Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Money matters

Find financial and money-saving discussions including debt and pension chat on our Money forum. If you're looking for ways to make your money to go further, sign up to our Moneysaver emails here.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Car Finance for SAHM

27 replies

OnNaturesCourse · 20/05/2019 23:10

Basically it... Is it possible?

I have a car on finance at the moment but it was started when I was still in employment. Its now time to trade it in and get something bigger. It won't be with the orginal garage. My credit score is OKish at around 600 I think but whenever I look at finance online it asks for my income and automatically declines me. My household income is 27500-30000 per year. My partner has basically no credit score as everything goes through my accounts, inc. his wages so he's even less likely to get finance.

What's my best option here?

OP posts:

kamelo · 20/05/2019 23:51

Ignore your score, they are an irrelevant number that only you can see ( not the lender who use their own scoring methods). invented by credit reference agencies to make you believe they matter so they can flog you some "credit score improvement" thingamajig.

What matters is how you manage your finances and affordability. As long as your/his credit file shows a history of paying things on time with no black marks (defaults, ccj etc) and whatever credit you have has a low utilisation percentage then all things are good.
All that matters then is affordability, can you afford the payments once all other bills are paid?

If it's a yes to both then it shouldn't be a problem.

kamelo · 20/05/2019 23:56

Although I missed the bit about being declined :(

Have you checked all three credit reference agencies for free?
(Noddle for TransUnion, MSE for Experian and Clearscore for Equifax)
See if there is anything negative in any of them like late payments or defaults?

RicStar · 21/05/2019 10:01

If the only wage earner in a family has a poor credit history then no it's not going to be possible is it.

Original poster

OnNaturesCourse · 21/05/2019 14:34

The thing is to keep our current car we need to re-finance it as it has a balloon payment coming up which we can't pay up front... Car is in my name, but our income is now only partner. They won't refinance it under his name, and mine is throwing up problems which I can only point to my lack of income. All our bills are in my name, and go through my account and are all paid on time. I have checked online and my credit score doesn't show late or missed payments, just my close to max credit card and current finance for car.

We need finance to keep our car, or to get a new one. I'm just at a loss of what to do. My partner is just non exsistsnt for credit, he's no credit cards now, not registered on election polls etc and has never had finance except for his phone contract.

OP posts:

Original poster

OnNaturesCourse · 21/05/2019 14:36

In short. Me, on my own, could afford the car payments with my child benefit etc but it would leave about 150 per month to live off - which is why I think it's failing. Its annoying you can't get a car in joint names.

OP posts:

soulrider · 21/05/2019 20:51

Your close to max credit card is likely to be part of the issue alongside the lack of income.

RedSkyLastNight · 21/05/2019 21:00

Why does your partner have no credit rating? Can you look to build it up? Otherwise it's looking like you can't actually afford a car on finance and you'll need to buy something cheap or
manage without.

Original poster

OnNaturesCourse · 21/05/2019 22:52

Yeh, I suspect that. We've paid half the credit card off today and I've shut down a unused overdraft account too.

Im just worried about this balloon payment that we need to refinance.

He's no credit rating as he's never had credit basically except phones etc.

OP posts:

DonnaDarko · 21/05/2019 22:56

This is a weird set up to. His name isn't on the account at all? Can you add him or at least encourage him to get a bank account. Not having a bank account will also adversely affect his credit, as far as I am aware.

Original poster

OnNaturesCourse · 22/05/2019 09:06

He has a account, and we have a joint account which was only acquired at the end of last year as I was trying to get the bills etc to come out of it.

We've had a lot of bother getting the joint account set up, bank error, which has meant we've kind of put it on the back burner. Definitely need to sort it though.

He uses his account for his wages, which he then divides up and sends to my spare account which we use as our expenses account.

When we moved in together I had already worked up good credit whereas he hadn't so it was easier for finance and bills etc to go in my name at the time...and it just kinda stayed that way.

OP posts:

nwybhs · 22/05/2019 09:08

Its unlikely anyone will give you credit with multiple declines showing on your record.

Tfoot75 · 22/05/2019 09:09

If he's never had any credit then his score should be perfect? Asaik it's not something you build up but something you take down by being late for payments etc.

