Best Car Loans and Lenders for August 2022

Best Car Loans and Lenders for August 2022

Finding the best rates and terms on a car loan can help you save hundreds or even thousands in interest. With interest rates rising and the cost of car insurance premiums increasing, it's important to shop around with different lenders to find the most affordable car loan for your new or used car.

An auto loan is a secured installment loan, which means the vehicle you purchase acts as collateral and can be subject to repossession if you fail to repay the loan. But the trade-off is a lower interest rate than with unsecured borrowing, such as a personal loan. You can apply for a car loan at a car dealership, bank, credit union or through an online lender. 

We'll lay out some of the basics here. Plus, we've evaluated the major national auto loan providers and highlighted the best options for new, used and private party (purchase of a car from a private seller) loans below. We'll update this list regularly as terms change and new loan products are released. Note that all the starting APRs listed assume an "excellent" credit score of 800 or above.

Rates as of Aug. 3, 2022.

PenFed Credit Union

• APR: Starting at 3.44% (new car loans through PenFed Car Buying Service), 4.84% (used car loans through PenFed Car Buying Service); Loans outside of this service start at 4.24% (new car loans) or 5.04% (used car loans) 
• Loan amounts: $500 to $100,000
• Loan terms: 36 to 84 months
• Minimum annual income: Not specified
• Availability: 50 states
• Prepayment penalty: No

Pentagon Federal Credit Union is a credit union that offers low auto loan rates for both new and used cars, through the PenFed Car Buying Service. You'll need to become a credit union member to use this service, but membership is open to everyone, and requires opening a savings account with a minimum $5 deposit. If you're not interested in using PenFed's program to buy a car, you can still secure lower-than-average rates on new and used cars purchased outside of the service.

With flexible loan terms extending up to seven years, nationwide availability and no prepayment penalties, PenFed is the contender to beat in the auto loan industry.

Consumers Credit Union

• APR: Starting at 3.49% (car loans for 2020 or newer vehicles) and 3.74% (car loans for 2016-2019 vehicles)
• Loan amounts: $250 to $100,000
• Loan terms: 0 to 84 months 
• Minimum annual income: Not specified
  
• Availability: Branches across Illinois, shared branches nationwide
• Prepayment penalty: No

Consumers Credit Union is an Illinois-based credit union that has recently opened membership nationwide. Though its auto loan rates for vehicles made prior to 2020 are average for the market, their new car loan rates are a great deal. Consumers Credit Union also offers significant flexibility, with the widest range of loan terms and amounts of the providers we evaluated.

You can become a member online with a valid ID, two recent pay stubs, two tax returns from recent years, five references, two utility bills and a one-time $5 fee to the Consumers Cooperative.

Lightstream

• APR: Starting at 3.99% (new and used car loans) and 4.99% (private party car loans) with Autopay 
• Loan amounts: $5,000 to $100,000
• Loan terms: 24 to 84 months
• Minimum annual income: Not specified
  
• Availability: Online
• Prepayment penalty: No

LightStream is an online lender under Truist Financial that offers low rates for private party car loans. Though its loan amounts and terms are of average flexibility, it offers a variety of auto loan options. It places no restrictions on model year, make or mileage, making it the ideal lender if you plan to purchase an older car. LightStream's slogan, "Lending Uncomplicated®," promises a simplified lending process that includes being able to fund your loan the same day you apply, under certain conditions. 

In order to access LightStream's best terms, you'll need to sign up for AutoPay. LightStream's lowest rate loans are also unsecured -- so your car won't be repossessed if you can't make your payments, but your credit will suffer. 

Bank of America

• APR: Starting at 4.24% (new car loans), 4.44% (used car loans), and 7.19% (private party loans)
• Loan amounts: $7,500 ($8,000 in Minnesota) to $100,000
• Loan terms: 48 to 72 months
• Minimum annual income: Not specified
  
• Availability: 50 states
• Prepayment penalty: No

As one of the world's largest banks, Bank of America offers unbeatable availability and great rates. Though you don't need to be a member of Bank of America to use its auto loan services, members may qualify for special perks. For example, if you qualify for Bank of America's Preferred Rewards program -- based on your qualifying combined balances in your BOA deposit and/or Merrill® investment accounts -- you can be eligible for up to 0.50% off your APR. 

But Bank of America's loan policies can lack variety. For example, it offers one of the least flexible loan terms on this list, with the shortest loan term set at 48 months. In addition, the minimum financing amount is $7,500, which rules out Bank of America as a loan financier for more inexpensive used vehicles.

