Conference 7.286::dcu

    I haven't had a car loan in years (I buy used and pay cash) so
    I haven't seen this letter.

    Questions: Would you save money by switching to DCU?
    	      Is paying the loan off via direct deposit easier for you?

    It seems like DCU has let someone else do the checking and most
    of the paperwork and is now willing to service the loan and make
    some money for it's owners. It looks like a low risk way to make
    a loan. What's the down side?

    			Alfred

    I think its GREAT.  I had envisioned that plan a while back.
    
    I raise a yellow caution flag.  how do they get the number/about of
    your other loan?  I know they can do this with a credit check.
    BUT,  if they are out doing random credit checks, that's BAD!
    each 'check' is a tick AGAINST a person if that person goes for 
    a loan.  I might not want a loan with DCU, but they can jam my credit
    rating with these requests.
    
    
    is there any director that knows the nuts and bolts of the process
    they are using for gaining this information?
    
    ed 

    I received a letter trying to get me to participate in the Credit Union 
    Auto Sale taking place on March 24-26 at particular dealers. I am pre-
    approved for enough to pay for a new car. If I buy on those days from those
    dealers I will get a rate reduction of .5%. 
    
    I am in the market for a car but will be away on vacation at that time. My 
    other credit union (Worcester Central Federal C. U.) is having a sale in 
    early April when I will be home, and the reduced rates will be available 
    for purchases from any dealer. (Rates are to be set on March 21, but
    the current rate is 6.99%. I expect them to equal DCU's reduction.)
    I will be buying one week later and WCFCU will get my business.
    Payments will be payroll deduction from my husband's check. 
    
    Linda 

�    Did anyone else get a "check in the mail" from the DCU for the 
�    amount of what DCU thinks is the outstanding balance of their
�    auto loan from another place of business?  
    
    I didn't get this auto loan promotion, but did get one telling me that
    I was preapproved for an auto loan with DCU.
    
�    Yesterday's mail contained one of "those" checks good until the
�    end of April for me to switch over to the DCU for *lowering* my
�   payments on my car loan that I have with GMAC.  I wonder what
�    others think of this way of getting new business. 
    
    I recently received a promotion from American Express for their Optima
    Card.  They invited current cardholders to transfer balances from other
    cards in exchange for a 6.9% interest rate on those balances.  I
    thought it was great.

    
    
    
    I got on of thse yesterday.. th real kicker is that I only have one car
    loan and its *with* the DCU...  Now I read the form fairly closely and
    nothing on the form leads me to believe I wouldn't be able to call and
    ask the DCU to write me a new loan on their old loan... Although I
    cannot believe that they would allow this (I'm going to try anyways).
    
    It's kind of ironic that I got this, since it's also about 2 years
    since I took the DCU up on their last offer...   my question of course 
    would be why not use the program to make current membership happy and
    reduce their loan %'s by some number, tell them they are not in the
    running for total reduction, and get new business... But of course that
    would be the staying in business model of which the DCU does not
    ascribe to. ;-)
    
    
    John 

    Uh, I got the auto loan "check" promotion in the mail.  It was for
    roughly the amount of our existing auto loan with DCU.
    
    It offered a low, low rate of 6.9%.  And the letter said how much we'd
    save if we transferred a 9% loan to a 6.9% loan.  Trouble is, our
    existing DCU loan, taken out a year ago, is at 6.9%.
    
    Trade me a quarter for twenty-five cents?

RE: Note 782.5 by STAR::FERLAN

>    I got on of thse yesterday.. th real kicker is that I only have one car
>    loan and its *with* the DCU...  Now I read the form fairly closely and
>    nothing on the form leads me to believe I wouldn't be able to call and
>    ask the DCU to write me a new loan on their old loan... Although I
>    cannot believe that they would allow this (I'm going to try anyways).

It is ashamed that DCU will not refinance at a lower rate.  USAA will do
this at no additional cost.

I am sure one of the reasons they would not refinance is that they could
not distribute the loans fairly to all members and capital needs to be
increased...

	- mark

I just got the "letter" pre-approving me for a new car loan (I don't currently
have any car loans) with special deals from special dealers...

The only dealer on the list that I recognize, I don't do business with.  When
I have checked  their car prices for comparabably equiped vehicles against
near-by competitors, their prices are usually much higher than the competition
and their trade-in allowances are lousey.  They keep telling me how great their
service is and that is why everyone goes there - but the one time I used their
service department, I didn't think they were great.

So why would this dealer want to give me a good deal now?  Or are they gonna
give me a better deal than they normally would, which is normally not very good.