Original poster

OnNaturesCourse · 22/05/2019 09:10

I have three declines in 12 months which is flagging up, two for a consolidation loan and one for car finance online. A couple of 'soft touch' checks have been done in the past 6 months too.

Just a bit of a nightmare that it's not household income that is tested

OP posts:

Petitprince · 22/05/2019 09:11

Could you get a cheap second hand car outright? Or take a break from having a car for a few months while you save up? Cars on finance are often a false economy.

Original poster

OnNaturesCourse · 22/05/2019 09:14

Unfortunately no as we have this balloon payment to somehow pay for. We could hand the car back but we are over the mileage allowance so we'd take a major fine for that. We always thought it wouldn't be a problem as we'd be trading the car in or be able to refinance the balloon payment to own the car outright.

OP posts:

RedSkyLastNight · 22/05/2019 09:54

If you check MSE there's some easy things you can do to build up a credit rating. IIRC getting on the electoral roll and applying for a credit card with a low credit limit (and one that has generous acceptance criteria) will help.
Have you even tried to apply for credit in your partner's name?

Have you had a good look at your finances/budget? It sounds like things are very tight financially and you don't want to tip the wrong way.

nwybhs · 22/05/2019 10:12

If he's never had any credit then his score should be perfect?

That's not how it works. A blank record isn't indicative of ability to repay.

Asaik it's not something you build up but something you take down by being late for payments etc.

You absolutely do have to build it up. That's how it works.

Petitprince · 22/05/2019 12:08

How much would the balloon payment be and how much is the fine for the mileage?

Raver84 · 22/05/2019 13:10

I don't think you can afford a car on finance right now. I'd probably pay the fine hand the vehicle back and buy a second had run around until your working again. Also child benefit isn't for car finance.

RicStar · 22/05/2019 17:31

I think you just need to get your dp on the electoral register and get him to apply. I thought he had poor credit but sounds like he just hasn't had much debt - that is probably ok. It will obviously depend on the affordability on his income.

DustyDoorframes · 22/05/2019 18:34

Have you tried having a chat with the garage? They'd rather have your money than not!

nwybhs · 22/05/2019 19:28

I thought he had poor credit but sounds like he just hasn't had much debt

It amounts to the same thing. The whole point of a credit record is that lenders can see you can and do pay back. It takes a while to build up to the point of getting car finance.

Original poster

OnNaturesCourse · 28/05/2019 12:33

Hey.

Sorry for the delayed response.

My DP had credit previously, ran it up and got it bother paying it back (basically he put his head in the sand and didn't ask for help, it was only up to 1000£ but missed repayments aren't good. It's paid off now but still not good. He missed the repayments as he didn't want me to know he'd ran debt up. )

We do have the finance to pay for a car, we currently pay 300£+ for our car monthly. Our balloon payment is 8500£ however and that is just not an amount we can cough up upfront.

We were hoping to trade the car in and get something bigger with a smaller monthly payment - we were thinking of a used approved second hand car kinda thing.

We are going to go into a few garages and see what they can do - I just don't want too many credit checks ran in ours names as that negatively effects our scores, right?

I've asked DP to register for the electoral roll, and we are in the process of switching some bills into his name. Hopefully getting a overdraft on the joint account too.

OP posts:

Oddbutnotodd · 29/05/2019 13:51

I think you need to rethink your finances in general. The balloon payment was always going to be there for the car. I would suggest you look for a cheap old car for the next year while you both get more financially stable and improve your credit rating. £300 monthly for a car is quite a lot on your income.

freshstartnewme · 29/05/2019 14:52

You have no job

You have been refused for finance 3 times over the past year

Your partner isn't able to finance a car due to being a credit risk.

We do have the finance to pay for a car, we currently pay 300£+ for our car monthly. Our balloon payment is 8500£ however and that is just not an amount we can cough up upfront.

You could have saved towards the balloon payment, if you genuinely have no spare cash and are spending over £300 a month on a car you are crazy.

You have about 1% chance of getting car finance.

You need to have a rethink OP.

Flip

1 2