guaranteed car finance, is it a scam?

emmyreece

Hi everyone, it's my first post and I could really do with some advice

I've made some very stupid mistakes in the past with regards to my credit history and am slowly but surely getting it all back on track. I should be debt free by this time next year.

I wrote my car off at the beginning of january that had been financed through my boyfriend and have been needing to get hold of a car that will get me to and from work and over to Wales to see my mother when necessary. I want something I'm happy with and something that will last me a while, so I'm looking at buying something fairly new.

However, due to silly mistakes I'm having to go down the finance route, but I'm extremely worried about getting knocked back for it. So my partner suggested I have a look for some guaranteed finance sites and see if they look ok. But, I don't know what I'm looking for, I have no idea whether it's all just a big scam or something, though if needs be I'll have to grin and bear the extortionate amount of interest I'll probably get lumped with :eek:

Swans1912

Firstly if you have 'bad credit' then the companies will take advantage when it comes to finance on a car, think 20%+. What have you done to think your credit is bad and what are these mistakes you have made? How have you done in the last 3 years in terms of credit?

Be very careful with any finance company that offers credit to anyone with bad credit, they will charge and charge you!

emmyreece

When I was at uni I went completely into my over draft and couldn't afford to pay it back, this was 6 years ago now, and have only just this year been able to afford to start paying back £100 a month, which will be finished next february. I've also had other outstanding payments that I cleared on the spot from savings over the past year.

I haven't been able to get any credit in the past three years, so really haven't had chance to build it up. I don't know if a gym membership counts, but I've always paid that on time.

I don't really want to have to ask my partner to put it in his name again for me as I don't think it's very fair on him and it's something that I wanted to sort out myself (but that's just me being stubborn). But, he would probably insist on doing so if it kept the monthly payments to a minimum

Swans1912

emmyreece, Thank you for sharing that with us. Have you looked at your credit report (£2 or free 30 day trail.) recently? It would be interesting to see what it looks like and how many 'marks' you have on it.

This is certainly a difficult position to be in when you need a car, I'm sure other people will be on here soon to give you some 'real' advice that you can actually use rather than just my opinion.....

emmyreece

I've not taken a look at it recently because I have a really bad feeling about what state it will be in because of these mistakes from when I was younger.

There's so many companies out there offering guaranteed car finance, it just worries me that some of them will be scams, and how would I tell which are scams and which aren't? Something will have to be done though, because it's been a month now of trying to manage without a car and it's just not possible. I might have a word with my boyfriend too and see what ideas he comes up with

Big_Steve_4

Hi,

I'm looking for a car loan as well at the moment and have looked at the these companies.
Most seem legit - the catch is that you have to buy the car from them and they finance it so you can guarantee paying over the odds for the car (one had a car for £5k when there were loads of similiar on autotrader for £2.5-£3.5k) and you also get hit with high interest so they make twice over !

I've now decided I dont want to spend that much so i'm going to try for a personal loan

Steve

nb: the ones to avoid are anyone who charges an upfront fee as any reputable broker will get commission from the lender

hur575

emmyreece wrote: »

When I was at uni I went completely into my over draft and couldn't afford to pay it back, this was 6 years ago now, and have only just this year been able to afford to start paying back £100 a month, which will be finished next february. I've also had other outstanding payments that I cleared on the spot from savings over the past year.

I haven't been able to get any credit in the past three years, so really haven't had chance to build it up. I don't know if a gym membership counts, but I've always paid that on time.

I don't really want to have to ask my partner to put it in his name again for me as I don't think it's very fair on him and it's something that I wanted to sort out myself (but that's just me being stubborn). But, he would probably insist on doing so if it kept the monthly payments to a minimum

Well, I think you should have a look at your credit file, you said that it was 6 yrs ago, you never know, it might not be as bad as you think. Any how it is better to know where you stand, and see how long is left for you to get rid of bad marks in the files.

It is always good idea to see how your credit is improving, and how to learn from your mistakes, and plan ahead.

Regarding your options, I strongly advice you to get your partner to take the loan for you. Trust me, it make perfect sense, the rates you get with bad credit is a real rip off, in the end after you check your credit file, and you are able to get a loan with reasonable rate you can pay the partner back. Do not be stubborn with that please; do not punish yourself by paying extortionate rate.

Oh and gym membership do not count unfortunately!

emmyreece

Well we've had a chat about it now and agreed that he will do the same as last time before I wrote my other car off. This time we're going to get gap insurance too, obviously it'll bump the price up, but it does mean that should the worst come to the worst we won't be left paying for a car that we don't have, which is what we're having to do now.

I knew he'd insist on it rather than me pay over the odds in interest to get the car I want. I was just a bit worried because of all the horror stories on the lending family and friends money thread. But he trusts me and he gets the money off me every pay day to put straight into his account, plus I pay his credit card bill each month, while he pays for a few other bits, so it's give and take

CLAPTON

loads of really good cars are available for a couple of grand.... l

Swans1912

emmyreece wrote: »

This time we're going to get gap insurance too, obviously it'll bump the price up, but it does mean that should the worst come to the worst we won't be left paying for a car that we don't have, which is what we're having to do now

Get the GAP protection from a third party and NOT the car dealer otherwise you will be paying an extreme amount of money for a product you can find for far less.

If you are buying a new car then your car insurance company may have a 'new car' policies which is similar to what GAP offers you.

dacouch

I totally agree with ikennett get it from a third party it will probably be around 60% cheaper and you won't be paying interest on the GAP Insurance for the duration of the loan which will nearly double what you pay for it if you go through the dealer.

A word of warning the dealer will really try and pressurise you into taking it as they make a lot of money on it. If you do give into their tactics you will probably have a 14 day colling off period to cancel it