When you have good credit, you can walk into just about any bank or credit union, fill out an application for an auto loan, and be told exactly how large of a loan you will be allowed.

When you do not have good credit, you can’t. Why is that?

Higher risk (i.e. Bad Credit) loans have a completely different underwriting process than prime auto loans. These are the factors that are considered when a lender decides whether or not to give you a bad credit auto loan:

1. Monthly Budget

The lender considers your provable income, factors in your current debt, and looks at the size of previous car payments that you have paid successfully. Next the underwriter, or the underwriter’s computer program, will come up with an acceptable monthly payment for you.

2. Vehicle

Higher risk lenders put certain requirements on the vehicles they are willing to lend money on. For example: A lender may say that the vehicle must be under 60,000 miles and a 2006 or newer.  Additionally, the exact Mileage, Year, Make, and Model will affect the term and the interest rate of the loan. All of those things affect how large the loan can be.

3. Down Payment

Lenders look at down payment as the customer’s commitment to the loan. If a car buyer puts $10,000 down on a $40,000 car, the loan is much more attractive to the lender than a person who puts $0 down on a $20,000 car. The payment may be bigger, but the risk is less.

Hopefully, the information provided above helps you understand the bad credit auto loan approval process.  If you have any other questions, you can always call us or check out our Frequently Asked Questions page.

Every customer is different. We are often able to help people secure auto loans with little or nothing down. Under our Guaranteed Credit Approval program, the minimum down payment required is 10%, and depending on the exact vehicle you buy it could take more than that down to make the auto loan work.

We want to help you buy a car with as little down as possible. We even have loan programs that often allow us to offer auto loans for people with open bankruptcieswithout requiring a down payment. Sometimes, the lowest down payment options are not on a vehicle that would be your first choice. As the buyer, you have to decide what your priorities are. Is it to buy your dream car, no matter what? Is it to buy a reliable vehicle with not very much money down and a low monthly payment?

The answer to those questions will help determine the best course of action for you.

Our office is located at:

We have our own building in the Olympia Auto Mall. We ONLY help our clients through appointments. We get very busy, so it is important that you call us at (360)412-4120 to set up an appointment, or email us at team@waautocredit.com

There are many variables that affect your auto loan interest rate. The Year, Make and Model of the vehicle you buy can affect the interest rate. The term of the loan can affect the interest rate of your auto loan. The amount of money you decide to use as a down payment can affect your interest rate. In addition, auto loan interest rates change every day. Lenders are constantly changing their guidelines to adapt to the current economic conditions their customers face.

Our dealers have many different makes and models to choose from. Over the years, we have helped people buy Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, Lincoln, Mazda, Volvo, Honda, Subaru, Toyota, Hummer, Cadillac, Hyundai, Kia, Scion, and more.

The most important thing to remember is that we will show you all that you qualify for. Why waste a month looking for the perfect 7-series BMW, or Crew Cab Diesel if you cannot buy it? We help you save time and frustration.

The vast majority of lenders that will do bad credit car loans do not do private party car loans or “open check” auto loans or refinance auto loans. The auto dealer partners of Washington Auto Credit have legal agreements with auto finance lenders so that the loans found for you are only good to buy a car at one of our affiliated dealerships. WashingtonAutoCredit.com’s staff will work with you to make sure you are getting a good vehicle and a good loan, so that you can build your credit. Bad credit car loans are controlled by the lender to make sure you are set up for success, not failure.

If you are ONLY interested in private party auto loans, we recommend you other loan sites.

We offer Guaranteed Credit Approval.

We can help you get approved for an auto loan as long as you are willing to come meet with us in person. The only way to find out exactly what kind of car loan you qualify for is to apply. However, if you call us at 360-412-4120 we would be more than happy to address any questions/concerns you might have. WA Auto Credit works to help people with all credit types obtain auto loans. Many of our customers have had Bankruptcy, Repossession, Divorce, First Time Buyer, Charge-Offs, Collections, and Judgments. Apply Today! We will do everything in our power to help you start driving your new car ASAP!

In the rare event that we cannot help you secure a car loan that meets your needs, your loan request will be automatically forwarded to one of our affiliate dealers who may be able to better serve you.

Yes and No. We work with a national network of dealers. In fact, if applied at WA Auto Credit and you are from somewhere else in the country, our site will automatically submit your application to the affiliate dealer network.

