| As some of us have unfortunately learned the hard | | | | should expect to have a down payment anywhere |
| way, having a bad credit score can really make some | | | | from 15% all the way up to %50 of the price of the |
| things hard or nearly impossible. Some of these include | | | | car that you're looking to buy. This could dramatically |
| getting a personal loan, securing a decent mortgage, | | | | change what type of car you can drive off the lot |
| getting approved for a cell phone plan and what I'd like | | | | with, so be sure to have it in mind as you begin |
| to talk about in this particular article, getting a decent | | | | shopping around. |
| auto loan. | | | | The second thing is that your interest rate (or APR) is |
| Getting an auto loan with bad credit is nothing new and | | | | going to be higher than a normal loan as well. This |
| is actually probably much more common than you | | | | should come as no surprise as I said; you carry much |
| would think (lots of Americans have bad credit | | | | more liability to the lender than a normal person with |
| problems). But, before you go try to secure one there | | | | good credit. Where you can now find a loan with 0% |
| are a few things that you should probably prepare | | | | APR (interest rate over the length of your loan) if you |
| yourself for as you begin your search. | | | | have great credit, you will be more likely to see an |
| The first thing that you should realize is that many bad | | | | APR more in the range of 5% to 15%. |
| credit auto loans are going to require much more of an | | | | Finally, the amortization schedule, or length of your loan, |
| upfront down payment than you would ever see with | | | | will most likely be substantially shorter now that you |
| a normal loan. This is because the lender needs to | | | | have bad credit, so this will also make your payments |
| minimize your risk as much as possible so the more | | | | higher, too. Where a normal auto loan will give you |
| that you can contribute, the better they feel about | | | | payment options up to sometimes 5 years, you'll rarely |
| loaning you the rest of the money that you need. You | | | | see a bad credit auto loan for longer than 2-4 years. |