Man Gets Denied A Car Loan. Then He Comes Back—And Uses A Loophole To Get Approved By Someone Else: ‘It Was Weird’

Having a low credit score can make it difficult, even impossible, to get approved for a car loan. But one man found a loophole to get approved for a loan. His method was so unconventional that even the car salesman was surprised.

TikTok creator Odanis Salomon (@odanis.salomon) posted a video about the situation and what it makes him think about the state of car loans.

“Some of these banks are doing crazy loans. Let me tell you,” Salomon says.

He explains that he had a customer come in last month with a 502 credit score. Experian describes this as a "very poor" score.

Salomon says he was able to get the customer approved for a loan, but not with the terms he wanted. According to Salomon, the man wanted to put $0 down on a Mercedes-Benz. The answer was a firm no.

What Happened When Customer Returned?

The customer subsequently came back to the dealership.

Salomon says, “I’m thinking to myself, ‘Hopefully he brought a couple grand. And his expectations have gone down.’ Sometimes that happens. Nope. He came in with the exact same expectations.”

He continues, “Except this time something was different. He was on the phone with someone—I’m not going to say the name of the bank or credit union—but it was odd.”

According to Salomon, the financial institution told his customer he could get pretty much any vehicle he wanted.

“The rep from the financial institution is just telling him to pick a car,” he says. “He’s financing a car with them, but there’s a problem with the car. And the rep at the financial institution tells him, ‘Just find another car at another dealership and we’ll dump the negative equity on and we’ll get it financed for you.’”

What Was Weird About The Loan Terms?

Salomon says, “For those of you who are dealers, you’ll understand, that doesn’t happen. Why would they be doing it that way?”

Although he has no evidence that there’s anything fishy with the deal, Salomon is still suspicious. “The issue is this is a prime deal that I'm looking at and he is a 502 [credit score],” he says. “That doesn’t make sense.”

Ultimately, Salomon says he will go ahead with the sale—with some caveats. “We told him and we told the rep, ‘When you send the funds, we’re going to hold the funds for like three, four days. And we’re not letting the car go. We’re going to verify a lot of stuff before we actually do this,’” he says.

Salmon says it’s only smart to be skeptical of a person with a low credit score getting a 6.9% interest rate on a luxury vehicle.

“We’re not snakes,” he says. “This is a weird situation.”

Is Something Strange Going On With Auto Loans?

Viewers speculated on why the bank might’ve approved a person that seems like a risky bet to Salomon.

“I beg everyone to get with a credit union; they will help you find a car,” wrote one viewer. “They also will offer you cheaper loan rates. They care, contrary to what this dude is saying. My family gets their best rates through the credit union we’ve been with for decades.”

A second person guessed, “The dude is probably a millionaire waiting for money to hit the bank.”

“He’s upset they didn’t get the buyer with a 26% interest rate,” said a third viewer.

So How Did The Applicant Get Approved?

According to Bankrate, the financial industry at large does not seem to be taking on a ton of unnecessary risk right now, especially when it comes to prospects with low credit scores.

One thing Salomon isn’t wrong about is that it’s usually tough to get an auto loan with a low credit score.

So it’s definitely possible that, as some commenters speculated, there is a piece of the customer’s financial history that we’re not seeing. That could be an existing relationship with the financial institution, high income, or another factor, such as a cosigner.

Motor1 contacted Salomon via TikTok comment and direct message for comment.