Bad Credit Motorcycle Financing
With the economy as it is, it can be difficult to find a lender for your motorcycle purchase. How are you supposed to finance your motorcycle with bad credit? What options do you have available if you want to get a motorbike but don’t have the money readily available? Well, in this article, we’ll address the few ways you can get your new motorcycle–even if you have no credit or bad credit.
First off, before we get too deep into this, let’s talk about “bad credit”. What exactly is bad credit? What is credit and why is it important? These questions are very important and need to be answered. Simply put, every person in the United States has a credit score based off a variety of factors. Their credit scores helps show potential lenders your responsibility with money. When you to someone to get financing for your motorcycle, they check your credit score to see if you’ve been vigilant in making payments towards your debt on-time every time. Whenever you miss a payment or are late, your score gets penalized. When you have a penalized credit score, you have “bad credit.” When a dealer, lender, landlord, etc., checks and sees your bad credit rating, they’re much less likely to give you money or rent you a room because they think you’ll be unreliable in making payments.
Getting that Harley Davidson motorcycle and financing it can be difficult if you have bad credit. But while it is “difficult” it is not impossible. The number one thing you HAVE to do when wanting to get a loan or financing of any sort is have a secure stream of income. There isn’t reputable lender in the world that will give you money if you don’t have some sort of income. Plus, not only do you have to have a form of income, but you have to be making enough money to support your monthly payments and debt. If you don’t make enough money, you can kiss your motorcycle dreams goodbye.
Once you have a means of paying for your motorcycle over time, you can go out and get a loan. But remember, if you have bad credit, you can expect to be paying a lot more per month than someone with good credit. There’s no simple way of fixing your credit except by showing you make your rent, bills, and credit card payments on time. After years of showing good money habits, will you see much better interest rates and offers from banks. Until then, you can either bite the bullet and take a crappy interest rate on a motorcycle loan or save up some money and put more money down on a loan. The more money you can pay up front, the better your payments will be each month.
Where should you turn if you need motorcycle financing for people with bad credit? The first thing that you should do is think about what kind of motorcycle you are going to buy. You will need to know how much your motorcycle costs and whether the cost will be acceptable under your given budget.
The cost of your new bike can also influence the lender’s willingness to loan you money. If your bike costs and extraordinarily large sum of money–especially when compared to your yearly income–a lender may not lend you the money you want. If, on the other hand, you want to finance a motorcycle that’s a tiny portion of your yearly salary, you will have excellent chances of getting the money you want. One way around this, of course, is putting a lot of money down on your motorcycle. If you are eyeballing an expensive, custom motorcycle and don’t have the immediate funds to buy it, you can put what you do available towards a down-payment. Even if the motorcycle is really pricey, a lender may give you the financing if you make a significant enough down-payment.
So what are the best places to look for bad credit motorcycle financing?
- A local bank or credit union
- Bad credit financial institutions
- Payday loan companies
- Internet lenders
The internet will give you the widest selection of lenders willing to finance your motorcycle if you’re someone with bad credit. Most websites offer competitive interest rates and finance fees. Many financial institutions and credit card companies have an online segment of their company that offers different rates and services than what you would find locally. If you’re uncomfortable about dealing online–don’t be. While there are people that may try to scam you online, they’re very few and far in between. You’re just as likely to get scammed in your home town as you are online. To avoid getting scammed, deal with reputable lenders. To see if they are honest and reputable, check the Better Business Bureau website.
And even if you don’t choose to get your loan online for your motorcycle, you can use the quality information and rates you find to negotiate with local banks and credit unions. If they’re offering you a poor deal, counter them and tell them about the better rate you can get online. Many times they’ll compromise with you and you can leave with a good loan (even though you had bad credit).