2.5% Car Loan Financing

My hubby got me a dream car a week or so ago – a minivan to comfortably fit all of our 3 kids in.  We debated whether we should pay cash or take a loan out to buy the car. To our surprise, because we have a pretty good credit history, we found a loan at only 2.5% financing.  My husband found this deal ONLINE – with a military credit union based in Washington (we live in California).  Credit unions are known for giving better car, home, or other purchases loan rates than banks do, but don’t limit yourself to the credit unions around your area – check out your options online! We would have never found such deal in our area, and this credit union that provided the loan doesn’t have any branches in our state.  We only had one hiccup with this financing – the first place we found didn’t give us the best rate because my husband has been using only 1 credit card for years (forget the fact that he has been paying it on time all the time, just like he pays all his other bills on time).  Spend some time and look around – if you don’t qualify for the best rate at the first place you looked at because you only carry 1 credit card or some other stupid reason they may give you that doesn’t effectively evaluate your credit worthiness – call another financial institution that offers a great rate online and explain your situation.  Different financial institutions evaluate your creditworthiness differently, and if some of them have flawed models – others don’t and will give you the best rate you qualify for.