US car loan?

Has anyone obtained a car loan after being in the US for under a year? We have one car (Canadian loan, we imported the car) but could really use another one. We have gone to two banks that we do business with but both have said no because of no US credit history. Have tried unsuccessfully to get credit card, even department store ones, just to build up some credit. My husband thought he found a lender but they turned out to be ripoff artists trying to charge 28%. We want to buy a 20,000$ car and would put down $5000.

I got a new car the day I moved, with a loan from the dealer. Try that.

Get out! Really? We we tried an GM dealership and it was no so I figured they were all the same. Ok, then, I will try some others!

GM (and GMAC) has has lots of problems, go to a carmaker that didn't go bankrupt.

Haha - well I would think they'd be even more desperate. The BMW dealership has an "international" plan where they take all kinds of canadian info but then you have to pay the loan off in the amount of time your status is good for...seeing as hubby's TN will expire in 2 years, that's a bit bigger of a car payment than we had in mind! Still I perservere......

I got a credit card offer the other day in the mail from capital one though and it actually got approved and I'm getting a US credit card...yea...Ridiculous interest rate of course with a 500$ limit but i'm just going to use it to get on the credit radar.

I leased a car from Audi after being in the US for ~8 months. Financing for the lease was through Audi financial. In my case they didn't even try to check my credit until a few days after they sent me home with the car. When they discovered I had a short US history they had a number of programs to tap into: one for recent grads and another for foreign professionals I believe.

Your best chance for approval with be through the dealership's own financing company or, second with a local credit union.

Assuming your credit history in Canada is solid, you might also try requesting your Canadian credit report and bringing it with you to the dealership along with proof of your present income.

Good luck!