Outside Financial
Author: Kaitlyn Short
Outside Financial is a car loan company founded in 2016. It focuses on taking car financing out of the dealership by matching customers with tailored car loans from banks and credit unions. Once you fill out a quick online application, you will be matched with up to three pre-qualified officers.
Keep reading for a complete review of this car loan company, as well as Outside Financial reviews from real customers.
Top Ranked Companies
The Good
- Pre-Qualify With No Hard Credit Check
- Personal Information Privacy
- Outside Financial Markup Index
- Additional Shopping Tools
- Car Financing Education
Pre-Qualify With No Hard Credit Check
With Outside Financial, users can fill out an online application and get matched with lenders - all without a hard credit check that affects your credit score. This is helpful if you'd like to compare offers with other car loan lenders to see where you can get the best rates and terms.
Personal Information Privacy
When you fill out an application on Outside Financial's website, you won't get a million phone calls because your personal details won't be sold to outsiders - you won't get a bunch of pre-qualified offers from other loan companies in the mail or over the phone.
Outside Financial Markup Index
To help consumers see how much car dealers can mark up car loans, Outside Financial created its Markup Index which crunches numbers to determine the average markup on a car loan.
According to the Markup Index, the average loan package markup is $2,109. The index also shows markups for tires and wheels, guaranteed asset protection (GAP), and many more categories.
Understanding these markups and arranging your loan before going to a dealership can save you thousands of dollars.
Additional Shopping Tools
Outside Financial offers some car buying tools with a free downloadable file offering the following:
- An email template for contacting dealers
- A phone script for calling car dealerships
- A negotiation tracker to keep track of negotiations at multiple dealerships
Car Financing Education
Outside Financial is all about education. It wants people to feel more educated about the car shopping process and skip dealer financing, which may not be in a customer's best interest.
The Outside Financial website has educational articles to help consumers navigate the car buying and financing process, and the blog and Bear Necessities sections have tips and tools to help you save time and money.
The Bad
- Undisclosed Rates and Terms
- Limited State Availability
Undisclosed Rates and Terms
Outside Financial does not provide an interest rate range or loan terms on its website. This can make it difficult to know how much your car loan could be and what you could expect your monthly payment to be.
To check your rates and terms you will need to complete an Outside Financial pre-qualification application, which will match you with three lenders from Outside Financial's network.
Limited State Availability
Currently, this service is only available in fewer than a dozen states:
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Indiana
- Kentucky
- Ohio
- South Carolina
- Virginia
If you don't reside in any of the states listed above, you will need to look into other car loan options.
The Bottom Line
Outside Financial is a good resource for car shoppers when it comes to education and figuring out your options. It isn’t affiliated with any car dealerships, so users can truly find what financing option is best for their circumstances, and they can avoid large dealership markups which are illustrated on Outside Financial's Markup Index.
If you are shopping for a car and want to know more about your options before visiting a dealership, we recommend checking out Outside Financial.
