July 18, 2005
Getting a bad credit car loan
1. Contact Equifax, Consumerinfo, or TrueCredit online for your credit score or to make sure there are no errors on your credit report. You can usually dispute the incorrect information online or over the telephone. If you have correct unfavorable information, you can write a letter to the company that reported the unfavorable information, asking them to remove that information or make a note that your accounts are now in good standing. Usually they won’t do this, but it doesn’t hurt to try.
2. Determine your credit score (also called a FICO score). There are simple online guidelines for estimating your credit score yourself. Still, to get a truly accurate score, you need to purchase it from the credit bureaus.
a. Note that each bureau may have a slightly different score (and possibly a very different score if they have information the others do not). There are online credit-monitoring services that will provide you a single report with all three reports and credit scores.
b. A score of over 680 out of 850 will get you a low-rate auto loan. Under 680 will mean a higher rate but a loan is still quite likely. Bad credit begins around 650 and lower. You will be charged high interest no matter where you go, and may not qualify for as large a loan. But it will still be a loan nonetheless.
3. Look on the Internet for names of lenders that specialize in bad credit car financing. They can be private lenders, car dealers or any website offering this type of loan help. Compare the rates and terms with what your own bank offers. Make a short list of lenders with good rates and terms.
4. Call up the lenders and ask them about their credit guidelines. They will often be reluctant to state a single FICO score, but you can sometimes get them to tell you a range. It’s important to make sure you have a fighting chance at approval before applying. A bunch of rejected loan applications will look bad on your credit report–creating a vicious cycle that makes it even harder to get a loan.