I remember the days I worked as a loan officer at a credit union. We had to follow an income to debt ratio - if it was higher than like 40%, we really weren't supposed to approve a loan. But almost all vehicle loans were approved because even if the credit was shaky and the income to debt ratio was on the border or even over a slight bit, we always looked at it like this - we are doing a secured loan. It isn't like we couldn't recover the vehicle if we needed to. And as others have said about the difference between credit unions and banks is true. But I will also add that most credit unions (or at least the ones I have been associated with) will give you free checking and their fees for like stop payments on checks are usually lower than banks as well as better interest rates on savings, checking, and certificate accounts as well as loans both consumer and usually mortgage (banks just can't really compete with them). Another difference between banks and credit unions is that you are only supposed to be able to join a credit union if you work for a company that is in their field of membership whereas anyone can join a bank - just open an account. However, at the credit union I worked at, it seemed like ANYONE could open an account there as their FOM was ridiculously large.
