Beware of advance-fee loan scams


There are many ways that scam artists try and get you to part with your money. Don’t fall prey to one of these solicitations.


There are many ways that scam artists try and get you to part with your money. Don’t fall prey to one of these solicitations.


This week Experian announced a new version of their credit report which should prevent car dealers and lending institutions from making mistakes about your automotive credit history by overlooking important information…


Here at Auto Credit Express, we can think of two ways to try and get car financing for bad credit…
(Read More…)


Before you fill out a car loan application, you need to know how buying and leasing vehicles applies to customers with bad credit.
(Read More…)


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…)


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.
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.”


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…)


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…)


One of the most frequently asked questions our customer service department receives is “will I qualify for a car loan if ….”. There are so many possible scenarios it would be impossible to list them all here so I will address some of the major ones.
In our database we have over 100 sub prime lenders, each has an average of 5 lending programs. With over 500 programs in total there should be a program for almost every credit situation. The major factors lenders consider when you apply for a car loan are: (Read More…)


One of the more popular internet search phrases is “Zero Down Auto Loans”. I would image the meaning of this to mean that the consumer wants an auto loan but does not want to use any of their own cash as a down payment. Customer cash is not the only form of down, there are two others; trade value and rebates.
If you have bad credit there are only a few true no down auto loan programs, and most of these I would not recommend. The repayment terms for these no money down auto loan programs are less favorable than lender programs that require money down. (Read More…)


There are three main categories of auto finance lenders for people with bad credit. They are Direct Lenders, Indirect Lenders, and Buy Here Pay Here In House Financing.
Direct lenders lend money directly to the consumer. When you borrow money from a direct lender you can shop like a cash buyer. Direct lenders, however, have more strict underwriting guidelines, that is to say they do not do a very good job approving people with bad credit. I would recommend that you have a credit score above 580 if you apply with a direct lender. Direct lenders may finance the following loan types:
A private party auto loan is a loan to purchase a car from a private party. Most direct lenders for people with bad credit do not offer this option. (Read More…)


When it comes to getting an auto loan with bad credit, most lenders have a score card that they use to rate your credit worthiness and risk. Rarely will sub prime lenders rely on the credit bureau score alone when making their decision whether to approve or decline an auto loan application. Following are a few examples of items that may be part of a sub prime auto lenders score card.
Time in Bureau
Many lenders use the “In Bureau Date” as part of their score card, the longer a person has been in the bureau system the better.
Previous Credit High
Finance companies may look at your previous credit high to determine the loan amount that they will approve.


If a recent economic event such as change in employment, large medical bills, divorce, or legal troubles has turned your good credit to bad credit you can regain a good credit score. Many lenders are willing to help those who at one time had a good credit score and now have bad credit, especially if they can identify a single economic event that caused the good credit rating to turn to a bad credit score.
Many times when a consumers credit turns from good to bad they end up loosing their vehicle, either through bankruptcy proceedings or repossession; after that happens most consumers end up getting a bad credit auto loan through a sub prime auto lender.