Banks love it when the finance manager at your local dealership sends them a complete package for a loan approval. The truth of the matter is when the bank receives all of your documents up front they are more likely to approve your loan. Keep in mind if you have all of your financial information in hand it will make you appear to be more credit worthy.
The first piece of information that everyone will be looking for is your pay stub. Your pay stub will provide them with very important information in regards to your financial stability. The most important thing on your stub is your year to date total. Regardless of what your hourly rate of pay is your year to date will be used to determine how much money you make per month. Keeping in mind that majority of the special finance banks will not count the overtime you have worked but for those who will it may help you qualify for loans you otherwise would not. Make sure to take your most current month's worth of pay stubs with you to the dealership or bank. If you're self employed then take your last two years of tax returns and your last three months worth of bank statements. Having your W2 or tax return with you would be a smart idea. Special finance banks are requiring the dealership to fax them ahead of time on most deals now.
The second thing you will need to make sure to take with you is proof of your residence. This should be a home phone or cell phone bill if available. Other things that may work can be any utility bill that you may have. The point here is to make sure the address on your bill matches your application, your driver license, and your pay stub. If you don't have any of those things than try taking a bank statement with you if it has been mailed to your home because a computer's print out won't work. Take two pieces of mail with you that have been dated with in the last 30 days because some banks require two proofs of residence.
Thirdly you will need to provide the bank with references. The industry standard has become the banks wanting six references. You will need to provide them with six names of friends or relatives. This list must include their address and phone numbers as well. Keep in mind these are the people they are going to call if you are late on your car payment. Be sure to have six people that do not live with you or each other. All references should live locally if at all possible.
There are a few last things you want to make sure to take with you to the dealership. This list includes having your valid state driver's license. There are only a handful of banks that don't require that you have a valid driver license to be approved. Please have your current license plate and valid registration when transferring a license plate to the new car. The most often thing forgotten by most people is taking a number to the human resource department of your job. The banks always want to verify your employment. Having the number to the human resource department will make it much easier for them to do so.
Buying a car should be a fun time and stress free. If you go to the dealership prepared you will be able to spend more time test driving and less time digging up personal information. Please remember that the more prepared you are the more likely the banks say yes.
