Bad Credit Score Loans

When you swipe a Credit card or take out a loan to make a purchase, you probably don’t think of the experience as a test of your integrity or reliability. You’re more interested in how you’ll feel behind the wheel of your new car, walking through your new home’s kitchen, or sitting in front of your new flat-screen TV. But your creditors don’t care about how your purchasing habits improve your happiness or quality of life. They just want to recover the money they lent you with interest.

If you have bad credit and looking for a car loan. Car Loans Of America is here to help with bad credit car loans in Temecula California and surrounding areas. The risk that you won’t repay your loans is known as your credit risk. For obvious reasons, lenders don’t like borrowers with elevated credit risk. With less than perfect credit, you may have difficulty obtaining favorable terms on an unsecured personal loan – or finding a lender willing to issue an unsecured loan to you at all.

Three-Digit Credit Scores

To assess your credit risk, lenders rely on three-digit credit scores. Your credit score (which you can obtain on paid sites such as MyScore [a Money Crashers partner] or other sources listed below) is based on the information contained in your credit report, a comprehensive look at your recent financial history. Credit reports include data on past loan payments (including late or delinquent payments), bankruptcies, foreclosures, credit utilization, credit applications, and more.

In the United States, most consumer credit reports are issued by the three major credit reporting bureaus:

Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. Keep in mind that although your credit score is derived from the information in your credit report and history, they are two separate things. Most credit scores follow a scale ranging from 300 (riskiest) to 850 (least risky), though there are exceptions. The most popular methodology was devised by FICO – you’ve probably heard reference to your “FICO score,” though it’s important to remember that the FICO methodology can be used to interpret credit reports from any of the three major bureaus. Lenders often segment score ranges into quality classifications, such as “A,” “B,” and “C,” or draw a line separating “prime” and “subprime” borrowers at a particular score – usually between 600 and 650, depending on the lender.

Your Credit Score

Since each bureau’s report contains slightly different information at any given time, a credit score based on your Experian report, for example, is likely to vary a bit from the score based on your Equifax report. That said, all three bureaus are considered reliable sources of credit-related information. Your credit score (and by extension your overall credit profile) doesn’t just affect your finances. Your credit influences many aspects of your personal and public life, including plenty that don’t involve borrowing.

Get to know your credit situation

You should expect to get a credit check whenever you apply for a car loan. Reputable lenders will ask for your credit history before they approve auto financing to find out what kind of borrower you are. If you have a low credit score (anything below 620), you’ll probably have a hard time getting approved for a loan.

Instead of getting surprised by a loan application rejection, you should find out what your credit situation is before you apply. You can get a free copy of your credit report from Equifax and TransUnion. All you have to do is send in some basic information, and a report will be mailed to you in a few weeks. It’s a good idea to check your credit report with both bureaus at least once a year.

Your Credit Report

While credit bureaus aren’t upfront about the exact algorithm they use, your payment history, used vs available credit, credit history, diversity and credit inquiries (when your credit is checked by a lender) all play a part in determining your score.

Going through your report will not only give you a good idea of the overall health of your credit, but it will alert you to spending habits that are hurting your score. After all, there are a lot of credit misconceptions out there like the idea that carrying a high balance on your credit card is a good thing or that everyone starts with good credit.

The Costs of Bad Credit

Getting Approved for a Loan Can Be Difficult

Your credit score directly affects your likelihood of securing approval for a new loan or credit application. The lower your score, the less likely you are to find a willing lender. Even If you’re close to your lender’s prime-subprime or quality level cutoffs, many lenders simply don’t make loans to subprime borrowers or those who fall below a particular quality level. Though this can feel like the lender is being capricious, many borrowers can be affected by this in real ways. Practically speaking, a credit score of 698 isn’t much different from a credit score of 702 – but if 700 is an important level, those four points can make all the difference.

Higher Rates and More Restrictive Terms on Approved Loans

Getting approved for a loan counts as a victory. But if your loan comes with an unfavorable interest rate or restrictive terms, it could soon feel like a hollow one. Every lender is different, and most are cagey due to the proprietary nature of internal borrower evaluations. But most are upfront about the fact that lower credit scores mean higher interest rates. A higher credit score may help you qualify for better mortgage interest rates…and some lenders may lower their down payment requirements for a new home loan.

The Interest Rates

The impact of higher rates and more restrictive terms can be enormous. For instance, if you have a questionable credit score, your mortgage lender is likely to require a down payment of 15 or 20% – $45,000 or $50,000 on a $300,000 home. A less risky borrower could get away with putting 5% down on the same home just $15,000. Likewise, an interest rate difference of a single percentage point can add tens of thousands of dollars to the total cost of a mortgage, depending on how the loan is structured. And though the numbers aren’t quite as large, the same principle applies to auto loans, home improvement loans, personal loans, and credit cards.

Higher Insurance Premiums

According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, 95% of auto insurers and 85% of homeowners insurers factor credit into their policy decisions in states that don’t explicitly forbid this practice. Timely payment histories and outstanding debt levels are particularly important to insurers. If you don’t stack up well on these metrics, you’re likely to pay higher premiums than someone with a better credit on an otherwise identical policy.

