subject: Steps to take before availing a Car Finance [print this page] Steps to take before availing a Car Finance
There is hardly any person today who pays all the money upfront towards the car price. Most of them take to the car finance route to own or possess the car of their dreams. In simple terms, the car finance is a loan taken to buy the car for which you have to pay some monthly charge, called the interest rate. Some of the basic steps which you can follow to avail of this facility are the following:
1. Check for the options that you have for the financing: There are a number of different providers of this service but this does not mean that you can go to any of these and say that the deal is done. It is better to have a look at what the different providers are offering you. These providers could be the dealerships, credit unions or banks or even take the second mortgage route of financing. It is good to understand when to make use of their respective services.
The dealerships provide the most convenient way of car finance. They might charge a bit higher interest rate but you can get the loan when you cannot get the same from the other sources. Also, you can even avail of the same when the banks are closed. The credit union or the bank can also provide the car loan but they look into the history of the credit worthiness of the buyer and require quite a bit of documentation to do. The second mortgage route shall be tread with due care since if you fail to make the payment once, you risk losing the car as well as your home.
2. What is the credit score that you have: This is a part which is looked into by any organization which is providing you the credit. If you have a negative credit score, then you might be denied the loan or charged a higher interest rate for it. If you think that you have a bad score, you can make efforts to convert it into a good one.
3. Make a choice between the special offers of rebates or interest rate incentives: The dealers do bring out advertisements of the rebates when some of their models are not selling. This does mean that you get these cars at low prices. However, to get the low interest rates, it is desirable that you have a good credit score or credit rating.
4. Down payment and repayment: Some of the financers might require you to make a minimum down payment of a lump sum amount, rather than opting for the full financing option.
5. The Car finance choice shall not be a hurried decision since you are going to pay fix monthly installments and if you do not make a right choice at the time of getting the loan, you might end up paying more for the next couple of years. So, take your time, check with the different options and then take a decision on any one of these.
