Bad Credit Loan Experience Anyone?

Skylark74

Hi, I'm in a sticky situtation. I borrowed my boyfriend's car and had an argument with a wall. I need to get it repaired and pay for it to be fixed. He is insured but doesen't want to impact his bonus.

The problem is the damage is looking in the region of £1,500. I need a loan but I have bad credit (3 large CCJs). I have made arrangements with the companies a few years ago and I do have more disposable income and normally save up for things in advance. I can probably lay my hands on £500 so for the rest I can afford a short ish term loan and can afford repayments of upto £400 per month.

I don't want to borrow from friends (my family don't have this money to lend me) so I need a recommendation from anyone who has used a bad credit loan. I don't want to use a cowboy. I do own my own home but have no equity in it and I also don't want to use a guarantor.

I just want to make an informed decision...

Thanks in advance.

[Deleted User]

I trust he is aware, that he is obliged to inform his insurers of the accident, even if he doesn't make a claim?

Skylark74

Yes he is... it's not insurance advice I'm looking for!

Does anyone have experience of the loans with high APRs please?

soontobemrsg

Sorry no experience on the loan front, but wanted to add that as it's your partner is the one not wishing to make a claim against the insurance can't you offer the £500 at your disposal and request that they find the rest for the repairs?

Skylark74

Not really, my boyfriend's not in a possition to do that!

I'm looking to hear if anyone has any reasonable experience of the companies who offer loans to people with ccjs and high APRs...

[Deleted User]

There are people who offer loans to people with CCJs.

They're called Loan Sharks.

harrys_dad

Get your boyfriend to claim through his insurance, it is the only way to do this, and also the most financially sensible. If he will not do this then get a new boyfriend. If he feels anything for you the last thing he would want is for you to get stuck with borrowing £1500 which will cost you an arm and a leg, probably literally. You have 3 CCJs already so why would anyone reputable want to lend you money?

Alternatively, get your boyfriend to borrow the money and pay him back. Presumably he trusts you to do this and will not charge you extortionate rates of interest. If he does, again get a new boyfriend.

charlotte4940

Could he not claim through his insurance and you pay the extra towards his car insurance?

vics199

Is the car still driveable? If so then the best option if you won't claim through insurance is for you to save up the money and get it repaired when you can afford it. Getting a payday loan type thing would in my opinion be stupid with 3 CCJs already. If the car isn't driveable then maybe your boyfriend could use public transport until you have the money to repair it, using the money he would have spent on petrol. Or lift share.

Or do the sensible thing and claim on the insurance. Its also a legal requirement I believe to inform your insurance company. How much is the insurance? It may well be cheaper to claim and then pay the extra for the next few years and rebuild your no claims and then protect the no claims to stop you getting in this mess again. Like somebody else said, you could pay the extra on the car insurance for a while.

AndyJR81

Hoping to answer your query somewhat.

Depends on how bad your credit is really. I have an awful credit score (was 216 on experian now 421) just from defaults - no CCJs etc, and I hate to tell you that no-one would lend to me in my own right even at sky high APR's, other than payday lenders - who were the ones I was trying to get rid of by consolidating for a lower APR. In the end Provident agreed to lend me £800 as a new customer because my payslips show I'm earning quite good money. 268% APR is scary, but I'm planning to settle fairly early and its a damn sight cheaper than QuickQuid, Wonga etc who are all now paid off. That might be an option for you since you mentioned you could afford to pay off £400 per month.

Another option would be a guarantor loan. When I was searching there was a company called Amigo loans who would happily loan you £1000 at 70-90% APR if you could get a homeowner to guarantee the payments. Its cheaper than the first option I mentioned, but relies on you finding a guarantor. As far as I was aware the loan is NOT secured against the guarantor's property so there is no risk of being repossessed for them, but they would be harrassed for the payments were you to default.

A third and probably better option would be to approach your local credit union. I managed to secure a loan from mine as a new customer of £5,500 which was used to pay off all existing bad debt and allow me to start rebuilding. It will take 1-2 weeks to process though so if time is of the essence it might not be for you. I explained my bad credit and demonstrated I would have no problem making repayments (in fact repayments to them are lower than what I was paying before!), and the APR is only 10.9%!

Really hope you get something sorted and have better luck than I did!

Adamo88

AndyJR81 wrote: »

Hoping to answer your query somewhat.

Depends on how bad your credit is really. I have an awful credit score (was 216 on experian now 421) just from defaults - no CCJs etc, and I hate to tell you that no-one would lend to me in my own right even at sky high APR's, other than payday lenders - who were the ones I was trying to get rid of by consolidating for a lower APR. In the end Provident agreed to lend me £800 as a new customer because my payslips show I'm earning quite good money. 268% APR is scary, but I'm planning to settle fairly early and its a damn sight cheaper than QuickQuid, Wonga etc who are all now paid off. That might be an option for you since you mentioned you could afford to pay off £400 per month.

Another option would be a guarantor loan. When I was searching there was a company called Amigo loans who would happily loan you £1000 at 70-90% APR if you could get a homeowner to guarantee the payments. Its cheaper than the first option I mentioned, but relies on you finding a guarantor. As far as I was aware the loan is NOT secured against the guarantor's property so there is no risk of being repossessed for them, but they would be harrassed for the payments were you to default.

A third and probably better option would be to approach your local credit union. I managed to secure a loan from mine as a new customer of £5,500 which was used to pay off all existing bad debt and allow me to start rebuilding. It will take 1-2 weeks to process though so if time is of the essence it might not be for you. I explained my bad credit and demonstrated I would have no problem making repayments (in fact repayments to them are lower than what I was paying before!), and the APR is only 10.9%!

Really hope you get something sorted and have better luck than I did!

further to this other than amigo loans there are FLM and Ladder loans, both have high interest rates compared to the prime market but if all else fails one of them may help you.

Fingers crossed