It is estimated that over 50% of Americans between the age of twenty and fifty do not qualify for Prime Auto Finance from traditional lending sources such as local banks, credit unions, and captive finance companies. These finance sources traditionally lend to consumers with credit bureau scores above 620. Consumers that fall in the score range below 620 have to utilize Secondary Auto Finance sources for their automotive credit needs.
Secondary Auto Finance sources are not as easy to find for the consumer. Most do not have buildings in your neighborhood like banks and credit unions. Most, in fact, do not lend money directly to consumers, they only offer financing through their network of dealers. It is important that people that have poor credit and need a secondary auto finance lender; find the right dealer the first time.
It is also estimated that over 50% of American franchised dealers do not the secondary auto finance sources in place to cover the full range of credit scores. So if you have a low credit score and blindly walk into an automobile dealership and apply for financing you could do more damage than good.
Dealers that do not have the people, process, lenders, inventory, and technology in place to cater to secondary auto finance consumers will often send the applicants credit application to their full spectrum of prime lending sources, even though there is no chance that they will offer the consumer financing. When this happens the applicants credit score may be lowered for a short time due to the influx of credit inquiries.
So if you are in need of secondary auto finance or a and decide to visit a dealership make sure you ask if they have the proper lending sources in place. On the other had you could use a car buying service like Auto Credit Express.
Auto Credit Express has a network of dealers across the United States and Canada. Each of the dealers within their network has the people, process, lenders, inventory, and technology to handle nearly every credit situation.