In the eyes of
car loan lenders, what makes an auto loan high risk? There are several items that lenders look at, here are just a few:
Credit Report Score
Obviously, the lower the credit score is the higher the risk is to the auto loan lender. Traditional banks and finance companies prefer to approve auto loans for people with credit scores above 650, while subprime auto finance companies approve loans above 550 and buy here pay here car lots approve everything else.
Credit Bureau History
When it comes to credit history, it's no so much about what's on your credit report, but when it went on your credit report. If you have a repossession, foreclosure, and a bankruptcy, all of which occurred in a short period of time, the lenders view this as less risky than if you had a repossession and a foreclosure separated by several years.
Debt to Income Ratio
This ratio is an indicator of how you owe compared to how much you make. People with debt ratios below 40%, not including the new car payment, are considered lower risk, whereas people with debt ratios above 45% are considered higher risk.
Payment to Income Ratio
Auto loan lenders want to make that your new car loan payment does not constitute a major part of your monthly income. Few lenders will approve auto loans above 20% of your monthly income. Auto loans payments that constitute less than 15% of your monthly income are considered less risky to the finance companies.
Loan to Value
If, for some reason, the
auto loan finance company has to repossess the vehicle they usually loose money. To mitigate this, lenders limit the amount they will let people with bad credit borrow based on the value of the vehicle. Auto loans above 120% of the used cars trade in value are considered high risk auto loans.
Job Time
The length of time you have been with your current employer play a major role in determining whether or not the lender considers it to be of high risk. Auto loan approvals for people with less than 6 months on the job are considered extremely risky to lenders, banks, and finance companies
Income
The magic number here is $30,000 per year ($14.50 per hour). People with bad credit that earn less than $30K annually are considered more of a risk than higher income borrowers.