About to take out car finance

Scottishsnapper_2

Good afternoon all from a rather dull Edinburgh,

Was just looking for some advice really. I am about to start the haggling process with those dreaded new car salesmen at the weekend and with a current 0% finance option available over 5 years, I may as well (attempt) to make use of it.

I am of course nervous with the outcome so decided to see if I can assist the application in any way. Out of curiosity, I checked my credit report which scored 999 but just wondered if I could aid my application further, knowing the numbers dont make a huge significane on the grand scheme.....

My credit limits on all my credit cards are increadible compared to what are on them which hit home when I got my credit report last night. Now should I call the providers to lower the limits, and/or in a couple of cases close (some) accounts completely, this of course will lower my available credit percentage which I believe potencial financers will look at also. Or will it appear worse that I have a potential to max out credit cards?

Would increased activity so close to an application cause harm either way?

On an aside, has anyone ever dealt with GMAC/Vauxhall finance for similar offers?

Many thanks for reading and of course any assistance/thoughts you may have.

Warmest for now,

SS

DCFC79

Your credit score is meaningless,

r1chscott

Afternoon from a fairly bright and warm London!

It really depends on what your current credit state is, when you apply for a loan the lenders will look particularly at a few things:
Salary & Overall Available Credit.

Nowadays lenders are tending to allow available credit of 50% of the salary, so, for example if you have a £30K salary and have credit cards that total to a limit of £15K then you are going to struggle to get credit.

Even if all of the cards have a £0 balance there's nothing to stop you from having a massive party, holiday, new TV etc etc! So they will not expose themselves to the risk.

Closing some of the cards down will make a difference but it will only take effect after the credit agencies have updated their records showing the lower available credit so it's unlikely to have any benefit for this weekend. It could be best to close some of the accounts to get your available credit to a reasonable figure, give time for your credit report to update and then go for the loan.

Hope that helps!

PS - as DCFC says - the credit score is pretty much meaningless - it just says that you have not paid anything late (it would also say this if you didn't have any credit at all!) The credit report is the important bit as that is what lenders will look at.

Scottishsnapper_2

Thanks for your response r1chscott,

DCFC, I did mention that I knew the score was almost worthless!

The next question I guess is, are the same credentials in the application process applied to both car finance and personal loans or are there differences?

Thanks again,

Tixy

Pretty much the same credentials - but secured car finance is usually easier to obtain due to them retaining security over the vehicle.

If your credit limits are sky high and you don't have any intention to utilise them then I would certainly consider reducing some of them down, but this won't show on your file by this weekend, could easily take up to 6weeks for your file to reflect this.

blacksta

Buy yourself a banger and save yourself the finance hassle. PLease i dont want see a thread here in some years time on how you want to Terminate the agreement and return car

Scottishsnapper_2

Well, today I got the call, along with the thumbs up with my application.....And now normal life can resume, and in a brand new car in around a week too!!!

For reference, for anyone with similar thoughts in the future the amount was almost around 85% of my annual salary and the dealership finance manager simply said that turnaround of units is far greater to them than margins. My sale on his screen was leaving him quite out of pocket and this was on a 0% APR deal which I can only assume will see the dealership paying the finance company something to keep these units ticking over???

Anyway, Thanks to all that contributed and responded!

SS

InsertWittyName

Scottishsnapper wrote: »

My sale on his screen was leaving him quite out of pocket and this was on a 0% APR deal

I'm sure you know this was just salesman speak :rotfl:

They have made a profit - if they didn't they wouldn't have sold you the car!

As long as you're happy that's all that matters

Apples2

The thought of committing 85% of my Salary for four wheels on the drive would send shudders down my spine. I would enjoy the car for a few months for sure, but a year down the line I don't think I would be so enthusiastic about that recurrent payment.

I've lost count of the amount of posters onhere who have regretted that monthly payment during year 2/3/4/5 for their "no longer" new car and wish they had just bought something outright and had done with it.

Horses for courses though, hope it works out for you.

blacksta

Apples2 wrote: »

The thought of committing 85% of my Salary for four wheels on the drive would send shudders down my spine. I would enjoy the car for a few months for sure, but a year down the line I don't think I would be so enthusiastic about that recurrent payment.

I've lost count of the amount of posters onhere who have regretted that monthly payment during year 2/3/4/5 for their "no longer" new car and wish they had just bought something outright and had done with it.

Horses for courses though, hope it works out for you.

Lol - Please help me how i can VT this case . the payment are taking forever

mezjen

Hi can anyone give me some advice. I want to get a car on finance with vauxhall and my credit score on check my file is 600 due to past history when i was a student. All my accounts that had arrangements to pay have now closed and all my other accounts are up to date. I work as a nurse and earn £23000. What is the chance of getting car finance. what part of the credit score do they look at because some of my score is 600, and my address score is 842. confused.