U.S. Bank

• APR: Starting at 4.49% (for new and used car loans)
• Loan amounts: $5,000 to $100,000
• Loan terms: 12 to 72 months
• Minimum annual income: Not specified
  
• Availability: Branches in 26 states
• Prepayment penalty: 1% of the original loan amount, with a minimum charge of $50 and a maximum of $100

U.S Bank offers interest rates as low as 4.89% for both new and used cars, which makes it a great lender for those purchasing preowned vehicles. If approved, the U.S Bank offers financing of up to 120% of your car's value, with no down payment required. 

However, to lock in the lowest used car rates, you'll need to meet specific criteria: Next to have excellent credit, you must have a loan-to-value ratio of 80% or less, buy a used car that's less than 1 year old, have a loan amount of at least $30,000, a loan term of 36 months or less and an automatic payment set up from a U.S. Bank account. Though these requirements are stringent, the low auto loan rates make them worth it for certain buyers. 

What are the drawbacks? U.S. Bank's availability is limited to 26 states. Plus, it charges a prepayment penalty of 1% of the original loan amount if you pay off your loan within a year's time. 

Carvana

• APR: Starting at 3.9% (used cars only)
• Loan amounts: Not specified
• Loan terms: 36 to 72 months
• Minimum annual income: $4,000
  
• Availability: Not available in Alaska or Hawaii
• Prepayment penalty: No

Though Carvana is mostly known for its online used car shopping experience, it also offers auto loans on vehicles you buy through the site. Carvana's only requirements are that you're over 18, make $4,000 annually and have no active bankruptcies, so it's a great choice for those with poor credit. Furthermore, Carvana's wholly online model combines the buying and financing experience, making the process of purchasing a used car relatively painless. 

However, though Carvana makes it possible for customers with bad credit to obtain a loan, the best auto loan rates will always be reserved for those with excellent credit – and it's important to note that it offers, by far, the highest starting APR on our list. 

Best car loan lenders, compared

Lenders	PenFed CreditUnion	Consumers Credit Union	LightStream	Bank of America	U.S. Bank	Carvana
Best for	New car loans	Used car loans	Private party car loans	Big bank option	Short loan terms	Those with poor or no credit
APR for new car loans	Starting at 3.44% (through PenFed Car Buying Program)	Starting at 3.49 (car loans for 2020 or newer vehicles)	Starting at 3.99%	Starting at 4.24%	Starting at 4.49%	N/A
APR for used car loans	Starting at 4.84% (through PenFed Car Buying Program)	Starting at 3.74 (car loans for 2016-2019 vehicles)	Starting at 3.99%	Starting at 4.44%	Starting at 4.49%	Starting at 3.9%
APR for private party loans	N/A	N/A	Starting at 4.99%	Starting at 7.19%	N/A	N/A
Loan amount	$500 to $100,000	$250 to $100,000	$5,000 to 100,000	$7,500 ($8,000 in Minnesota) to $100,000	$5,000 to $100,000	Not specified
Repayment terms	36 to 84 months	0 to 84 months	24 to 84 months*	48 to 72 months	12 to 72 months	36 to 72 months
Credit requirement (estimate)	Not specified	Not specified	Good to Excellent	Not specified	Not specified	Accepts all credit, no active bankruptcies
Availability	All 50 states	Branches across Illinois, shared branches nationwide	Online	All 50 states	Branches in 26 states	Not available in Hawaii or Alaska

What to know when applying for an auto loan

While car loans usually have fixed interest rates and loan terms, they can often be negotiated, depending on your lender. Your loan rate will generally depend upon your credit score -- the higher your credit score, the lower your annual percentage rate. A higher credit score may also give you access to a larger loan amount or more favorable repayment terms.

Next, you should consider loan terms. Let's say you qualify for a 2.5% APR loan. You'll pay less interest over time with a shorter term loan, but your monthly payments will be higher. Similarly, you'll pay more in interest over time with a longer loan term, but your monthly payments will be lower. Consider your budget and financial goals to determine which loan term will work best for you.

As you consider lenders, find out if they offer a preapproval process. Preapproval allows you to see the rates you qualify for without a hard inquiry -- when a creditor pulls your credit history -- which can cause your credit score to slightly dip. It also allows you to review options upfront without having to commit to a particular lender.

