Just went through a mess trying to finance a used car. I haven’t borrowed money since 2012, no debt, no credit cards, just living within my means. When I applied for a loan, I was told I was refused. Not because of bad credit, but because I hadn’t used credit recently enough.
The dealership advertises “no applications refused,” but apparently if you don’t have an active debt history, you’re too much of a mystery for the system.
Co-signer? Not allowed. Using my own bank account for payments? Denied. Their solution? Open a joint account with my dad just to satisfy a bank’s paperwork, pay hundreds in fees over 6 years just to make it work.
The credit system says you can’t borrow money unless you’ve already been borrowing money, like somehow living within your means disqualifies you. It’s not about good credit, it’s about loyalty to the debt game. Screw you for standing on your own feet, I guess.
Just needed to get that off my chest. Anyone else run into this nonsense?
The dealership or whatever bank they partnered with turned you down for a loan. Another bank might say yes, especially a bank that you’ve been using for other services for a while and if you’re making some down payment rather than borrowing the full price of the car.
I generally think car loans are a bad idea. If you have to drive a junky car while you save up money to upgrade, they may actually have done you a favor by saying no because you avoid interest payments and you avoid the risk of having to make payments during a situation where you lose you job or have some other unexpected expense.