And the interest rate?  I can get approx the same for the next year at
CambridgePort Bank as a home equity line, and take a tax deduction.  


Yesterday, I got the fancy mortgage letter.  They don't even give me a
hint of their current rates/fees.

I'd prefer they stop these ads and invest the money in offering me a better
loan rate to borrow at or savings account that I'd want to save in..

Alice

    RE:.2

    >each 'check' is a tick AGAINST a person if that person goes for 
    >a loan.  I might not want a loan with DCU, but they can jam my credit
    >rating with these requests.

    Could you elaborate, why would a credit check be a black mark on your
    credit?

    Joe

There appears to be two strings going on here.  

.0 mentions something that I recieved two days ago - saying I can refinance my
car loan.  Somewhere around .2 or .3 someone starts talking about "preapproved
for new car loan - at certain dealers".  I recieved that several (many?)
months ago.

The amount on the "check" was not equal to what my current balance is, but it
never mentions that that is the "max" I could borrow.  

Some else asked "how do they find out what your current loan has on it", if you
read the mailing, it told you to fill out the info on the back and send it back
in.  The back of the mailing also has "1,2,3..." steps.  Step two says you
would recieve back some documents you have to sign (such as authorization for
payoff,....)

I'm going to call today - see if they can get my 1-year into a 5 year loan at
8.5 to a shorter term.

Phone number listed for questions is 1-800/DCU-8797 (dtn 223-6735).

Brian J.

    
    
    The whole thing is stupid.  If they would take the trouble TO FIND OUT
    WHY MEMBERS AREN'T ALREADY BRINGING THEIR BUSINESS AND FIX THAT
    PROBLEM, THEY WOULDN'T HAVE TO BE DOING THESE EXPENSIVE MAILINGS AND
    SPECIAL DEALS.  If they've got the time to work out a promotion with
    a dozen or more care dealers, where the details of the negotiations are
    about MAKING PROFIT FOR THE DEALER AND THE DCU, then why haven't they
    got the time to work with members to find out how they can alter their
    way of doing business so that the business comes to them to begin with.
    
    I also don't understand why the DCU is getting into the automobile
    business.  What a great deal for the car dealers! If we aren't already
    walking into their showrooms, they get a credit union with 50K or so
    members in the area doing their promotions and advertising for them.
    
    Instead of trying to talk me into borrowing money, they should
    concentrate on becoming the ONLY place that comes to mind among DCU
    members when ON THEIR OWN they recognize a need to borrow.  If they
    were getting most of all of the DCU membership business that comes
    about naturally among a population of 50K or more consumers, they'd
    be so busy writing loans, they'd have no time to be trying to drum up
    more.
    
    The whole thing stinks IMO.
    
    Steve
    

    Mark, noone said that you couldn't refinance a DCU car loan under the
    current promotion.  Someone speculated that they might not.  
    
    Someone complained that DCU is getting into the car business.  Others
    have complained that they were able to go to a car dealer who had
    already negotiated a rate with a local bank and wondered why DCU
    couldn't do the same.
    
    Why is DCU doing these promotions?  If you look at the meeting minutes
    it seems that they have been successful in the past.

    
    Re: .14
    
    > Why is DCU doing these promotions?  If you look at the meeting minutes
    > it seems that they have been successful in the past.
    
    This still does not address the point that if the DCU focused on
    understanding what it would take for it to occur to DCU members as
    the only lender of choice, that such "promotions" would not only
    not be necessary, but probably be far less profitable.
    
    Steve

re .10
>>    Could you elaborate, why would a credit check be a black mark on your
>>    credit?


  When you apply for credit they also check for the current number of checks
on your credit.  This is considered bad if you have too many checks because
it implies that you might well be applying for too much credit.  Having an
institution do a random check on your credit is not just invasion of privacy
when they have no authorized use of it it is also abusive!

    
    RE: ticks on credit
    
    It is my understanding that this does NOT happen.  This is a service
    provided by the credit agency itself.
    

I TRIED to get the current loan through DCU, the truck was a DEMO model, two
model years old, but no title had ever been issued on it.  

They said "sorry its too old".  This was in January, I guess if I had walked in
on Dec 31'st they could have worked a deal, but instead I gave my money to a
local bank (New Darthmouth).

bjm

�                             -< No need to worry >-
�
�    
�    RE: ticks on credit
�    
�    It is my understanding that this does NOT happen.  This is a service
�    provided by the credit agency itself.
    
    I don't understand this answer.  Do you mean that credit checks aren't
    always recorded and reported or that repeated credit checks aren't
    frowned upon in the loan approval process?

