Car loans for people with bad credit are often difficult to get – just as getting a bad credit mortgage loan is difficult if trying to buy or refinance a home (even more so). If one can get one, the interest rate will be high, making the monthly car payments very expensive. Car loans for people with very bad credit, however, may be impossible to come by, unfortunately. Motorcycles may be out of the question, too, for motorcycle loan rates are high as well, especially for bad credit motorcycle loans. However, there are things that can be done which increase the likelihood of getting a car loan for people with bad credit.
First, one can put a higher down payment down on the car. A car loan for people with bad credit history is more likely if the amount put down as an initial payment is high. Car loans for people with really bad credit are made sometimes only with a huge deposit. With a huge deposit, the amount of the loan is small, putting the lender at less risk.
If you are trying to get auto loans with bad credit, you will most likely be coming up against very high interest rates. Used car loans for people with bad credit will be even higher. All of this said, it definitely is possible to get auto loans for people with bad credit.
The second thing you can do to increase the likelihood of getting a car loan is to improve your credit score. There are lots of tricks to pay attention to when trying to increase your credit score, but none of them will work without the main driving force: paying your bills on time. That is the best credit fix solution in your arsenal. You have to pay your bills on time. This is critical.
Next, you can get a secured credit card by putting down a deposit, usually two hundred dollars or higher. This will add a line of credit to your portfolio, which can be used to increase your score. Be sure you use this card, but also be sure that you are paying these payments on time.
Make sure that on any of your current cards (including the secured one) you are not going over seven percent of your credit limit. FICO high achievers use less than seven percent of their revolving credit. Many places claim that thirty percent is the magic number. Wrong. Seven is. You can verify this by pulling your FICO report and seeing for yourself.
Next, pay any other loans you have down. The total of all non-revolving non-mortgage loans should be less than a thousand dollars.
If it will take you longer than two years to pay your credit cards and installment loans down to these levels, you should consider filing for bankruptcy, after which you should get a secured card and start following these rules.
Once you have increased your credit, you will find that night has become day, and you will find car loans much easier to find! Hopefully one day again you’ll have an excellent credit score, but you’ve really got to be diligent in paying everything off properly.