Car lease - bad credit rating, high salary

[Habbs]

My partner earns £60k a year, and we have a good amount of spare income a month. He had some bad debts when he was younger, he still has these and is paying them off but before he was on a good salary they had defaulted and he was on a debt plan for them many moons ago. He has one issue on his credit score regarding a next store card, that he can't locate the details for but owes on it, so I assume that may still be in default. Obviously this makes it hard to get approved for stuff, we've applied for a car lease in his name and I'm just wondering what the chances are of getting accepted for something if you have a high salary and good spare income, but a bad credit rating?

Depends how bad. If your partner has been paying things regularly for at least a year you can normally get some credit but there are extra fees and the interest is very high so you’re paying twice as much.

Much better to swallow your pride and buy an older car outright for now. When you and he have paid off the debts maybe a new car in credit will make sense.