there's a lot of different auto lenders out there but I wanted to make this
video specifically on light stream auto loans because they have some of the best
rates and the best terms in the entire industry for auto loans and personal
loans so in this video I'll cover the pros and the cons of light stream auto
loans because I want to give you guys an honest review because I've actually had
a loan with them for over two years now and I can say that they definitely don't
suck now if you just found this channel I'm Jason with honest finance and I make
a lot of videos on different topics that'll give your life and your finances
more value so definitely subscribe if you guys are into that type of content
but now let's start talking about light stream auto loans
I'll start by disclosing that if you are interested in checking them out then
I've got an affiliate link in the description below which means I may be
compensated if you click through it but just keep in mind that I am never gonna
recommend something that I don't think gives you guys the most value and on top
of that you don't have to click the link if you don't want to light stream is a
division of Sun Trust Bank so they're definitely not small by any means and
what they mainly focus on our personal loans and auto loans for customers with
good credit I mean there's no harm in applying with them if you want to see if
you can get a loan but you've just got to understand that they only accept
applicants with good credit and that's part of the reason that they have such
competitive rates and really good terms so as of making this video in June 2019
you can actually get an auto loan for as low as three point nine nine percent
which is about as good as it gets in the entire auto loan industry but just keep
in mind that rates naturally fluctuate over time so depending on when you're
watching this video rates could actually be a little bit higher or a little bit
lower and that's all just based on a lot of different natural factors that we
can't do anything about live stream doesn't charge any dirty origination
fees or prepayment penalties so when you get alone with them you don't pay any
fees and if you decide to pay it off early or make extra payments you don't
have any penalties to worry about there either
they'll also beat any competitors rate by a tenth of a point for the same type
of loan so if you end up looking at a different company and they have a better
rate then just go back to light stream and they can actually try to beat it by
a tenth of a point I mean a tenth of a point isn't the deal of a lifetime but
it is nice to know that you can shop around and you can eventually go back to
light stream because they can beat the rate now the coolest thing in my opinion
is that they don't require down payments and they don't care about the make the
model or even the year of the car and that's pretty awesome this alone makes
light streams stand out significantly because you can buy whatever car you
want and you don't have to worry about the stupid details like you do with
other lenders and that's a really handy and this is a little bit complicated but
light stream basically offers secured auto loans and unsecured auto loans and
those all affect how you get the title so I'll explain how those work right
here now the first type of loan that you can get with them is called an unsecured
auto loan and this one's actually the hardest one to qualify for but if you do
qualify for it what it means is that you can actually pay cash for the car and
you get to keep the title for yourself which is really handy because you don't
have to mess around with anything like that so obviously you'll still have the
loan with light stream but as far as buying the cars concerned it's as though
you're just giving them cash and then the other type of loan that you can get
is called a secured loan and this one's actually a little bit easier to qualify
for but what this means is that you're just gonna have to submit the title
paperwork to light stream and they're gonna hold onto the title until the
loans paid off and this is totally normal and that's how all the other
lenders do it but it is cool that they offer both types depending on your
credit situation now as far as the individual rates go with light stream
they are gonna vary slightly based on the type of car that you're buying so I
need you to pay attention right here light stream offers just about every
type of auto loan out there so if you're looking for a new car or a used car or
you want to buy it from a dealer or a private party or even if you're doing a
lease buyout or refinance they offer every type of auto loan and they're
definitely worth looking into so what I found is that if you're buying a new car
and it's priced between $10,000 and just under $25,000 and then you keep it under
three years then that's going to be the best rate with light stream as far as
all their rates go but all of the other selections and categories and stuff like
that have really good rates as well I'm just telling you the rates that I found
were the best ones and then as far as borrowing goes with light stream you can
borrow between five thousand dollars and a hundred thousand dollars and then you
can pay them back between 24 months and 84 months I don't advise going over 60
months for any auto loan but if you are gonna take that route then just know
that the rates are actually pretty good when you go for a higher term with them
I just ran the numbers on the race simulator and if you wanted to get a
loan for $100,000 for 84 months then you could actually get a rate for 5.29
percent and for such a bad loan that's actually a really good rate
just please don't actually get a hundred dollar car loan because I'm just trying
to prove the point that you can actually get really good rates for loans that I
don't think are very good ones to do for a car so just keep your car loans at two
to three years if you can and then the most I would go to sixty months but I
don't want you going any higher than that
because cars generally depreciate really fast and I do not want you going upside
down in your car loan and then if I'm making sense here can you please comment
down below and just say I get it that way I know that I'm actually making
sense of what I'm talking about Thanks now if you make your way to their
website definitely use the race simulator because it's a really good way
to get an idea of what you can expect to pay with them without actually having
your credit checked because there's nothing worse than applying for a loan
and having your credit checked and going through all of that kind of stuff only
to discover that the loan is way out of your price range in the first place so
really quick I'll show you on my phone how the great simulator works so you can
see for yourself that it is something that you want to be using just start by
selecting the loan type so right here I'll just choose new car then select the
loan amount and the term so in this case I'll just go with $12,000 and then right
here I'll go for 36 months on auto pay now you'll have a really good estimate
of what you can expect to pay with LightScribe from here just scroll down a
little and you can mess with all their preset tiers which are super helpful
because you can see all the different loan amounts and the terms just open up
the different tiers and you can quickly see how much you'll have to pay for the
different amounts and terms for the specific new car category that you
already selected
obviously everything will fluctuate based on what you want but it is a great
tool to use as a preview of what you can expect to get with lights dream the r8
simulator is 100% worth using so definitely try it out if you're working
on mobile or on desktop now as far as cons go with light stream there are a
couple that I'm not super in love with but they never really stopped me from
getting alone with them in the first place the first thing I don't like with
them is that if you don't select Auto pay as your main form of payment and you
go invoice instead then you're gonna have to pay a half-point higher which in
my opinion is a little bit expensive for me personally I could care less about
Auto pay because I'm always going to do it automatically but I know that there
are people out there that like doing their bills through invoice so in this
case just don't do that because you're gonna have to pay
half-point more and I don't want you doing that and then the other con in my
opinion is that if you already have a loan with light stream and you want to
get another one you can't actually pay off your old loan with the new light
stream alone so hopefully I made sense there because all I'm saying is that you
can't refinance a loan directly through light stream with another light stream
loan and in that case if you wanted to refinance you're gonna have to go with a
competitor and then pay off your light stream loan because that's the only way
you can do it and oh well but honestly when you add up all the pros and the
cons with light stream at the end of the day the pros are a lot more than the
cons and that's why they are in my business I've had a loan with them for
over two years now on autopay and I can say that everything so far has been very
smooth and very easy with them now once again I'm Jason with honest finance and
I make a lot of videos on different topics that will give your life and your
finances more value so definitely subscribe if you guys are into that type
of content but I do have a ton of other car videos that you guys can watch so
I'm gonna link those up up here so that you can learn some more stuff on cars
that's all for now