Consumer Car Buying Advice Blog

Some facts about credit scores before applying for no credit auto loans

Keeping score

It still seems amazing to us that many applicants are unaware of their credit scores when applying for horrible credit auto loans.

We know this is true because we’ve been a part of bad credit car sales for two decades here at Auto Credit Express.

Our web site explains the poor credit car loans process so applicants can avoid buy and pay here dealers and learn the facts about issues such as repossession as well as today’s topic, credit scores and whether they really need a bad credit auto loan.

Where you stand

To begin the process, you should order a credit report and credit score from each of the credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion).

The first from each is free every year and you go to www.annualcreditreport.com to order them, although you’ll need to pay them to get your credit scores.

You can simplify this process by visiting a site such as www.FreeScore360.com where, for a fee, you can receive all three reports and all three credit scores at once.

Now it’s time to interpret them.

Credit score variations

All three bureaus use a version of the FICO score. Equifax calls it a BEACON score, Experian calls theirs the Experian/Fair Isaac Risk Model and at TransUnion it’s known as an EMPIRICA score.

In addition, the bureaus also share a new score that they jointly developed called VantageScore.

In a perfect world, all three VantageScore or Fico scores would be the same. But they aren’t. That’s because the information that appears in each of your credit reports is usually different.

Report differences

Unless your credit file is fairly new, there are usually differences between your three credit reports. This is because:

1.    Some creditors report to only one or two of the bureaus.
2.    It may take one bureau longer to report a new creditor
3.    It may take one bureau longer to remove an old credit file
4.    One, two, or even all three bureaus may be reporting inaccurate or incomplete credit information

These factors, plus others, can result in different credit scores. Car dealers also use an “auto enhanced” score that weights your car loan history – which means the score they see could also be different.

Where your scores fit in

Now it’s time to see where your credit scores fit in and what kind of car loan you might qualify for.

This is how one bureau, Experian, classifies the different types of credit scores:

Super prime:
FICO Score: 740 plus
VantageScore: 801-990

Prime:
FICO Score: 680-739
VantageScore: 701-800

Non-prime:
FICO Score: 620-679
VantageScore: 641-700

Subprime:
FICO Score: 550-619
VantageScore: 601-640

Deep subprime:
FICO Score: less than 550
VantageScore: 501-600

In this case, super prime is the best of the best, prime is excellent credit and near prime is fair credit. If you fall into either the subprime or deep subprime category, you’ll probably need to apply for a problem credit auto loan.

As we see it

By knowing your credit scores, you’ll know the kind of car loan you need to apply for.

If you have bad credit, you should know that at Auto Credit Express we help people with car credit difficulties find a dealer for their best chance at an approval for a bad credit car.

So if you’re serious about getting your auto credit back on track, you can begin the process immediately by filling out our online car loans bad credit application.

Tags: Bad Credit, bad credit car sales, credit scores

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