Lenders reviewed:

• Autopay
• Bank of America
• Capital One
• Carvana
• Chase
• Consumers Credit Union
• LightStream
• MyAutoLoan
• PenFed Credit Union
• PNC
• U.S. Bank

*Your loan terms, including APR, may differ based on loan purpose, amount, term length, and your credit profile. Excellent credit is required to qualify for lowest rates. Rates range from 3.99%-10.49% APR w/AutoPay. Rate is quoted with AutoPay discount. AutoPay discount is only available prior to loan funding. Rates without AutoPay are 0.50% points higher. Subject to credit approval. Conditions and limitations apply. Advertised rates and terms are subject to change without notice.

Payment example: Monthly payments for a $10,000 loan at 3.99% APR with a term of 3 years would result in 36 monthly payments of $295.20.

© 2022 Truist Financial Corporation. Truist, LightStream, and the LightStream logo are service marks of Truist Financial Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Lending services provided by Truist Bank.

The editorial content on this page is based solely on objective, independent assessments by our writers and is not influenced by advertising or partnerships. It has not been provided or commissioned by any third party. However, we may receive compensation when you click on links to products or services offered by our partners.

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Fitness trackers are getting more personal powerful in 2022 did the groundhog fitness trackers are getting more personal powerful in spanish fitness trackers are getting more personal powerful quotes fitness trackers are getting more fiber fitness trackers are getting more stuart best fitness trackers fitness trackers for women

Fitness trackers are getting more personal, powerful in 2022 and beyond

Fitness trackers are getting more personal, powerful in 2022 and beyond

Your first fitness tracker -- whether an early Fitbit, the now-defunct Jawbone, a simple pedometer or a heart monitor strap -- probably did little more than track your steps and calories burned. Early smartwatches, meanwhile, essentially felt like phone companions rather than stand-alone devices. 

But fast-forward to 2022 and a lot has changed. Wearables are no longer niche devices for early adopters or fitness fanatics. The Pew Research Center reported in 2020 that about one in five US adults regularly wears a smartwatch or fitness band. Global smartwatch shipments grew by 47% annually in the second quarter of 2021 according to Strategy Analytics, signaling the industry's fastest growth rate since 2018. 

Today's wrist-worn devices are comprehensive fitness gadgets capable of taking an ECG reading from the wrist, monitoring sleep quality and measuring blood oxygen saturation, among other things. That opens up a world of opportunities but also makes things complicated. We have more access than ever to data about our heart rate, how much sleep and activity we're getting and our overall well-being. Yet some newer, more advanced health metrics can be challenging to comprehend, raising the question of whether they're truly helpful. 

Therefore, context and personalization will be key to both current and next-generation wearables, according to conversations with medical experts, tech executives and industry analysts. The medical community is also excited about the potential that future fitness devices hold for detecting more advanced metrics, like changes in glucose levels and the role of wearables in preventive care. 

Making better sense of health data from our fitness trackers

Lexy Savvides/CNET

The biggest improvements that are likely to arrive in the near term will involve making health data more useful and personalized. Oura, Whoop and Fitbit are already helping steer the industry in this direction with their respective scoring systems, some of which require a paid subscription.

Both Oura and Fitbit, for example, offer readiness scores that help wearers decide whether it's time for a heavy workout or a rest day. Those numbers are based on metrics such as resting heart rate variability, sleep, activity and other bodily signals. Whoop has a similar recovery score that provides insight on whether a user's body is ready for strenuous exercise.

Oura's readiness score embodies the company's overall approach to health tracking, which is that devices should provide context alongside numbers and data points, according Chris Becherer, Oura's chief product officer. He added that Oura will maintain that approach with newer features, such as the period prediction tool it launched in October, and will only expand into new types of health tracking if the company can provide similarly helpful insights. 

"We won't do it just for the sake of doing it," Becherer said. "And we'll make sure that it fits with the holistic user-friendly experience that Oura is known for."

Fitbit sees another opportunity for adding more personalization and specificity to health metrics: exploring the link between mental and physical wellbeing. Fitbit is already dipping its toes into mental wellness with its EDA app, available on the Fitbit Sense and Charge 5, which measures changes in sweat to see how the body might be responding to stress. 

Fitbit also lets wearers log their mood to accompany those readings, so users can see how they felt when the measurement was taken. Analyzing that type of data over time could help Fitbit better understand what bodily changes mean for a person's overall wellness, allowing for more thorough insights. 

"We can over time get more and more correlation between this idea of, 'How do I feel?' compared to 'What is my physiology and what are the metrics telling me?'" said Jonah Becker, Fitbit's design director. "Which I think is a powerful thing." 

