Financial Helper

Your Personal Financial Guide

Can you get accepted for car finance with bad credit?

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If you’ve ever been refused car finance in the past, you may think applying for car finance with bad credit is impossible. However, not all hope is lost! When you apply for bad credit car finance, there are usually a number of options available to you.

How does bad credit affect your application?

When you apply for car finance, lenders or car finance companies will usually do a search on your credit file. Having a low credit score, can make it harder for you to get accepted for car finance. This is because you may have had trouble in the past repaying your debts or loans and lenders may think there is a chance you may not pay any additional debt back.

What sort of things affect my credit score?

If you have bad credit, you may know why that is or you may be wondering how. There are many things that affect your credit score. But it’s mainly due to how you manage your money. The main one is your payment history and if you’ve been able to make all your previous payments on time in the past. Lenders will also look at the amount of credit you have available to you and how much you have spent. If you max out credit card balances, this can suggest that you can’t handle any more credit. The number of finance applications you make also affects your score. Try not to make multiple applications in a short space of time as this can seem like you are desperate for credit.Continue Reading

How to Improve Your Credit Score

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Your credit score is possibly not something you think about very often until you need to borrow money, want to apply for a credit card or take out a loan. As soon as you’re 18, you can apply for a loan or a credit card, so you should start thinking about your credit score as quickly as possible!

Having a good credit score is vital because it can affect your ability to borrow money, impacting future decisions such as buying your first house and taking out finance on a new car. Luckily, it’s possible to check your score for free, and if it’s not looking too rosy, there are a number of things you can do to improve it. Let’s look into it closer below.

What is Your Credit Score?

Every adult in the UK will have a credit report or credit file with one of three credit scoring agencies: Equifax, Experian, and Callcredit. The information contained in it can be used by lenders to determine whether to lend to you, how much to lend you and the rate of interest to charge. Your credit score is based on the information in your file and will be a reflection of your financial decisions and situation over the last six years.Continue Reading

The importance of a financial broker: navigating a volatile market

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Popular investment routes such as saving up cash or buying a house are seen as sensible decisions, but the reality is that none of these routes are risk-free endeavours – and, in fact, some of the most popular financial markets are more volatile than they may seem. This article will explain how hiring an expert financial broker to help you could be a wise decision if you plan to enter the world of investments.

Property investment

On the face of it, nothing seems quite as safe as investing cash in bricks and mortar. However, there’s no guarantee that your new property will hold its value. If property prices decline, then you could find yourself owing more to your mortgage company than your home will sell for – a situation known as “negative equity”.  A broker will be able to explain how this might happen – and suggest some strategies for dealing with it if it does happen to you.Continue Reading

The best ways to invest your money carefully and make a profit

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There is no doubt that times are tough for some people now. You may be working flat out at a full-time job but still looking for ways to bump up your monthly pay, or you may be needing to find new ways to make money if your work situation is looking shaky. What many people don’t realise is that investing any money that you can afford is a superb way to do just that. Even if you are financially sorted and just fancy finding a way to bump up your savings, investing is a great option.

As with anything that involves your money though, you need to be smart in what you invest in and how you do it. Taking the time to find a reliable online trading wiki to really get to grips with how to make your money work for you in the safest way is key to seeing a profit on it.

invest money

Best investments make for sensible returns

When it comes to investing your cash, some investments are less risky than others. If you are being careful about how you use any spare money in this way (which is highly advised!), then these are the ones to think about.Continue Reading

Managing Your Money with Financial Management Software

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It can be tricky to keep up with your finances each month with so many expenses. No matter what your financial situation is, it is always important to keep a close eye on your financial situation so that you are not overspending or entering into a dangerous financial state which can be hard to recover from. Many people feel overwhelmed when looking at their finances because they may have multiple accounts and various different expenses, so what can be done about this?

Tracking Your Finances

Fortunately, in today’s day and age it is easier than ever to track your finances to manage your personal money. This could help you to identify areas in which you could be making savings so that you can improve your financial situation and lead a better lifestyle and healthier financial state. The best way to manage your personal finances is with financial management software. It can be possible to use a spreadsheet, but this can require both skill and effort to create so it is much easier to use software designed to track finances, plus you will not benefit from a host of features that the latest software systems use.Continue Reading

What is Considered Bad Credit?

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When it comes to personal finance, it is common to read advice on improving your credit rating if you have a bad credit score. This can be excellent advice because good credit will enable you to borrow money and at reasonable rates, but what exactly is considered bad credit so that you know whether or not you need to make changes?

Score Meanings

It can be difficult to know what a bad credit score is because there are three main credit referencing agencies and each score consumers differently. Experian state that a credit score is very poor between 0-560 and poor between 561 – 720 – anything above this is fair rising to excellent. The Equifax website lists scores as very poor between 0-279 and anything over 466 to be excellent. Noddles, meanwhile, uses a 1-5 rating with anything less than 3 considered to be poor. The scores may seem arbitrary, but your credit rating is affected by many different factors, including late or minimum payments, CCJs, little or no financial history and frequency of credit application.Continue Reading

Car Finance Myths

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Learning to drive and having your very own car is something nearly everyone aspires to. Being able to drive opens up a world of opportunity, allowing you to take up your dream job without having to move to a new house or get three connecting buses that can cost you in both money and time. With this being the case, why is it that so many people don’t drive? The likely answer is that many people, perhaps yourself included, have fallen for some of the myths surrounding car finance and have been put off making the investment in your future because of the misinformation you have taken as gospel.

In this article, these myths will be dispelled, and you will learn that learning to drive and owning your own car doesn’t have to be a pipe dream anymore.

To dispel the myths around car finance, you need to make sure you understand the essentials of car finance, otherwise you won’t know what exactly needs to be clarified. So, let’s go through some myths.Continue Reading