outright home owner but cash poor and bad credit

hennyd

hi forum,

first post from me, not very savvy about these things so hoping there are some good suggestions out there.....i own a leasehold 2-bed flat in London, 110 years remaining on the lease and no mortgage. Reckon market value is £280-320k. However I left myself a bit short buying the place and doing it up, so I've only got about £4k left over in my current account and no other savings.

Here's the problem, my car's just died and it's looking like scrapping is the only realistic option. I've got a reasonably safe income of about £2,500 pcm after tax so i could take some time to save up, but i do need a vehicle for work so it can't really wait. I've been looking at credit and I find out my rating is pretty poor - main problem being my only borrowing history is a small unsecured personal loan and a credit card. I'm paying the loan by DD so that's fine, but I missed a number of payments on the credit card last year after moving and forgetting to change my address (and that I still owed something like £200 - doh).

So i've got fixed assets but little cash and the obvious high street lenders won't look at me, at least until i can go through the hassle of applying for another credit card just to demonstrate that I can pay it off. Would a secure loan be a good solution, and if so does anyone know what sort of APR I should expect? Any other advice much welcomed of course

if you've read through this far, thanks, and if you've read AND replied thanks x1,000,000!!!

Gaz83

Use some of the £4k to buy a cheap second-hand car while you save for a better one.

DCFC79

Agree with the advice posted, if your determined to do the house up and buy a better car you will get there, I just dont see you being able to get a loan.

fwor

Thirded - choose an unfashionable but reliable make and spend a few hundred quid on something that works and has a year's MOT. The boring Mazda saloons can be a good buy, for example, but there are ~lots~ of others that won't "turn heads" but will do the job of carting you and your bits about...

Gaz83

There's a section on this forum that discusses cars that are widely known to be reliable despite being old (and therefore cheap).

There are some proper bargains to be had. My last car was a Citroen Xsara. I bought it at the end of April and it had an MOT until January. It didn't miss a beat in those nine months and it cost me £320.

If it hadn't been for someone pranging it in a car park it would probably have done me another year as well!