5 Tips To Help You Find A Bad Credit Loan

March 06, 2019Applying for a Loan

If you need a loan but have experienced bad credit, here’s some tips and helpful info to give you the best chance to be approved.

1. Understand bankruptcy

If you have ever declared bankruptcy you need to be prepared for knock backs.

Fair Go Finance can consider lending to you, as long as you entered into bankruptcy more than 12 months ago.

First, find out the exact date you declared bankruptcy (this can be done by obtaining a copy of your credit report and make note of when it will be a full year.

Once a year has passed, you can then consider applying for a bad credit loan with us. You’re welcome to contact us just prior to the anniversary to find out what our policies are and if you meet our other lending guidelines.

By doing this, you can start organising what you need to provide us so your loan application can be processed as fast as possible.

2. Offer security if possible

“Security” is what you can provide to secure your bad credit loan, generally when you want to borrow more than $2,000.

Fair Go Finance can use most registered vehicles as security, as long as they are not already being used as security for another loan.

I.e. you can only have ONE loan against any ONE car or vehicle.

If you are applying for less than $2,000 Fair Go Finance may not ask for security but just be aware that by offering your car as security will help strengthen your chance of having the loan approved.

3. Eligible income

You need to earn a minimum wage of $500 per week to be eligible for a bad credit loan with Fair Go Finance.

This can be from full-time, part-time or casual employment.

If your only source of income is from the any of the following Centrelink benefits then please be aware you will not be eligible to apply with us but you may be able to find another lender who is able to consider this income:

Newstart or youth allowance
Aged pension
Disability support pension
Austudy

4. Review your bank statements

You will need to have a bank account to be able to get a bad credit loan and provide 12 weeks of your most recent bank statements.

We provide a free bank statement service as part of our online application process, so you can provide your statements quickly and securely.

Before you apply, we recommend you look through your bank statement and consider them as though you were a lender.

For example, as a lender you would want to see things such as:

A regular salary is being deposited
All loan payments are being made on time

If you were a lender you would not want to see such things as:

Regular withdrawals from gambling organisations
Obvious direct debits from a lender that you do not disclose when you apply for a loan
The account getting constantly overdrawn and being charged overdrawn fees

5. Only “look” around but don’t “apply”

Don’t fall into the trap of filling in a loan application with many lenders over a short space of time.

This will unfortunately backfire on you.

This is because each time you complete an application, most lenders will run a credit check on you which means your credit report will list every loan enquiry you’ve submitted.

This is negatively looked at by lenders and you can often be declined due to having numerous enquiries in a short space of time. Here at Fair Go Finance, you cannot have more than 5 enquiries within the last month.

Our best tip is to do your loan research, and then apply once with the lender that best fits your situation. See if they have eligibility criteria on their website, or live chat with one of their representatives to establish if you meet their minimum lending guidelines.

For more information about your credit score and ways to improve it, you’re welcome to read our blog “5 tips to improve your credit score.”