    I'm not sure what you mean in .17. When I applied for a mortgage from
    DCU, they specifically asked me about a credit check that a bank had
    done in the near past. I had to explain it in a letter.
    
    Also, I thought that credit bureaus were not supposed to provide credit
    reports without having written authorization from the person. Referring
    again to the mortgage process with DCU, I was asked to fax the
    application to the home office so they could fax the authorization to
    the credit bureau(s) for a quick check before they would lock in the
    rate. Does this mean that in the case of these pre-approved car loans
    that DCU pulled out an old authorization and used that to get a credit
    report? If so, this has me greatly concerned.
    
    Pat
    
    BTW: Keep up the good work Phil. I plan to vote for the "Gang of 3" and
    I'm urging everyone I work with (verbally, not using company resources
    - in case the NetPolice are watching) to do the same.

    
    My understanding is that the credit agency provides a service to DCU
    based upon DCU's membership list.  So it is the agency itself that is
    looking at the credit profiles, not DCU.  This is not unigue to DCU.  I
    would image any "pre-approved" offer people receive are originated in
    this manner.
    

It'd be very interesting to compare  the cost
of the credit agency screening plus mailing cost with the
number of NEW loans processed.

Gim

I called the DCU Information Center for more information regarding the Auto
Loan Sale and the screening process.

DCU used TRW to prescreen potential customers for the Auto Loan Sale. By
doing so, credit inquiries were reported on the TRW credit reports of those
who were screened.

Chris

RE:     <<< Note 782.17 by ASE003::GRANSEWICZ "Candidate for DCU Director" >>>
                             -< No need to worry >-

    
>    RE: ticks on credit
>    
>    It is my understanding that this does NOT happen.  This is a service
>    provided by the credit agency itself.

	My experience is that any inquiery on my credit shows up on the report
	to the next requestor of my credit.

>	My experience is that any inquiery on my credit shows up on the report
>	to the next requestor of my credit.


Mine as well. DCU has no way of knowing that a potential Auto Loan Sale customer
is not in the process of obtaining credit from another source. That kind of
customer is going to have to explain to their potential creditor why DCU
made this credit inquiry. I know that DCU isn't the first institution to 
employ this tactic, but it still STINKS.

I don't want ANYONE making inquiries on my credit records without my explicit
permission to do so.

Chris

    
    At the very least, when an institution of its own volition goes
    "fishing" for potential credit customers via credit checks that
    fact should be logged with any record of the inquiry.
    
    Steve
    

    
    Well this is definitely news to me and I don't like it either if it is
    indeed happening.  DCU is now doing this on a VERY regular basis with a
    lot of members.  One more thing to get clarified and corrected, if
    possible.
    
    It still doesn't sound quite right though.  Given the number people being
    banged with these pre-approvals I would have thought this would have been
    an issue long ago.
    

I get probably 5 pre-approved credit card offers a month.
Last week, I got 3 the same day.  I expect that a similar
mechanism of accessing credit reports must be done for
this to happen, doesn't it?  (The inference being that
the type of inquiry may be noted and categorized so that
it is not a "request for credit" inquiry.)

Collis

�    It still doesn't sound quite right though.  Given the number people being
�    banged with these pre-approvals I would have thought this would have been
�    an issue long ago.
    
    It is only an issue if you are applying for credit at the same time as
    a bunch of folks are checking out your credit history.  I was flagged
    on it once.  After explaining that I didn't have any other financing
    plans in the works, they shrugged all those credit checks off.  
    
    Based on all the other junk mail over preapproved this and that I'm
    sure DCU isn't the only one doing this. 

The credit checks done by the credit reporting agency for a customer show up as
being requested by TRW.  We saw this once on my husband's report.  He was denied
a low interest, no fee credit card because of a bank error.  We corrected the
bank error, but were not required to explain the credit check by TRW.  Maybe the
report the credit card company got explained that inquiry (TRW explained why
they pulled the check).  I just assumed those inquiries were shrugged off.

Elaine

    When I last checked my credit record this summer, the inquiries for
    pre-approvals were flagged with some verbage that basically said the
    inquiry was part of a credit grantor's fishing expedition to find
    potential customers.
    
    Bob

    I've got an entirely different problem with the mailing.  I would
    prefer DCU not put my name, address and social security number on
    promotional material I'm likely to throw in the trash.
    
    - M

    
    
    Well today I went down to the DCU branch with my certificate and asked
    if it would be applied to my current loan... 
    
    
    they said, no problem, sign it and in a few days the interest rate will
    change, although the loan payment stays the same, which is fine by me!
    
    Guess I shouldn't be so skeptical, huh?!
    
