Car loan/finance - help?

[james328i]

Wondering if anyone can help me here, about 2 years ago I took on a new job for far better money but it meant me having to take a big pay cut and work for an agency for 10 months. TATA steel then had business issues when I was due to be taken on so it's been delayed for a year. I have struggled on the low wage for over 2 years but finally they have decided to make me permanent this month. Over the moon, plus a £13k a year pay rise, entitled to bonuses and pension etc.

Anyway, due to me struggling for those months, I missed a few mobile phone payments. What I did was canceled the direct debit payment and paid manually for a while. Due to the process taking a few days to go through it resulted in my credit scoring showing late payments. And my score being poor at 334.

I've run my 328 into the ground and now I'm looking for a new car around the £12k mark. Ideally I'd like a 320d msport coupe. But here is where my problem starts:
I can't see me being eligible for a loan due to my credit score. Since this is all new to me I don't want silly finance quotes at silly APR which affect my credit score with too many searches on file. I'm not sure if ill actually be accepted for finance with my credit score.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? Any help would be much appreciated to help me with this situation.

Thanks

[rfoster]

Hmm - a bit of a tough one. If it's just mobile phone payments that were slow, but you still show good payments on credit cards / mortgage or rent / utilities then you may still be eligible for car finance but it does depend on whether you had a default registered against you or if your agreements are now all up to date.
Any finance / loan company will have to run a credit check on you to consider an application; and you will find that while sub-prime companies are more likely to lend money, this will be reflected in rate of interest that they will charge.

Feel free to message me if you want to discuss off-forum, I'll be happy to give advice.
Cheers, Richard.

[Newc]

You’re about to be swamped with a dozen variations of the same comment, so I’ll go first:

You’ve just been through a bit of a dip where cash was tight, you’re just starting a new job with better income, and the first thing you want to do is take out a very large car loan ?

Why not buy a 4k-5k daily driver, run it for a year, and stick some cash into savings ? I wish you the best in the new job, I really do, but the Western European steel industry isn’t known as the best employment environment.

A smaller loan will also be easier to get, easier to pay off, and rebuild your credit score more quickly.

[nosittap]

james328i said:

I missed a few mobile phone payments. What I did was canceled the direct debit payment and paid manually for a while. Due to the process taking a few days to go through it resulted in my credit scoring showing late payments.

Your payments have to be over 30 days late for it to be reported to your credit file.

Don't rely on the 'credit scores' you get from Experians credit master and the like, they're just an illustration to give you an idea on how credit worthy you are.

If you have got a poor recent payment history they it's likely the interest rates you're offered reflect this when applying for finance.

You are not necessarily more likely to be accepted for HP over a bank loan either these days. Just apply for a loan with your bank, if they decline you then you're not going to get a HP loan without getting raped on interest.

[james328i]

Thanks for your replies, I have a mate that works for my bank Lloyds TSB. I had him to have a look if I could get a loan and he says its very unlikely. So I guess ill be paying through the nose for interest rates on finance?

Also, how the hell do you check your private messages on here?

[no effort]

What about buying on a credit card?

[james328i]

To be honest I don't know if ill be eligible for one. Do you know how to see your inbox on here? Anyone?

[spikeyhead]

What's wrong with buying something you can afford now and save up for something nice later?

[james328i]

After 2 years as an agency worker I was really looking forward to getting something nice and new. But the reality of it is I'm going to have to go with the sensible option. Unless someone wants to lend me 12 grand haha

[sideways sid]

have you tried borrowing on Zopa?

a few guys on here lend via Zopa so you might get a partial PH loan!

[james328i]

That looks interesting, thanks for that. Any Zopa lenders on here want to help a fellow PHer out?

[Haggleburyfinius]

PMs just get sent to your email address; the one you used to register.

You're completely mental btw. Save up for a year and then have a think about it; I bet you wont want to spend 12k on a car if you've got it yourself sitting in a bank account. A loan is ultimately no different.

BTW, I don't think paying a couple of phone payments late is going to result in such a low score...what else is on your report?

[james328i]

Everything else on my report is classed as either good or excellent. The missed mobile phone payments are categorised as very poor. Would have been nice to have a new car with my new job. Have something to show for it, but saving looks like my I it option. Could be very lucky and get 16 months back pay. Which we should be entitled to. But I really can't see that happening. Fingers crossed..