When you apply for a car finance package with Creditplus, there are several questions we ask and checks that we carry out to process your application. This is to ensure you are eligible for car finance and that we can find a package that matches your circumstances. But it’s also because there are questions that lenders ask us before they can give us a quote and accept you as a potential customer.

If you’re thinking about applying for a car finance package in future, then it may be useful for you to see what sort of questions lenders ask us about you. So we thought we’d share them with you so you can work out whether you are eligible for car finance or not.

Who are you?

It’s an obvious one to start with, but finance providers will want to know who you are. By that we mean they want to know your name and your age for starters. Your age is important as they won’t provide a car finance package for someone under 18 years of age. Lenders have to be responsible when it comes to taking on customers, so won’t lend to anyone too young.

Where do you live?

They’ll also ask about your nationality. This is so they can be sure you are a permanent resident of the UK and not going to take out a car finance package and then disappear without a trace. You need to have been in the UK for over 3 years.

Address history is important to providers, so they will want to know where you’ve lived over the past 3-4 years. So the addresses of all your residences in this time is good to have to hand. If you’ve moved around a lot in that time, the lender may want to know why. Someone with an erratic address history can be red flag to lenders.

How much do you earn?

All reputable lenders will carry out affordability checks to ensure that, if they lend you the money, then 1) you’ll be able to afford the repayments, and 2) taking on a finance package will not put you in any financial difficulty.

Lenders will want to know where you work and will ask to see proof of income. If you’re employed, you can provide pay slips for the last 3 months. If you’re self-employed, you will need to show bank statements proving the amount of income you earn on a monthly basis.

What does your financial history look like?

The biggest question that lenders will ask us is how your financial history looks, i.e. what’s your credit rating. This is used by all finance providers, not just car finance, to examine customers and determine the level of risk you are as a customer. The lower the score, the bigger the risk and the higher the interest rate a provider will charge. If you are deemed too much of a risk, then you might not be eligible.

It's a good idea to have a look at your credit rating before you apply, to see what your current score is. Make sure you examine it carefully and see if the information recorded is correct. If it isn’t, contact the credit check agency that provided the report and inform them of the error.

If you are concerned about your credit rating, then there are steps you can take to improve your credit score. You may still be eligible for a car finance package with a bad credit rating though, just make sure the price of the package is something you can afford and are willing to pay.