MyAutoloan Car Loans: 2017 Review

Best for: borrowers with average credit who want quotes from multiple lenders

It’s smart to compare offers when looking for car loans. To speed up that process, myAutoloan presents your application to multiple lenders, then presents you with the best offers. Greg Thibodeau, myAutoloan CEO, says this allows applicants to quickly spot “the outlier” — a lender that offers a substantially lower interest rate.

The company

• Submits an application to as many as 20 lenders
• Matches borrowers with a wide spectrum of auto loans, including lease buyouts
• Responds quickly to most applications
• Offers loans for car purchases up to $100,000
• Is available in all states, except Alaska and Hawaii

MyAutoloan at a glance

Review details for myAutoloan

To review myAutoloan, owned by Horizon Digital Finance, NerdWallet collected more than 46 data points from the lender, interviewed company executives, completed the online loan application process with sample data and compared the lender with others that seek the same customer or offer a similar product.

MyAutoloan is good for

People with average credit scores who want to shop around for the best rate will like how quickly myAutoloan returns multiple loan offers. Fill out one application, and the site promises “up to four offers in minutes.” The company covers the full gamut of loans — new and used, refinancing and lease buyouts.

People with top-tier credit might get a car purchase loan through myAutoloan for as little as 1.99% and a refinance rate of 1.84%. However, the average rate is 11.6% for refinancing an existing loan. The maximum interest rate charged by lenders through myAutoloan is 24.9% for car buying and 29.4% for refinancing.

Application process

The myAutoloan application is about one page and will take you only a few minutes to fill out. The company requires you to provide a Social Security number and will perform a hard credit pull. Unlike the “soft pull” that some lenders use, this hard inquiry will slightly lower your credit score. That means the myAutoloan process is best for people who definitely want a loan, rather than tire kickers who are casually comparing rates.

The lenders that work with myAutoloan will do their own hard credit pull before approving an application. These subsequent credit inquiries won’t have an additional impact on your credit score, provided they happen within a short time period, usually two weeks, after the first credit pull. The credit bureaus group multiple car-loan requests and treat them as a single inquiry.

Thibodeau says the hard credit pull provides solid loan information while the information provided by competitors’ soft pulls yields an estimate that could change before the loan is approved.

Minimum requirements

To be approved, you need to earn at least $1,800 a month, a company spokesman says. The average monthly income of myAutoloan customers is $4,372 for purchase loans and slightly higher for refinance loans. The minimum credit score for a purchase or refinance loan is 500. The average score for myAutoloan customers is 658 for purchases and 618 for refinance loans.

Restrictions

The company provides loans for vehicles less than 10 years old, with fewer than 125,000 miles. Loan terms are 24 to 72 months, although NerdWallet doesn’t recommend stretching car loans to more than 60 months. Note that some lenders may extend the term or maximum loan amount ($100,000 for purchases) for borrowers with excellent credit. Vehicle financing is available in all states except Alaska and Hawaii.

Documentation

Each lender myAutoloan works with has different documentation requirements. Most lenders can receive documents electronically to shorten the wait time. Once you select a loan and the lender approves it, payment can be arranged in a variety of ways to best suit the situation, Thibodeau says. In some cases, the lender can deposit the money into your bank account; in others, it can send the money as a certificate to the dealer.

No fees

There are no application fees, and you’re not obligated to select any of myAutoloan’s offers. However, offers expire after 30 days.

Rate shopping

It’s smart to comparison shop when you want to buy a car or get an auto loan. That can, however, lead to being contacted by dealers and lenders.

Loan aggregators, such as myAutoloan, do the rate shopping for you. To get you the best deal available, they share your information with other lenders and partners. This means you could get emails and phone calls from lenders and possibly even car dealers.

Read the privacy information on a provider’s website if you’re worried about getting overwhelmed by calls and emails. To help with that, create a new email account and get a Google Voice phone number that you can check separately. Both options are free and can be used for other shopping needs.

Before you take a car loan

Thanks to the internet and competition in the marketplace, many loan opportunities are easily available to you. But just because you can qualify for a loan doesn’t mean you have to take it if it severely stretches your budget. When choosing a car, pick one that addresses your needs. When shopping for a loan, select the one that fits into your budget and helps you achieve your long-term financial goals. If your financial picture changes, consider refinancing your loan to better suit your new situation.

More from NerdWallet

See more car loan providers
See more auto loan refinance options
Estimate your payments with a car payment calculator

Philip Reed is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email: preed@nerdwallet.com.

A previous version of the story misstated the name of myAutoloan. This story has been corrected.

Updated May 31, 2017.