The content is accurate at the time of publication and is subject to change.
Taking out a loan for your car will be one of the biggest expenses of your life, no doubt. Cars are not cheap investments, by any means!
Typically, if you are without credit history, you are starting out in your adult life, as most college students or young people are often in this predicament. Once you start maintaining a credit history (and hopefully it’s a good one) this will no longer be a problem. Once you’ve worked your way through several credit cards as well as loan repayments, you will have one.
For the time being though, the odds are strongly in your favor of getting an auto loan, even without a credit history to back you up. It will be tough but it can be done.
Automobile loans are secured loans, first and foremost. This means that some assets of yours (possibly even the automobile in question) will have to be labeled as “collateral” should you default on your loan.
In that way, auto loans can be nearly golden for establishing a credit history or rebuilding a poor one, even. You could also have a friend or family member that trusts you co-sign on your loan. Of course, if you should default, they will suffer, so this might come as an extra burden.
The co-signer must also have a good credit history of their own. If you pick someone with a poor credit history, you are probably not going to be approved.
You also run the chance of having a high rate on your auto loan, because of your rather non-existent credit situation. If that’s the case, it is possible to reprimand this by making on-time payments for the first six months.
Some car dealerships have programs that come with a “no credit check” promise, too. Remember that dealerships will do nearly anything to attract potential customers, so this policy is in their best interest.
If you have “bad” credit and need to take out an auto loan, your rate will be much higher than someone else with good/average credit. If this should happen to you, what you should do is somehow decrease the term of your loan.
The best thing you can do, though, is to take the time to establish a real credit history. This can be done by signing up for one credit card or repaying a loan with its proper stipulations.
A credit history is something absolutely necessary when making other monumental payments or even when applying for a job. It reflects (to whoever wants it) your financial responsibility and habits. Thus, it determines your reputation and determines, to some degree, if you are really a desirable candidate for whatever it is you need the credit history check for.
However, it takes time and patience to build a credit history and sometimes these run short. If all else fails in your quest to acquire an auto loan with limited credit, you could ask a friend for a personal loan, as well.
