year but don't feel comfortable closing it since it would leave me with only my Visa and I use that card all the time. It will take about 30 days for the cancellations to show up on my report.

Credit Union pro: If I open a checking account there and have my loan payments withdrawn from checking, I can get the rate down to 6.85%

Credit Union con: I can't walk in and make a payment toward the principle at any time. If I do want to, I have to go in the day the payment is schedualed to be withdrawn from the account and pay then. Which bites since they figure the interest daily and paying extra money in the middle of the month will short them that much interest for the month. The loan is for 60 months

My bank pro: I can walk in at anytime and pay on the principle. The rest of my money is there so it would be easier to transfer money out of my savings for the loan payment incase something happens and there's not enough in checking. To move it to the credit union might incur a fee. The loan is for 48 months. This means higher payments but for a shorter time which means less interest piled up.

My bank con: Can't think of any. I'm not sure if they'll lower the rate if I have it automatically withdrawn, but I'll call and ask.

In general: My rent is going up in November to $445 a month. I called dad and sorta hinted around that I may need to borrow a few thousand dollars. I don't even want to think about the tag, title, liscense and insurance.