Getting a Vehicle Loan After Bankruptcy

Getting a vehicle loan after bankruptcy is no easy task, but one that is well worth it. Not only will you be getting financing so you can get a car, but you'll also be working on building up some new credit history to get yourself back on a good financial path.

The difficulty of doing this is going to depend on how long ago you discharged your debts, and what you've done since then. If you only just got everything settled and haven't really made any other financial moves, you're going to have a harder time. The ideal time to go looking for a vehicle loan after bankruptcy is after about a year. Immediately after discharging your debts you would have gotten yourself a secured credit card, which would now be showing up on your credit report, and doing you some good to show that you have made efforts to rebuild your financial history and show you can be trusted to make payments.

If you were in this situation, you could try and apply at the bank you got your card from for a car loan.

In other situations, you can look around for other options. The most important thing in your situation is going to be to show that you have a steady well paying job, so that you do have the means to make the payments. Talk to your lender and explain why you got into financial problems in the past (divorce, medical bills, credit cards--whatever the case may be) in a short one to two sentence explanation, and that you are working to rebuild so that you can put this behind you. Your lender will care about this.

Just because it didn't work out with one lender, doesn't mean you should stop applying. It will take a while for you to find the right fit. Do shop around and don't just go with the first company willing to accept you. You are going to have to pay a high interest rate, but to save money (especially since you'll be spending so much overall) you should look around for the best you can do right now.