Credit history..

[RooRoo]

I'm thinking of getting a bike on finance as its the only way I can find it, although may go with a loan, but for either of these they do a credit check on me or somehting, I'd need to take up more hours at work to afford this, but before I do so I'd need to be sure that they will approve me for the credit check so I can get a loan/finance, is there anyway I can find out if I will be approved before actually buying the bike?

[Demonic69]

Call your bank and ask them
They can approve you there and then.
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[Adam_P]

As Demonic said, use your bank, they're always there to help you if you get into trouble and won't charge quite the rate of interest a private finance company will.

You're more likely to get the money too.
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[RooRoo]

To be honest I'd much rather do it through finance as I've found the rate quite cheap, I think its about 12% which is lower than the loan I have with HSBC at about 14%, and I feel more comfortable paying on finance, especially when the difference is not much...what will actually affect my credit rating? I really don't want to take on extra hours at work if they won't let me buy the bike...

Cheers

[map]

FYI the Nationwide are advertising loans at 6.7% APR with an online decision in a minute - link here

Got one for the car through them a bit back

HTH
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[tgabber]

Basic things that effect your credit rating:

your age
your occupation
how much you earn
where you live
whether you own your home
your past credit history
whether you are on the electoral roll (so they can verify your identity and address)

I believe there are two major credit reference agencies in the UK, Equifax and Experian. You are entitled to check the details that they have on file for you and make corrections if necessary. There is a small fee payable to do this.
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[RooRoo]

thanks all, map, you have just persuaded me, I can pay it off over a shorter time, paying half the amount...thing is, I already have a loan with HSBC, and im not hugely experience in this stuff being 18, I've never had a problem paying for my loan, insurance etc so I'm not worried about falling behind on payments as I'm in a stable job, but can I borrow money from nationwide without opening an account with them, so it goes through my HSBC account, so to speak?

[map]

[zx636]

Have a look around at some of the big bike shops. I know its for new bikes but some are offering really low finance. I had a look at a 2004 r6 at infinity and the deal was £99 down, up to 5 years 0% finance with new leathers a lid and an alarm thrown in. Even the yam insurance would have been lower than I pay for the zx6

A lot of honda dealers also have some low finance at 2 or 3%.

Seems like they just cannot shift new bikes.

Just a thought

Paul

[RooRoo]

nationwide said i dont meet their criteria

[map]

[RooRoo]

nope, said at the end they cant offer me the loan whichs is very strange because I can afford with monthly repayments very easily:S

[Adam_P]

If you've already got a loan with the bank, why not go and see them and extend it to cover the bike too and re-arrange the payment to suit you? Because you already have a loan, you already meet the banks criteria, less hassle.

I did that when I bought my last car as I already had a loan with them and just made it bigger (and ended up paying less a month) just that it was over a longer period of time.

And yes, I know because it was longer I was paying slightly more interest over the pperiod, but I paid it off early anyway!
____________________
Colin McRae MBE 1968 - 2007 RIP
Orwell Rolls in his Grave
God is imaginary

[RooRoo]

are there any other places I can apply online like that?

[zx636]

Try direct line. They have an on-line loan application.

[Demonic69]

Egg are pretty good.
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[McJamweasel]

Just be aware that everytime you apply for a loan/cedit card etc. and its refused it is recorded negativly on your credit history. Applying for several will do you no good at all.
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[map]

[mchaggis]

[instigator]

Choochoo, Are you going to uni? I dont know if i asked you this already as I've got 2 accounts with 0% overdrafts up to £1400...

Take the finance out on credit card, and then just get a new card when the initial 0% apr fruns out. Just about every card offers you 0% for the first 6 months

[Sadie]

Equifax are currently selling you your credit score for £11.75.

This tells you what your score is and why, and also how to make it better.

It won't tell you if you will get finance or not, but it will make it clearer.

You can pay for it using your debit card and get it online quite quickly.

Cheers, Sadie
____________________
With experience comes age.

[RooRoo]

thanks for the advice everyone, didnt realise applying online made my credit history worse!

Guess the best idea is to go to a bank tomorrow and see what they say.

[Kickstart]

Hi

There are loads of people who will give you credit. The interest rates will vary greatly, and some companies will pretty much garuntee that they will loan you the money but will increase the interest rate dependent on the risk.

14% from HSBC is quite high. It is well worth checking how much you actually want to borrow as the rates often drop with larger loans. It is entirely possible that it would cost less to borrow (for example) £5000 than £4900.

Each different loan company will rate you differently Basic checking will be done by the loan company, checking things like your age, employment, loan amount, etc, and they might well accept (very good risk) or decline (poor risk) your application at this point. Once past this stage they may check your credit rating with a credit reference agency. The 2 main ones are Experian and Equifax, and these charge the loan companies (which is why they will not bother doing a search if they are going to reject you for other obvious things on your score card).

Credit reference agencies hold various info on you. Electoral register, CCJs, bankruptcies, suspect fraud (CIFAS), current and previous credit agreements (and you will be surprised what counts as credit) including the payment profiles and previous searches. Searches are logged for (I think) 6 months, so putting in multiple applications will log loads of searches which will affect whether people will give you credit. Also if you do it in style then you might well get flagged up under CIFAS as a suspected fraud.

Note that the rules over what is counted as "you" when searching are quite complex, and I am well out of date on this. Basically if they think it is the same person, or someone who is financially dependent on you / depending by you then they will return those details as well. Therefore your credit history could affect your parents ability to get credit (and the other way round).

Your actual credit rating is pretty much down to the loan company so whatever Equifax tell you is not that important as all they can do is give you generic info. The credit reference agencies do have to supply the info they hold on you on application. There is a small fee (£2 I think).

All the best

Keith
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[McJamweasel]

[Demonic69]

I've looked into the whole issue of getting a bad score if you try lots of loan companies. It's shite. All the searches are listed, but your score is not affected, as it show's you're just shopping round.
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