Lisa Huyhn
If your credit score is a little bit on the low side; it doesn’t mean you can’t get a loan for a new vehicle. That’s because the loan is usually secured on the vehicle so the lender isn’t taking as big a risk as they might be on an unsecured loan. You do, however, need to be careful – there are sharks out there charging high APRs and offering minimal value on auto loan deals. So read on to find out where you can get the best bad credit auto loans today:
Bad Credit Auto Loans That Require Special Financing
Many lenders in the auto loans market will only lend money on brand new vehicles and older vehicles with high-mileages are often very hard to finance. Auto Credit Express is an exception to that rule and offers a range of specialist financing options; it’s something they’re very focused on and that often (but not always) also translates to the most favorable APRs for bad credit auto loans. You must have an income of above $1,500 gross to apply though.
Auto Credit Express is happy to work with those with discharged bankruptcies as well as more standard forms of bad credit. The one thing they won’t do though is let you buy a car from a private seller which can increase your costs and reduce your options for cars to finance.
Bad Credit Auto Loans Through Brokers
A broker is essentially an online lead generation tool. They don’t offer credit themselves but instead they work with a pool of lenders who may be willing to cover a higher risk loan. So if you work with a broker – you should end up with several options for a loan and can pick the one with the best terms.
MyAutoLoan.com is just such a broker. You fill in their online forms and then they send your details out to lenders. Typically it takes just a few minutes to get up to four loan offers even if you have bad credit scores.
They have a good reputation for fair dealing and will lend to bad credit situations as long as there have been no previous bankruptcies. You’ll need to earn over $1,800 a month and the car must be less than 8 years old and have less than 100,000 miles on the clock.
Bad Credit Auto Loans Best Bank
Capital One is, perhaps, the bank most invested in bad credit loans of any type; so it should come as no surprise that they’re a major player in the bad credit auto loans market too. However, you must buy your car through a Capital One approved dealer (there are over 12,000 to choose from) which can limit your choices of cars and mean that the car you buy is a little more expensive than you might get elsewhere.
We were impressed to find that you can get pre-approval for a loan though which lets you shop with confidence and without worrying you won’t get credit at the dealer. We also found their interest rates to be very competitive. Cars can be no more than 10 years old and must have less than 120,000 miles on the clock they must also cost more than $4,000 and less than $40,000.
Perhaps Capital One’s biggest strength is its name brand and reputation.
Other Options for Bad Credit Auto Loans
There are some other options that you might want to investigate before you commit to an auto loand.
RoadLoans.Com
RoadLoans is part of the Santander Group of banks and that means they’re reputable and well-established as a lender. They have a great suite of support tools for potential car buyers to make informed decisions but watch out – they also have a fair number of unhappy customers. There are indications that their rates are often not very good, that loans come with a series of burdensome conditions and that RoadLoans may run multiple credit checks as part of the process (which can further damage your already bad credit score).
Wells Fargo
Another big name bank and once one of the best options for a bad credit auto loan, Wells Fargo still make loans for cars. The trouble is they’re under strict instructions to cut their risk portfolio and there’s evidence that those with bad credit scores are more likely to be turned down for a Wells Fargo loan than other options on this list.
How Much Will a Bad Credit Auto Loan Cost?
Well it depends on just how bad your credit score is. Currently interest rates are at an all time low and those with perfect credit scores can get an APR of just over 3%. A typical poor credit score of under 620, however, attracts an APR of more like 9.5% and the worst scores (those sub 590) may find that an APR of 15% or more is all that’s on offer.
We strongly recommend that you shop around for bad credit auto loans and make sure that you understand all the terms and conditions before you agree to anything. Some lenders have a reputation for putting unreasonable strings on lending and that may interfere with your ability to clear the loan early or to sell the vehicle to clear the loan.
Always keep a copy of the contract you are provided with when you do sign up for a loan – it may be the only way to ensure that the loan is managed fairly.
Most of all if you take a bad credit auto loan and you always make the payments on time – you will help to repair your credit score and the next loan you need should be easier to obtain and less costly. However, if you miss payments on your loans – your credit score will deteriorate further. Always make sure that you can comfortably afford a monthly payment before committing to it. It would be better to reduce the budget for the car and the size of the loan rather than to risk defaulting on it.