Additionally, if you do not like the loan options we give you, you can always ask for a second opinion and we can have an affiliate dealer review your application. The affiliate dealers change all the time, and we do not provide clients with a list of dealers. You only know who the other dealers are when they contact you.

WA Auto Credit’s office is in Olympia, WA. For our credit team to help you directly, you would need to come to our office in Olympia, WA and buy your car from one of our local partner dealers. If you are not willing to come to Olympia and buy your car through us, please do not apply at WashingtonAutoCredit.com. We recommend you apply here for auto loans in other parts of the country.

Negative equity is one of the toughest challenges to overcome when buying a new car. However, if you know what you are doing, there are a few different ways to overcome negative equity on your trade-in.

Your Credit Score Matters

The higher your credit rating, the more negative equity you will be able to roll over onto your new auto loan. If you do not have a good credit rating, there is a good chance that you will not be able to roll over much/any negative equity onto your new car loan.

Cash Down Payment is KING

If you owe $20,000 on a car that has a REAL trade-in value of $15,000, that $5,000 negative equity will need to be dealt with, one way or another. If you put $5,000 cash down, your NET down payment is $0. If you put $10,000 down, your net down payment is $5,000.  In short, the more money you put down, the easier it is to trade out of your negative equity.

Rebates Help

Money that the new car factory is willing to give you in the form of rebates can count towards your down payment. The one catch here is that new cars are usually more money, so:

Your Car Payment Will Probably Increase

There are 2 factors at play here. If you buy brand new, you will probably be spending more money than if you bought used. Also, to trade out of negative equity (without putting a lot of cash down) you have to buy an expensive vehicle so that your Loan-to-Value ratio is inline.

How Loan-to-Value Ratios Work with Car Loans

One other option: Don’t Trade Your Car In

Everyone knows that you can get more money selling your car on CraigsList than you can trading it in to a dealer. If your credit will allow you to buy a car without trading in, perhaps it is in your best interest to buy your new car, then sell your old car yourself to get the most money for it. Selling your car for what you owe on it is a much better option than rolling over $3,000 negative equity. There is, of course, a downside. If you do not sell your other car, you will have two car payments.

Sound familiar? Maybe not to you, but we hear it often. At WA Auto Credit, we help people with bad credit get approved for an auto loan to buy a car through one of our auto dealers. Obviously, if you have good credit you can pretty much buy whatever you want. However, if you have bad credit, your options are usually a little limited by the auto lender. Read More…

Studies have show that the more references that a borrower has, the better credit risk the borrower is. Why? There are actually several reasons, but the most obvious is collect-ability.

Why do references make my loan more collectible?

At the risk of answering a question with a question, what do you think happens when you are late for an auto loan payment? First the lender calls you. Then they start calling the friends and family that you list on your reference list. Then, when the loan is a couple months late, they start driving by your house, and your references houses looking for your/their car so they can repossess it. So the more people on your reference list, the more places they can look. An applicant with good credit can usually get away with 2 references, and only name and phone number for each reference. Poor credit lenders commonly ask for 6-10 references complete with physical address and phone number.

Another reason that people with references pay their auto loans better include that they might care more what their friends and family think about their credit. Think about it, if you KNOW that your family will be called by the lender if you are late with your payments, you would probably be more motivated to keep your payments current, right?

All of our customers are approved for an auto loan, even with bad credit. We deal with a few select local dealers, and all transactions are processed directly through WA Auto Credit in our Olympia office. Just like any other loan, auto loans have stipulations and other requirements set by the lender.

The auto loan stipulations usually requested by a lender could include: acceptable proof of income, proof of residence, proof of bank account, proof of phone, a minimum number of personal references, or something else not mentioned.

In addition to stipulations set forth by the auto lender, the lender also put restrictions on the auto loan which could include: year of vehicle, miles on vehicle, loan-to-value ratio, make or model of vehicle, maximum monthly payment, required down payment, and so on.

Basically, it is our job to help balance all of the lender requirements and stipulations on your loan and help you pick out a vehicle that meets the lender guidelines. The loans we help you get will show up on your credit report and help you earn a positive credit rating with on time payments. Any of our approval specialists can help get you started and discuss your approval requirements so that you can start driving your new car right away. Simply start the application process by filling out the form at the top of this page, or call us at 253-353-2769 we can help you over the phone with you.