The ability to measure additional body signals, such as electrodermal activity (i.e., the EDA app's sweat readings), could also lay the foundation for future Fitbit features. Eric Friedman, Fitbit's co-founder and vice president of research, points to Fitbit's sleep stages functionality as an example. That feature, which tells the wearer how much time was spent in light, sleep or REM sleep, is only possible because of other metrics that came before it, like heart rate and motion measurements.

"Imagine taking that and EDA, and you ... start building things together to start layering these health metrics on top of each other, going to the next thing," Friedman said.

Blood sugar monitoring could be the next major step forward in health tracking

Apple is rumored to be working on blood sugar monitoring for future versions of the Apple Watch.

Lisa Eadicicco/CNET

What exactly that "next thing" is remains unclear. But reports and expert predictions do point to blood sugar monitoring in wearables as an area of interest. 

However, that doesn't mean diabetics will be able to rely on smartwatch readings to calculate insulin dosages. That will still require more invasive devices that break the skin for the foreseeable future, says Dr. Steven LeBoeuf, president and co-founder of Valencell, which makes health sensors for wearable devices. 

Instead, a future glucose-monitoring smartwatch might be able to make broader observations about whether the wearer is in a state of low, normal or high blood sugar. That could help wearers understand whether diet or exercise changes are impacting their blood sugar, or whether the user should use a glucose meter, says Dr. LeBoeuf.

"Now that has all kinds of positive implications," said Dr. LeBoeuf. "So I think you will be seeing that technology in wearables as well, whether it comes from Valencell or some other entity."

Dr. Zahi Fayad, director of Mount Sinai's Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Institute, also sees a lot of potential in this space. Glucose monitoring capabilities like those mentioned above could help wearables offer more personalized nutrition advice. That's important because today's recommendations are typically based on broad population studies and therefore lack customization according to Dr. Fayad.

"Everybody's gut microbiome is different and reacts to food differently, or reacts to lifestyle changes differently," said Dr. Fayad.

Yet it's unclear when or if this type of functionality will arrive in everyday smartwatches or fitness trackers. Apple has been working on adding blood sugar monitoring to the Apple Watch, according to reports from Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal, although both reports suggest the technology is in its early stages. 

Roberta Cozza, a senior director analyst at Gartner, thinks there is still a long way to go. Although research is being done in this area, she believes accuracy and medical clearances present a challenge. 

"I think for this, you're going to have to have something that is medical-approved," she said. "So it's going to take some time until we find something that is really usable and reliable."

Smartwatches and fitness trackers are already starting to blur the line between medical and wellness devices. Adding more sophisticated metrics, like glucose readings, means tech companies will have to be mindful about how users may interpret these readings.

"Maybe vendors need to find new ways in which they can be clearer with consumers around the expectations that they might have when wearing some of these devices," said Cozza. "Because this will be getting just more and more complicated."

Filing in the gaps between doctors visits

The Amazon Halo View

Lisa Eadicicco/CNET

The medical and tech communities seem to share a common goal when it comes to progress in the wearables field: Helping people take better care of themselves between doctor's appointments. 

"Instead of having one data point per year, you have continuous data points across every single part of your day," Oura's Becherer said. 

That's part of the inspiration behind new features and capabilities that have arrived in recent wearable devices. For example, Amazon's Halo health app includes a tool for estimating your body fat percentage based on images taken from a smartphone's camera, which it analyzes using machine learning and computer vision. The feature has been somewhat controversial when it comes to personal privacy.

But Melissa Cha, vice president of Amazon's Halo division, says the goal behind this feature is to help people to keep a log of their bodily changes -- another tool for monitoring progress between doctor's visits.

"You have a long-term record that you can then share with your care provider or physician if you want to discuss changes in your body composition over time," Cha said. 

Dr. Devin Mann, associate professor of population health and medicine at New York University Langone Health, believes we're seeing more of a crossover between medical and consumer devices. That's because each side has something to learn from the other. 

Commercial wearables are gaining more advanced health monitoring capabilities, while medical device makers are trying to reach broader audiences. 

"We're sort of seeing those two streams coming together," Mann said. "And there's more overlap between them."

Over the long term, some experts are excited about the potential of using wearable devices to help detect disease early. That type of functionality is still in its early stages, but Dr. Paul Friedman, a cardiologist in the Mayo Clinic's AI in Cardiology Work Group, is encouraged by the progress the industry has made so far. A few years ago, most physicians wouldn't have trusted the data from health trackers to help inform medical treatments, according to Dr. Friedman. But that's changing.

"The answer would have been no; nine out of 10 when they were surveyed said no," Friedman said. "Now it's almost reversed."

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