Potential Strain on Personal Relationships

Your credit score and overall credit profile can put tremendous strain on your personal life, including the relationships that matter most to you. Though your credit profile doesn’t merge with your spouse’s after marriage, his or her credit can affect your ability to qualify for or afford new credit vehicles, such as auto or home loans, that you’re applying for together. For instance, say you have excellent credit and your spouses are just so-so. When you apply for a mortgage, the lender looks at both profiles and assesses your household’s overall credit risk. Even if your risk is low enough to meet the lender’s qualification standards, you’re likely to pay a higher interest rate or larger down payment together than you would when it just you applying for the loan.

Even worse, if your spouse can’t qualify for a new credit card or loan on his or her own, he or she could apply for a joint card or loan using your Social Security number and other information that’s commonly shared between spouses. If your spouse subsequently falls behind on payments, both of your credit profiles suffer the consequences. Situations like these can lead to tension and acrimony. In the worst case, they can threaten a relationship’s long-term viability.

Options & Tips for Tracking Your Credit Score

Happily, your credit score isn’t a black box. There are innumerable tools available for tracking it regularly. Most live online, accessible with just a few clicks. Credit tracking options typically fall into the following categories.

Credit Cards with Credit Tracking Features

It’s increasingly easy to find credit cards that periodically provide you with your credit score or report. Some issuers attach these features to specific cards, while others offer the same features across an entire family of cards.

Examples include:

• If you’re a Discover cardholder, you’re eligible to receive a FICO score using information from your TransUnion report. You get a fresh score with every monthly statement, allowing you to track how your credit changes over time. Discover also offers a separate feature called Credit ScoreTracker. It provides round-the-clock access to Experian credit reports and scores, customized email alerts when scores change, and information about how various factors affect credit. Unlike monthly FICO scores with statements, this feature isn’t available with every Discover card.
• If you have a Barclaycard, you can see your FICO score for free at any time from your account dashboard. This score also uses your TransUnion report.
• Capital One. Capital One’s Credit Tracker is a free tool available to all Capital One cardholders, save for Spark customers. It displays your TransUnion credit score, provides alerts if the information in your TransUnion report changes, breaks down and “grades” the factors influencing your credit score (such as credit utilization), and includes a credit simulator that shows how various hypothetical actions could affect your score.

The fact that more and more credit card companies are offering credit reports, scores, and tracking tools is a great win for consumers. On the other hand, these tools do require you to apply for a credit card. If you don’t already have good credit, you’re less likely to be approved. And even if you are approved, you’re liable for any periodic card fees or interest on unpaid balances. In other words, these ostensibly free tools aren’t necessarily free.

Credit Report and Score Websites

Federal law entitles you to one free credit report (though not score) per year. This would be from each of the three major credit reporting bureaus. These reports are available at AnnualCreditReport.com. While it’s nice to be able to source a free credit report from these reputable providers, a handful of credit reports per year isn’t enough to provide a comprehensive, up-to-date picture of your credit. This is particularly true if you’re trying to build credit ahead of applying for a major loan, such as an auto loan or mortgage, and want to see how your credit changes from month to month, week to week, or even day today.

Other sites, such as Credit Karma, specialize in providing free credit scores. Credit Karma relies on TransUnion and Equifax to provide a weekly VantageScore (a type of comprehensive credit score. There are also two different types of scores used primarily by auto and home insurance companies. Though Credit Karma has some onsite tracking tools, it’s not ideal. This is true if you want to dig down into your credit profile. It also doesn’t offer access to Experian scores or reports.

Comprehensive Credit Tracking Tools

Another option is to use comprehensive credit tracking services like MyScore. MyScore bills itself as an “all-in-one” approach that combines credit scores and reports from all three major credit reporting bureaus. The service has three reasonably priced plans, each of which has its own set of useful features.

It comes with a seven-day free trial during which you can access everything the plan has to offer:

Basic Credit Membership. Includes daily monitoring for your Experian and Equifax scores and reports, and TransUnion scores and reports for an additional $6.95. For all three reports, you get an email within 24 hours of any important changes that could affect your score. If any suspicious activity appears on your report, you’re entitled to a free fraud consultation. This is to determine how best to respond. Membership also comes with enrollment in My-Rewards, a rewards program that includes 24/7 roadside assistance, access to grocery and shopping coupons, unlimited long-distance calling cards, discounted magazine subscriptions, and PC and tech support.

Premium Credit Membership. Includes unlimited access to your TransUnion scores and reports, plus daily monitoring of your Experian and Equifax scores and reports. All other features, including My-Rewards, are identical to Basic Membership. Ultimate Credit Membership. Includes unlimited access to all three bureaus’ scores and reports. All other features, including My-Rewards, are identical to lower membership tiers.

Conclusion

It’s very hard to overstate the importance of your credit. It’s not the end of the world if your credit score isn’t exactly where you want it to be! With such an incredible range of online credit-tracking resources, it’s easy to monitor your credit. You’ll immediately learn how to improve it in doing so. Tracking your credit is also a great way to boost your financial self-confidence. Every incremental credit score improvement due to a timely payment/reduction in credit utilization is cause for celebration. Who knew tracking your credit could be so fun? This article is brought to you by https://www.carloansofamerica.com/. Learn more at https://www.thebalance.com/car-loans-4073341

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