Unless you have been trapped in a bomb shelter for the past year and a half, you have probably noticed all the lenders that have been forced to merge with other lenders, or go out of business completely. This was not a phenomenon exclusive to the mortgage industry. The auto finance industry was hit just as hard. To make it worse, cars almost never go up in value over the long run, and houses usually do go up in value…eventually.

Why did the lenders get in trouble?

The simple answer here is they lent too much money too easily. If a car is worth $10,000 an auto lender decides how much they are willing to lend on that vehicle based on the strength of the applicant. For one person, the bank might lend $5,000 (requiring half down); for another person, the auto lender may be willing to lend up to $15,000 (150% loan to value) which may be because of tax, negative equity in a trade-in, or because the customer wanted to include an extended warranty or GAP coverage on the loan. What happened in the home loan and auto loan industries was almost identical. The lenders decided to lend too much money to too many people that they shouldn’t have.

The sad thing is that it is not that individual lender’s fault. Having been in the auto industry for the better part of a decade, I can say that if one lender did not give a consumer enough loan, another one was willing to. The lenders were required (by whomever they reported to) to originate a certain number of loans each month. So, when it got down to the end of the month and they were behind goal, they lent more freely to secure more loan originations.

What does that have to do with proving income?

Plenty. When the lenders were being too agressive in loan to value, they were also being very lax in requiring proof of income. Guess which loans have the highest default rates in both auto loans and home loans…really, guess. You would be right if you said the loans where people did not have to prove their income. If you have PERFECT CREDIT (750+ scores, and had significant loans before) you are probably not going to have to prove your income for an auto loan, unless you are buying something that requires a very high monthly payment. However, the people with MEDIOCRE credit, (620-700) will almost always need to prove their income. Below that? Count on showing proof of income. You might as well bring your pay stubs to the dealer with you.

What if I am self employed or have tough to prove income?

We can help. Most self employed people tend to write off as much income as possible to avoid paying Uncle Sam. That is between you, your accountant, and the IRS. We do not car about it until it is time to prove income. At WashingtonAutoCredit.com, we have lenders that will look at your bank statements and add up your monthly deposits to prove income. If your credit is not great, it may be the only way to prove your income.

What if I do not have a bank account?

Get one. If you show 2 months of decent deposits, we can use that as proof of income. If you cannot get a bank account, or just do not want to get one try to get us cancelled check copies from the people that pay you every month. If you do not get paid with checks (only cash) we have another option to help. You will need to put a very sizable down payment on a vehicle. Each one of the vehicles in stock will require a different down payment, so the best way to find out is to call us and setup an appointment after you have applied for an auto loan at WashingtonAutoCredit.com.

Question: “I bought a car the other day, and I am having second thoughts. I signed the contract, but want to get out of it. Can I?”

Answer: In the State of Washington, and most other states, there is no “Cooling Off” Period for buyers that encounter “Buyer’s Remorse”. If someone comes to your house to sell you a vacuum or something like that, you usually have a three day window to rescind the contract. However, on a motor vehicle purchase at a dealership, you do not have that choice.

There are a couple ways to get out of the vehicle though.

1. Trade the car in. While you will not get what you paid, sometimes it is the only way out of a car you do not want. It will give you the chance to buy a car you like better, and the dealer you bought the car from will probably give you more than any other dealer because they will not need to inspect the car as thoroughly if you just bought it.

2. The dealer can be nice, and let you out of the contract. This does not happen very often. Sometimes under extenuating circumstances, like death or illness. It needs to happen very fast, because once the new loan is funded by the lender: YOU ARE DONE. The dealer most likely will not help.

3. The dealer cannot get the loan financed. If the dealer cannot get the loan financed as contracted, and needs to have you resign the contract at different numbers and/or come up with more down payment, you do not have to sign the new contract and are able to “unwind” the car deal. Congrats, you have bad credit and they could not get you financed. That is probably the only time someone is happy about having bad credit. (If you lied about anything on your application and that is the reason for not being able to get financed, the dealer may decide to keep your down payment and/or trade. Do not lie on a credit application. It is not worth it.)

4. The dealer may let you out of that car deal if you agree to buy another car. Typically, the dealer will make you buy the second car before they let you out of the first contract. You get a different car, and the dealer gets to keep the customer. This is usually the best solution because it is Win-Win for both the dealer and the customer.

Can I get out of my contract to buy a car?