Can I get car finance if I've been refused before?

If you’ve had trouble getting car finance in the past, you might be put off applying again. But does being refused before mean you can’t qualify again in the future?

Welcome to Creditplus answers, a series where the finance experts at Creditplus answer all your questions on car finance applications, approvals and processes.

In this week’s blog, we tackle one of the questions that causes a lot of frustration for our customers, especially those who have been taking steps to repair a bad or poor credit rating. “Can I get car finance if I've been refused before?”

Creditplus is a broker, not a lender. Representative rate 23.9%.

The question: I’ve been refused car finance in the past. Will that affect my new application?

Being refused for any kind of finance product can feel like a kick in the teeth. Especially if you have the financials needed to pay off the cost of the product. One or two financial mistakes in your past can mean that companies don’t want to risk lending to you. Whether you have a poor or bad credit rating, or sometimes even a good credit rating, not being able to choose the finance product you desire can be a source of great frustration.

But does being refused for credit in the past mean that you won’t be allowed to apply again in the future? That’s not necessarily the case, and you might not even have needed to take any steps to improve your credit rating to qualify for a new product in the future.

Creditplus answers: Yes, you could get a car finance deal if you’ve been refused in the past

There may have been all sorts of reasons that a provider turned you down in the past. But Creditplus will only look at your current financial situation to see if you will be approved by one of our providers.

We will carry out a soft credit check on your file to see what your current situation is. That credit file will have a record of any previous finance issues, such as missed payments and defaults. But these will only be on the file for a set amount of time, often six years from the date of the issue. Once that date has passed, the issue will be cleared from your file. This will mean your credit file will be cleaner and your credit rating will be higher.

Even so, you might still have a few black marks on your credit file. Creditplus work with a number of specialist lenders who can help find a package for those with a bad credit rating. So if you’ve been refused car finance before, it might be because the broker you were working with doesn’t have a wide panel of different, specialist lenders, who could be able to assist you.

The good news is that, when you apply for car finance with Creditplus, you will be given a no-obligation quote on your car finance options. We will present all the different finance packages available to you so you can decide whether to proceed or not. Time will help your credit file, so you may decide to wait. If so, that’s no problem. We’ll be here ready whenever you are.

Top tips on refused car finance

If you do get refused car finance, then the first step is to find out exactly why. The provider may say the reasons behind their refusal. If they don’t, you should ask them. Either way, you should always check your credit file to see if there’s anything there causing issues.

You used to have to pay to take a look at your credit rating. Thankfully, times have changed and you can now view your credit report for free. Have a read through and make sure that there are no mistakes on the file. You’ll be surprised how often an incorrect default or missed payment can appear on there.

You can also take some steps to improve your traceability. This is one of the factors that goes into your credit rating. The easiest step is to add yourself to the electoral roll. This allows credit check companies to see your address history a lot easier. The more information they can gather on you, the more accurate your credit file.

Time is the great healer, so if you really can afford to delay getting a finance package until some of the big issues are cleared from your file, then that could be the right choice for you. Otherwise, your Creditplus customer advisor will be happy to talk you through your finance options and help find a suitable choice for you, even if you have been refused for car finance before.

Thanks for reading our Creditplus Answers blog. Find out more about your car finance options over on our main website, or work out how much you could borrow using our car finance calculator.