Self Employed Car Finance

If you are self employed, then you may be wondering just how easy it is for you to get a beneficial car finance deal. The good news is that you are not alone: over the past few years the number of self employed workers in the UK has been steadily rising – and the demand for self employed car finance has grown with it. Fortunately, you have come to the right place here at ChoosemyCar because we have plenty of experience working with self employed customers coming to us to secure their ideal used car on finance.

Being self employed makes you more independent, but it won’t stop you needing to have your hands on a car in order to get around for work and family. To enjoy proper freedom, you’re going to need a car. But unfortunately, despite the huge demand for car finance from the UK’s self employed workers, a lot of lenders are still reluctant to agree upon car finance deals.

Why is this? Well, in short it is because self employed workers don’t have a guaranteed regular income and might lack three years of accounts in order to prove income. As such, a lot of lenders refuse car finance applications because they doubt your eligibility to meet your monthly payments. Securing self employed car finance is difficult depending on how easy it is to prove your monthly income and budget.

1. Check your credit report

At the beginning of any car finance application, we always recommend checking your credit profile. Fortunately, this is relatively quick and easy to do. There are three great options, and we often recommend our customers use either Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion. This is a great chance to get a handle on your financial information before applying.

Why is this such an important thing to do? Well, it means that by checking your credit report for inaccuracies, errors and misunderstanding that might be negatively affecting your credit score, downgrading it, you are aware of these issues before potential finance lenders. Checking your credit file will also give you some tips on how you can potentially improve your credit score over time.

This is something that we have spent a lot of time helping our customers to do. We specialise in bad credit car finance, and we have some amazing resources on our site to help you may the best decisions. Chief among these is our extensive guide on improving your credit score – well worth a read for a more in depth look at how to improve your credit rating before applying with a car finance lender.

2. Ensure you have proof of income and that your finances are in check

Most car finance applications directly revolve around the applicant’s financial history and responsibility informing the lender of their eligibility for new finance agreements. This is why, before applying for car finance, it is worth getting all your finances in order wherever possible. You want to be able to prove that you have a regular income that is reliable and trustworthy to your potential finance company.

But this is easier said than done. In ideal circumstances, you’ll have three years worth of earnings and steady income to show your lender. But this is an issue many applicants for car finance self employed. No accounts on record is often a large issue. But if you can’t prove steady income, then there are still a few things you can consider doing.

Much like taking steps to improve your credit score, it is worth doing any or all of the following:

• Cancel any non-essential subscriptions
• Settle your old loans and debts
• Close historical joint bank account or other financial links you have with other people who have a poor credit history

3. Register on the electoral roll

This a quick, easy and important step to take when applying for finance of any kind whatsoever – including self employed car finance. Just like when taking steps to improve your credit score, you should get yourself on the electoral register as quickly as possible if you aren’t already.

This allows you to confirm your name, address and other details. This is often the very first thing that most potential lenders will check as part of a broader credit check. By making these details as readily available and easily accessible as possible to finance lenders, you are helping to prove your eligibility.

4. Provide lenders with up to date trading accounts

If you can provide finance lenders with your latest trading accounts, you will be giving them a much clearer picture of your ability to meet your monthly repayments. Up to date trading accounts will ensure that they are able to have a look at your available finances after any business expenses have been taken out.

As we already mentioned above, the more years of information and trading accounts data you can provide, the better this is for finance lenders. A longer history will better prove your eligibility and your ability to meet repayments. If you aren’t able to do this then don’t worry because there is good news: even though it will still affect your ability to secure a beneficial car finance agreement, the growing numbers of self employed people working in the UK has meant that a lot of lenders have relaxed their stance on this in recent years. While three years of accounts is still the best, if you only have two years or even one year of accounts this can help to improve your deal.

5. Be prepared to show lenders your personal bank statements

But what if you have only just become self employed? Starting a new business doesn’t mean that you won’t need to apply for car finance, after all. Well, if your business is still too new to prove your income over a longer period of time, the next best thing that you may be required to do is to provide car finance companies with a series of personal bank statements. This is often able to provide proof of income, including incomings and outgoings.

By doing this, the chances are that you will be able to provide lenders with a general overview of your financial situation and history. In the best cases, this will highlight your ability to budget and to keep money aside for expenses while keeping on top of any loans or debts.

6. Be honest with potential lenders

As tempting as it may be in some cases, you absolutely should not exaggerate or artificially inflate your incomings. A golden rule is to always, no matter your financial situation, to be upfront and honest about your income and outgoings. Alongside this is the importance of knowing that you should only apply for self employed car finance that you know you can definitely afford.

Unfortunately, being turned down for a loan can negatively affect your credit score just like missing repayments or being behind on a loan would do. This is why it’s so important to be prepared before you begin applying for self employed car finance. If you’re not sure about how to proceed, get in touch with the experts here at ChooseMyCar – we’re always on hand to help you decide what kind of finance is right for you and how best to prepare a finance application.

7. If you can, consider putting down a large deposit

It’s no secret that, when applying for car finance, putting down as big a deposit as possible is something that any potential lender will appreciate. A larger deposit increases your trust value to the lender while also bringing down the amount you need to loan and increasing your chances of having your application approved. No deposit car finance is something that we deal with a great deal here at ChooseMyCar and it is certainly possible to have finance applications approved with no deposit included.

That said, even a deposit on the smaller side will help the application process. For small businesses just starting out, sometimes putting down a small deposit can help secure a car finance solution by slightly bringing down the loan amount and fixed monthly fee.

8. Consider the guarantor loan route

We understand – a lot of people don’t like the idea of securing a guarantor finance loan. But while it may not be the most appealing option, it can certainly be an attractive prospect for potential lenders and can really help to get your application over the line if you are struggling.

For people struggling to show proof of income and their eligibility for car finance, a guarantor car finance loan ensures that there is someone to pick up on any payments you may miss or may be late for. However, it is important to note that, should both you and your guarantor miss a payment, it will negatively impact the credit status and score of both parties.

Not being able to prove that you are producing a stable monthly income will always make securing finance and loan applications success more difficult. This can negatively affect your credit score – something that all finance lenders will see alongside existing debts when they run a credit check. Provable income is a huge part of securing financial services, and self employed drivers can often struggle to provide proof of this verifiable income.

At a basic level, you should understand that ever lender is going to review your finance application with the intent of gaining financial reassurance about your average income and your ability to meet repayment amounts. But don’t think this is an unnecessary step – it is an important factor and the regulatory obligation of the lender to check any applicant’s financial position, whether they are a self employed person or not.

This step is put in place by the Financial Conduct Authority and it designed to help protect not just lenders, but also applicants. The regulations are in place to prevent people from finding themselves in financial difficulty – they want to avoid dire financial situations wherever possible.

To help this decision, you should supply lenders with as much additional information as possible to show that you are eligible for self employed finance. Proving eligibility is more difficult for self employed applicants and those with bad credit – but ChooseMyCar is here to help.