In this post, we’ll explore how car finance works and how to get car finance with a poor credit score.

What exactly is car finance?

The FLA defines car finance as a plan that spreads the cost of a new or used car. Instead of paying the full amount for the car upfront, consumers can pay monthly towards the overall cost of their purchased car.

In the UK, it is common for car dealerships to offer finance options to their customers. Alternatively, you can get finance through dedicated finance brokers, who will offer a wide range of financial deals to their customers via a panel of lenders. This allows them to find the best available deals to suit each individual customer.

What impacts whether I am eligible for car finance?

Many factors can impact your eligibility for car finance:

1. Age – To take out a car finance plan, you must be aged 18 to 75 years’ old.
2. Residency – You need to be a resident in the UK for at least three or more years. Most companies will not take on temporary residents.
3. Credit score – For most lenders, this is a big one. The better your credit score, the more likely you are to get approved.
4. The car you want to take a finance plan out on – The car needs to be less than 8 years old when you first take out the finance plan, and it must be less than 12 years old when the finance plan ends.
5. Employment – Being able to prove you are in stable employment will be favourable for most lenders. Normally, they ask for your previous three months’ bank statements and payslips to prove this.
6. Benefits – Most lenders will require at least half your benefits to be income based. Benefits that would count as a form of income are Carers’ Allowance, Local Council Tax Support, Disability Living Allowance, Incapacity Benefit (long term incapacity), Tax Credits, Pension Credit, and State Retirement Pension. For any other disability benefits, lenders are more flexible due to the nature of the benefit and will often accept government-funded allowance.
7. Retirement – Despite being out of employment, many retired applicants will be in a good financial position. They would still be required to have proof of their income, whether that be from a pension, investment or property.

How credit affects car finance eligibility

A credit score is a numerical expression, which represents the creditworthiness of an individual. It represents someone’s credit history and tells lenders a lot about what kind of borrower they are and how likely it is that they will manage repayments.

When you apply for car finance, your credit score will be looked at by your lender. People with a higher credit score are more likely to be successful when applying for car finance, and sometimes they can even get better interest rates. This is because they are considered as ‘lower risk’ when compared to others with a higher credit score.

Lenders will use your credit score to tailor a car finance plan to you. If you have a higher credit score, lenders can often approve your car finance quicker and offer you lower interest rates.

Can I get car finance with poor credit?

Many dealerships prefer to only offer car finance plans to good or excellent credit scores, which is not good news if your credit score is not particularly great. The lower your credit score, the more hoops they will make you jump through.

While poor credit can make some finance applications tricky, it doesn’t mean you can’t get credit full stop. At My Car Credit, we are committed to finding a finance package that suits you, wherever possible. With the largest panel of lenders out of any other UK broker, we are better placed to get you approved for car finance with a poor credit score compared to other brokers.

Our clever technology allows us to use data-driven decisions to place you with the best lender. We also have a team of manual underwriters who can assess each customer’s individual circumstances to ensure we always give you the best deal on car finance available from our lenders.

Our simple-to-use car finance calculator allows you to see if you will be eligible for car finance with poor credit. Taking your credit score into account, you can get a clear idea of the finance on offer, changing the loan amount and repayment term to suit you.

Where can I go to get car finance with poor credit?

If you’re looking to get car finance with poor credit, My Car Credit can help. Simply enter your credit score, loan amount and repayment terms on our simple car finance calculator and let us do all the legwork.

We’re fully FCA compliant, meaning our customers know exactly what they are getting from us. If you want to find out more about the car finance we can offer you with poor credit, get in touch with our team today. You can call us on 01246 458 810 or email enquiries@mycarcredit.co.uk.