    
    John
    

	I want to know exactly how DCU is going to lower my monthly payment
considering that:

	o they will only refinanace the loan for the remaining term (not to
	   exceed 60 months)

	o I have about 43 months left on my loan.

	o My current interest rate is 0%. (that's right 0%)


						--Doug

    
    
    	I just came back from a visit to my local DCU branch to check into
    	this "pre-approved" car refinance offer.
    
    	I wanted to take advantage of the weekly payroll deduction to pay
    	down my loan quicker. The contract they produced was higher than
    	the the numbers I expected. Theirs was calculated on 12 payments
    	per year divided by 4. I calculated on 52 payments per year. Their
    	contract shows 36 monthly payments, but claim it will actually be
    	paid off in about 33 months, and at less total interest than stated
    	on the contract. I requested that the "actual" numbers be put on
    	the contract, or at a minimum an addendum added to reflect it. DCU
    	declined.
    
    	Is this an acceptable practice, and am I being unreasonable to
    	expect to see my "real" loan figures on the contract???
    
    	Please comment..
    
    
    	Paul
    

Re:  .35

I've often wondered about this.

I have no problem with them applying the payments weekly
and having the loan paid off a little early.  However, I
do think is is quite reasonable to spell out the exact terms
that the loan will be paid off under up-front.  Their
insistance on not documenting (or declaring) what they are
doing seems to me to be very poor policy.  Perhaps (even after
two years) they still don't have a mechanism for doing this.

I suggest they update their procedures to reflect reality.

Collis

    
    Re: .35
    
    I wondered about this when I took out my loan in November.  The
    answer is simple.  The loan, even when payments are applied 
    weekly via payroll deduction, is still legally a monthly installment
    loan.  Legally the monthly payment called for is still due by the
    date called for in the contract.  All they are doing is collecting
    money weekly and applying it to the loan balance then rather than
    letting it accumulate for 30 days and applying it on the payment
    date called for in the contract.  The benefit you get from that is
    that balance is reduced more quickly so you pay the loan off sooner
    and pay less interest than called for in the contract.
    
    Steve
    

     

     I went out pricing Sport Utilty Vehicles  at a couple of dealerships
 listed in the DCU brochure. When I entered the first showroom, a fellow
 DCU'er was telling a salesman "you're full of it", and "that's not what it
 say's right here in the pamphlet." Not a good sign, I'm thinking!!!

     After looking at a few vehicles in the $25-$30k range, I sat down with
 a salesman and asked for the "special DCU price" on a $25,500 (sticker)
 vehicle. He left for a moment (the old, "I've got to talk to the Manager 
 line") and came back with a $24,000 price. Wow $1500 off, "that's it", I
 say. He has the nerve to reply, "Yep, and that price is only $500 over
 invoice." "Yeah sure Buddy, see ya'", as I walked out shaking my head and 
 smiling. I probably should have asked to see the invoice but I had wasted
 enough time.

    Dealership #2 (different make) was a similar experience, a $24,250
 (sticker) and a "special DCU" price of $22,100 but this included a $750
 rebate that anyone would get, so really $1400 off sticker price, plus the
 rebate. I didn't stick around there long either...

    Now I realize Sport Utilities are popular, especially after this winter,
 but let's get "real" here. Unless you can't (don't or won't) negotiate
 with a salesman, I doubt this "DCU Special Pricing" will get you a better
 price than anyone else walking in off the street. I'm sure the Make/Model
 (as always) has quite an impact on any discounts. I suppose my expectations
 of approx. $2500 off a popular $25,000 vehicle *might* have been a tad high,
 but so be it. I'm curious to hear about others and their "DCU Special Pricing"
 experiences.

    I *think* this is the proper place to put this and any other notes regarding
 members experiences with this DCU offer. (I'm *not* a moderator, but remember
 this is NOTES however, and I'm sure any personal attacks against *specific
 dealers should not be posted!!! (But you can mail 'em to me...) :^)

   Just My $.02 FWIW,

   Charlie
                             

    Consumer Reports has a Price Guide that lists invoice prices for alot
    of the current models.  It might be interesting to see how the prices
    in that guide stack up to this offer.  You need to know the make,
    model, and exact options to get the proper pricing in the guide.

A fiend of mine went to the DCU and asked to look at their
'94 car guide (I dont know the exact name) which lists invoice
prices for the base model and options/packages separately. That
didnt cost anything.

    Got my car loan promo some time while I was out of town on business for
    the past two weeks.  Not quite sure why I should refinance my car loan
    at a higher interest rate than I currently pay, although it is nice to
    finally get a solicitation for a product that I could use if I wanted.
    
    Bob