Get answers to our most commonly asked questions about Westlake
Westlake Financial is the largest privately held auto finance company in the US. We work with more than 34,000 auto dealers to help them finance customers looking to purchase a vehicle. Westlake also works together with partners like CarGurus to provide pre-qualified auto loans through their site.
The pre-qualification process does not impact your credit score. Pre-qualification initiates a “soft pull” on your credit, meaning credit history and credit scores can be reviewed from information submitted without showing up as a credit inquiry.
You must select a vehicle to get rates and a payment structure for your chosen vehicle and the dealership which is selling the car in order to be pre-qualified.
The pre-qualification approval process follows two main steps:
1. Fill out the pre-qualification application with personal information (Name, Address, Date of Birth, SSN, Length of time at primary residence, employment tenure, etc.) to obtain a soft pull of your credit, which does not affect credit score.
2. Once the pre-qualification application is approved, you will need to select a specific vehicle on which to pre-qualify – meaning you receive pre-qualified rates and payments for a specific dealer and vehicle.
Once you are satisfied with the financing structure and are ready to purchase, print the pre-qualification voucher and redeem it at the specified dealership.
Pre-qualified financing and payment options should not change, so long as the information provided during pre-qualification, verification of the information on the credit application and the credit history match. Any discrepancies between the pre-qualification application (“soft pull”), the credit application submitted at the dealership (with credit inquiry / “hard pull”), and the verification of the information on the credit application may impact your offer. If anything changes, a new deal structure may be offered to you.
The pre-qualified offer may be redeemed only at the same dealership from where you chose the selected vehicle.
Discrepancies between the pre-qualification application (“soft pull”), the credit application submitted at the dealership (with credit inquiry/ “hard pull”), and verifications of the information provided on the credit application may cause your offer to change.
If there are no discrepancies, the deal structure terms, such as rate and payment, will be the same as the pre-qualification offer. Any optional products like a vehicle service contract or a GAP waiver that you choose to purchase from the dealer may also impact the deal structure, including but not limited to, rate, payment, term, and down payment.
The maximum loan amount typically depends on a number of factors.
For Example:
Yes, a down payment will be required. The amount will be included in the pre-qualification offer and will depend, among other things, on your credit history, the loan-to-value of the vehicle you wish to purchase, and the value of any trade-ins.
