LightStream Auto Loans Review - YouTube

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