Here's the problem. My GF's lease is up on her Honda Pilot in a couple of weeks. She's trying to buy it out, but her credit is in the crapper due to unforseen family issues that have come up over the last couple of years. She's all squared away and working and all now, but her credit score is in the 400's.

Anybody got any ideas or suggestions? If she can't find a solution, she has no car come the end of the month. Thanks in advance.

Jimmy V.

 

If she's leasing it they should let het walk into buying it with no problem; even with bad credit.

 

That's what we thought, but they won't deal with you unless your credit score is over 620. Complete bullshit considering her family has been buying cars from the same dealership since the early 80's.

 

Turn it in, go to jeep dealer buy a JK and
Have someone co-sign

Or just co-sign for the Honda

 

Co-signing can be a scary thing to do as now that person's future actions can affect your credit. Make sure that you plan on being with your GF for a long time because if you break up and she f**ks up her payments, that can kill your credit score.

Another option you might try is going to her bank and asking if there is a way for them to get her a loan. Not sure if she keeps money of any amount in the bank but sometimes banks are willing to lend to their customers if they have been long term customer. yes, the interest rate will be higher but with her credit score, she will only qualify for a high interest rate loan anyway.

If her bank can't help, there is always online places where you can get competing offers. Check out lendingtree dot com and you can request a quote for a car loan. Most of the lenders on sites like that are mostly reputable and you might be able to find someone willing to give her a loan despite her credit score. No guarantees but you might as well try all your options. Just make sure you research the offerer just as they will research your GF's credit. You don't want to agree to some funky terms with John Doe Bank and find out they are a loan shark! But as I said, most of the places on lending tree are reputable banks.

If she can find a loan through another place besides the car dealership, that would make the bargaining easier on the buyout price (assuming its not fixed). Anytime you go into a dealership with "cash", you should expect to get a lower price.

Not sure if any of this helps but there are places that will give loans even in this economy. I have an aunt that did one of those debt consolidation programs (which destroys your credit rating) and she was still able to get a car loan (albeit a high interest loan)...

 

Thanks a bunch! I didn't even think of Lending Tree.

My GF recently did a debt consolidation and that is what killed her score too. But she had been helping her parents pay their bills when her dad had a quadruple bypass a couple of years ago. He's self employed, so it was a bad situation for awhile.

She isn't concerned about paying high interest either.

Again, thanks.

 

Lease something again. You have a much better chance at getting approved for a lease that a loan with a low credit score.