Article by Individual Finance
The term ‘financing’ might sound a bit fancy, but it’s just another way of saying ‘loan’ (albeit a loan with a specific purpose). Basically, a loan taken out solely for purchasing one thing with no money left over afterwards is known as financing – for instance, borrowing money to pay for a car is ‘car financing’. In most cases, financing loans can be arranged through the people providing the service you’re paying for, although they merely act as brokers for specific lenders rather than lenders themselves; so using the same analogy, car dealers can generally offer finance to people buying cars from them, as do many home improvement firms.Of course, since financing is exactly the same as a loan, that means the same rules apply when you try to get it: you’ll be subject to a credit check, asked to fill in paperwork and generally means tested to ensure you can afford to pay the money back. That’s not so good if you’ve got bad credit, County Court Judgements (CCJs) or any other form of financial difficulties, since those will count against you in your application for bad credit financing. That isn’t to say you won’t be approved in some cases, because the lending options available may be flexible enough to offer higher rates of interest to compensate for your bad credit situation. However, you’re far more likely to be turned down using the limited finance options provided by the people you’re buying from (be it a car dealer, home improvement company or whoever), so it’s best to instead source your financing from another lender once you know what you’d like to buy.Thankfully, there are many lenders who specialise in financing for people with bad credit – some offer very specific loans for cars, while others will simply provide a Bad Credit Loan for the exact amount required. Not surprisingly though, these loans will usually have a significantly higher rate of interest so it’s unwise to just go with the first firm that’s willing to accept you. As with all Bad Credit Loans, shopping around is the key to finding the best rate – you can do this yourself or turn to a loan broker, who can do all the work in the fraction of the time it would take you. So long as you specify that you want the loan for financing purposes and can show what you’re looking to buy, finding the best rate for you shouldn’t take very long at all.In SummaryBad Credit Financing…
Can be hard to get if you try to get them from service providers like car dealershipsIs best sourced from an external lender before you try to buy whatever you’re afterWill generally have a higher interest rate than normal financing loansIsn’t impossible to get if you employ the services of a good loan brokerCopyright: Individual Finance, 2010
About the Author
Individual Finance has informative articles on a wide number of aspects relating to UK finance. It also keeps users up to date with the latest money-saving offers and vouchers through regular e-mail newsletters.
IF’s Martin Mathers is a professional journalist with 12 years of experience, covering everything from finance and business to movies, music and technology.