Bad Credit
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| Auto Lender | Min. Credit Score | Min. Down Pyment | Co Signer Required | Min. Income | Max Vehicle Miles | Apply |
| #1 Credit Acceptance Corp | 0 | $500 | No | $800 | Any | Below |
| #2 Drive Time | 0 | Varies | No | $1,200 | Any | Below |
| #3 United Auto Credit | 0 | $500 or 10% | No | $2,200 | Any | Below |
| #4 Regional Acceptance | 0 | $500- or 10% | No | $1,900 | 95,000 | Below |
| #5 Drive Financial | 0 | $0- $1500 | No | $1500 | 80,000 | Below |
| #6 Consumer Portfolio Services | 0 | $500- 10% | No | $1400 | 99,999 | Below |
| #7 Westlake | 0 | Varies | No | $2200 | 80,000 | Below |
Lender terms and guidelines may change please read disclaimer.
#1 Credit
Acceptance Corp
Positives:
Credit Acceptance Corp approves all credit! They guarantee credit approval. This is the only lender that I work with that will never turn anyone down based on past credit.
Of course, there are different levels of approvals, with some approvals being more flexible and there being a lot of options...
They finance any age vehicle with any miles and there minimum down payment requirement is only $500. Keep in mind, although everyone is approved and qualifies for only the $500 down payment, your vehicle options may be limited.
Negatives:
They don't lend direct to the consumer. That's okay though, because you'll need to work with a loan specialist that is familiar with their program in order to structure the loan.
To find loan specialists in your local area that may work with Credit Acceptance Corp and/or other similar lenders apply here: Instant Auto Financing
#2 DriveTime
Positives:
DriveTime is the lender and the dealer. They have very flexible terms and a great selection of vehicles.
They were my largest competitor when I worked in Austin, TX, because of the flexibility of their auto loan program.
If you don't get approved to buy a car at DriveTime, then it's probably something other than your credit holding you back.
They have over 100 dealerships nationwide.
Negatives:
Not many to speak of. The only sort of negative that comes to mind, is that the loan approval is only good at a DriveTime dealership and they may not have a dealership in your area.
You can apply for your DriveTime auto loan approval here:
Bad credit, no credit, no problem.
Apply online; it takes 2 minutes.
#3 United
Auto Credit Corp
Positives:
They loan money to a very wide range of credit customers and loan to customers with open bankruptcies. So if your bankruptcy is not discharged, then they are a great source for a loan.
Their down payment requirements are minimal and they will also loan on older vehicles with high miles (if that's what you are wanting to buy).
They have a first time buyer program available that's especially good for customers with no credit and some negative accounts, like medical collections, cell phone collections, etc.
United Auto Credit Corp. will also accept trade equity if you have no cash to put down.
Negatives:
They will only finance wholesale book value plus tax, title, license and warranty. This actually isn't terrible, but with a real small down payment it could limit your vehicle options.
They also have a fixed interest rate, meaning all customers pay the same interest rate.
They also do not lend direct to customers. To find loan specialists in your local area that may work United Auto Credit Corp and/or other similar lenders apply here: Bad Credit, No Credit? Need an Auto Loan???
#4 Regional
Acceptance Corp
Positives:
Program is very similar to United Auto Credit Corp, but they do lend a higher percentage. This is very beneficial if you have limited money down.
They have varying interest rates, which means better rates for higher tier customers.
Negatives:
They don't buy as deep as United Auto Credit Corp. They still will approve a lot of customers with bad credit, but want some positive credit history.
Even with slightly more strict requirements it's still fairly easy to get approved...
They also do not lend direct to the customer, so you'd have to find loan specialists in your local area that may work with them and/or other similar lenders here: Bad Credit Car Loans!
#5 Drive Financial,
#6 Consumer Portfolio Services,
#7 Westlake Financial Services
As for Drive Financial, Consumer Portfolio Services and Westlake, they all offer niche programs that may work very well for your credit situation.
For instance, Drive Financial will consider auto loans to applicants with currently open foreclosures.
Consumer Portfolio Services advertises for foreclosure customers and considers that one of their key niches.
Although, I use each one of these lenders at my dealership, they are not my top bad credit auto lenders, but each certainly serves their purpose and may offer better approvals than the four mentioned above.
To find loan specialists in your local area that may work with these and/or similar bad credit auto lenders apply here: Bad Credit Car Loans!
3 Key Factors All
Bad Credit Auto Lenders Consider
There are three key factors that bad credit auto lenders look at when determining whether or not to approve an auto loan and if they do approve it, what rate and terms they will allow.
Credit score does not play a role in these key factors, because truly bad credit auto lenders don't care if you have a 420 credit score or a 720 credit score.
even take into consideration.
The only time credit score comes into play is with non-prime and prime auto loans, which I discuss on other pages. Here we are discussing sub-prime auto loans.
The top 3 key factors are:
- Ability
A bad credit auto lender is going to look at your ability to repay the loan they are going to give you.
- Do you have an income?
- Is it a steady income?
- Is it provable income?
- Can you afford the payments?
Assuming all else is in line, one of the main keys here is whether or not you can afford the monthly payments.
Unfortunately, this is not a decision left up to the customer...The lender will decide what they think you can afford using past experience and a little math to determine your maximum allowable monthly payments.
I work with auto lenders that will allow up to 25% payment to income (PTI), but most only allow between 12 - 16%.
Payment to income is simply your expected monthly car payments divided by your gross (before taxes) monthly income.
For instance, if you make $2,000 a month and the lender is allowing your max PTI to be 15%, then the maximum payment the lender would allow you to have is $300 a month.
- Stability
Bad credit auto lenders are looking for two forms of stability here:
- Employment stability
and - Residence stability
The more a customer bounces job to job, city to city and/or state to state, then the higher the risk they present to the lender.
If a customer bounces job to job, they are seen as a higher risk to not be able to make their payments month in and month out.
They also don't want to give a customer a loan in Los Angeles and then have to hunt the car down in Pittsburgh if they stop making payments. Again, higher risk.
- Employment stability
- Willingness To Pay
Of course, they could just take the customers word for, but unfortunately, we don't live in the "your handshake is as good as a signed contract" society anymore.
So what are they going to look at to determine if your intentions are to pay the loan?
Your past credit history...This has nothing to do with credit score, but your actual payment history itself.
Do you have 10 collection accounts from prior lenders that never had one payment made?
Is your credit a little hit and miss? Paid some some months and others other months?
Or maybe had a major medical emergency that took your credit down hard?
It's amazing what a lender can learn from a customers credit application and credit report. I can look at I'll say 90+% of credit applications and tell if someone:
- Spent time in jail
- Has an addiction
- Has a gambling problem
- Had a bad divorce
- Had a major medical issue, etc.
and it usually only takes 30-45 seconds.
To Sum This Up
These are the main factors that bad credit auto lenders want to know about you as a person. In addition to these factors, they'll want to make sure the loan is structured right and that the vehicle (age/miles) meets their guidelines.
Don't worry though, bad credit loan specialists, like myself, will handle that part and the three factors above are usually reviewed, scored and a decision is given quickly.
In fact, some bad credit auto lenders have the whole process automated and you'll get a decision in a matter of seconds. To see what you will qualify for, simply fill out this 60 second, no obligation application: Instant Auto Financing
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