These days, if someone has bad credit, there are many choices available when it comes time to buy a car.  Most dealers now have a special finance, or sub prime auto finance department to help people with bad credit buy a new or used car.  Twelve years ago, when I was first introduced to special finance, there were only a handful of national lenders in the US that catered to people with bad credit, and none in Canada.

At that time, in house, buy here pay here financing at the car lot was more popular.  These “We Finance Car Lots” would extend credit directly to consumers so they could buy a car from their lot.  There were few finance companies that serviced the bad credit market.  The lenders that did offered only short terms and high interest rates. (Read More…)

If you have bad credit and plan on buying a car there are a few documents you will most likely need when you close your loan at the dealership. These documents are commonly referred to as lender STIPs (stipulations).

Auto finance companies and lenders use STIPs to verify the data on your credit application such as income, phone number, and address (if you have bad credit you will have to prove the accuracy of every item on the car loan application).

Common STIPs needed to buy a car with bad credit: (Read More…)

Today, Thanksgiving Day, is the official start of the holiday season. It’s quite appropriate, since four inches of snow fell last night in Michigan. Over the next month and half we will all be pre-occupied trying to find gifts for everyone on our Christmas list.
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When it comes time to buy a car, people with bad credit often opt for a used car because they believe used cars have lower monthly payments.  There are, however, other factors to consider in addition to the payment such as the total cost of ownership, lender rates, and the cash down payment amount required to get approved for financing. (Read More…)

Over the past few years’ auto dealer’s profits, especially those of domestic car dealers, have been declining. It’s quite common these days for automobile dealers to sell a new car for the invoice price just to move the unit and please the factory. When auto sales are slow, dealerships look for ways to sell more cars. One of the ways to sell more cars is to get more people with bad credit approved.

With that said, many car dealers jump into the bad credit auto sales arena without the proper training and, quite frankly, many of them make a mess of it. With bad credit auto sales, the car dealer has to do more work than they may be used to; for example, it’s a good idea for dealers to verify employment and income before they finalize a bad credit auto loan. (Read More…)

A few years ago just about anyone could file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. With a Chapter 7 bankruptcy all of your debts are liquidated. This type of bankruptcy made it easy to rack up a bunch a debt, charge it off in the bankruptcy, and get a fresh start auto loan a few months later. Apparently this process allowed too much abuse and, late in 2005, Congress passed stricter bankruptcy laws.

Now, before filing bankruptcy, people have to prove they are broke, and they have to attend credit counseling through an approved agency. If they pass the means test, that is to say, they prove they are broke, and attend the credit counseling sessions, a judge could still insist that the person file a chapter 13 instead. With a chapter 13 bankruptcy, the debts are not liquidated; rather, they are paid off over a period of years. (Read More…)

Bad Car Credit History Loans

Getting a car loan with a history of bad credit is more common than you may think. The type of car loan you end up with, however, depends on the items listed in your bad credit history.

For example, if a majority of your bad credit history is from non-applied for credit items, the car loan you receive will most likely be at better interest rates and terms than people with a bad credit history from applied for credit items.

Non Applied For Credit History

Sometimes items show up on your credit history that are not credit items at all, they are bills that went unpaid, or other amounts owed, that ended up at a collection agency. Common non-applied for items include: (Read More…)

Bankrate.com Quotes Auto Credit Express Vice President George Hrisoulis Jr.

“The credit application, your credit history and the down payment are among the items auto lenders consider when providing financing to a car buyer.These factors illustrate “the three Cs” of lending: capacity, character and collateral, says George Hrisoulis Jr., vice president of field operations at Auto Credit Express Inc.”

Read the article on Bankrate.com

We recently expanded our Canada bad credit car loan service. Now, Auto Credit Express is able to help people with bad credit all across Canada buy a car; our Canada car loan service is available in every province. (Read More…)

If you have bad credit chances are that when it comes time to buy a new car you will start first start by visiting used car dealers, either online or at the lot. I’m not sure why this is the tendency. The fact is that if you have bad credit you are more likely to get approved at a new car dealer that specializes in bad credit financing, than you are at a used car dealer.

The main reason for this is that most of the national sub prime auto lenders only partner with new car dealers or very large independent used car dealers. So if you visit a franchised car dealer more often than not you will have more lenders competing for your auto loan, and as the saying goes, when lenders compete you win. (Read More…)

Second Chance Auto Loans for High Risk Car Buyers

If you’re considered a high credit risk because of past credit problems you can get a second change to rebuild your credit with a high risk auto loan. When you get a second chance, make sure to make your auto loan payments on time. Rarely will you get a third chance to re-establish your credit.
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If you have bad credit and need a cosigner to get an auto loan you can use a relative that lives in another state.

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People with bad credit that want to buy a car often end up at a Tote the Note car lot. Tote the note is a phrase used by We Finance Everyone car dealers. These car dealers often provide loans to people with bad credit with no credit check. Although these Tote the Note car lots may finance everyone, there is a down side to getting a no credit check auto loan from a We Finance Everyone car dealer. (Read More…)

I not going to take sides on this one, the passion on both sides of the argument is strong, I’m certain that I could make a strong case for both sides.  I’d rather look at the long term effect this is going to have some of the people at GM, especially if the strike lasts a long time.

I’m guessing that workers at GM are similar to many Americans, that is to say a majority of them live paycheck to paycheck, have little savings put away, and carry a decent amount of credit card debt.  When the income stops coming in these workers will have to make some hard choices.  What do you stop paying first; credit cards, insurance, auto loan payments, mortgage?  It really does not matter, if you cannot pay your bills you end up with bad credit score. (Read More…)

If you have bad credit and are considering getting an auto loan to buy a car, make sure you can afford the additional expense. There is more to consider than making your auto loan payment. You should also consider the monthly cost to insure the car and the risk associated with repairs and rising gasoline prices.

On of the best ways to recover from bad credit is to get a new loan and pay it off as agreed. It goes without saying that if you get a new loan and do not make the payments in a timely matter your credit could be worse off at the end of the loan than it was before you got the loan. (Read More…)

If you have a parent, spouse, son, or daughter with good credit, ask them to add you as an authorized user on a credit card account that they have had open for a long time. The card should also have a low balance compared to the available credit. If you do this, your score will increase.

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I think Bar None is a licensed lender so they can purchase credit score lists from the credit reporting agencies and send out their pre-approved direct mail piece.

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Often, people with bad credit believe that they cannot get an auto loan to buy a new car. Many believe that they have to buy a cheap used car if they have bad credit. The fact is, if you have bad credit, it is often easier to obtain an auto loan on a brand new car. One the reasons for this is that bad credit auto loan lenders offer better rates and terms on new cars. Another reason is that new car manufactures often offer consumers rebates in lieu of low interest rate financing. Rebates help if you are tying to get an auto loan with no money down.

There are many new cars under $20,000. Take a look at the following comparison between getting an auto loan for a new car under $20,000 and a similarly priced used car through the same lender: (Read More…)

I do not have any personal experience in this area, but there are legitimate companies that offer personal loans for people with bad credit. Whether they are licensed in your state or not, I do not know.

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