Car buyers with problem credit should be aware of scammers that could potentially sidetrack their plans for an auto loan as well as repairing their credit
Online Car Loan Scams Go Mobile
What we know

Here at Auto Credit Express for the past two decades we've been helping car buyers with questionable credit looking for online car loans find those new car dealers for their best opportunities at loan approvals. Lately, however, we find ourselves reminding these same consumers that the internet is not always the safest place.

Like many neighborhoods there are thieves hoping to take advantage of the unwary. But instead of ripping off flat screen televisions these people are more than content to steal an individual's private information so they can assume that identity. Down the road this can make it difficult even for those with bad credit to qualify for an auto loan

Online hoax

An example of this forced Kia Motors New Zealand to issue a press release last year warning that anyone receiving a text message on their mobile phone bearing the Kia Motors logo and informing them of a lottery win needed to know that the message was a scam.

Kia Text Message

Kia Motors New Zealand warned anyone receiving a mobile phone text message informing them of a lottery win and asking for banking details that it is a hoax.

The company's Auckland head office was alerted to the hoax after receiving a number of calls from people who had received the text, asking if it was real.

"It most certainly isn't – it's a scam and my advice to anyone who receives such a text is to ignore it, delete it," says Todd McDonald, General Manager of Kia Motors New Zealand.

The text message used the Kia Motors "Power To Surprise" logo and was headed by the message "Fill In and Return Kia Motor Lottery Verification Form For Approval." The sender was signed "Dr Lewis Anderson," purporting to be the "Cash Officer" for Kia Motors in the Region, but the giveaway is that his email address used Google mail not the official Kia Motors email addresses.

Recipients were told their lucky mobile number had won them £497,000 (British Pounds Sterling equal to $819,500) and a Kia model and on a second page asked for delivery details, including online banking. "Presumably they want to obtain a bank account number and a password, which is typical of these types of scams," adds Mr. McDonald.

"This one is a slightly different take on the emails to computers purporting to be from banks. It's the first I have heard of scams messages to mobile phones. Whoever is behind this has got hold of a mobile phone list - not one of ours, I hasten to add – and they are passing themselves off as representing Kia Motors and using our logo to make people believe that it is a real offer."

As we see it

A high risk car loan is a good way to improve your auto credit but maintaining it could be difficult if a scam artist manages to obtain your personal information. Remember the old saying: "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

Another thing that's good to remember: at Auto Credit Express we match applicants that have experienced car credit problems with dealers that can
ve them their best chances at approved car loans.

So if you're ready to reestablish your auto credit, you can begin now by filling out our online car loan application.