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Leading Australian consumer and financial law firm MyCRA Lawyers believes car sales could be doubled in 30 days if dealers realised how simple it was to fix the credit ratings of buyers rejected for finance.

According to ASIC, 90 percent of all car sales in Australia are bought using finance, but at the coal face, dealers are having to turn away as many as two out of three new car buyers, because they get rejected for a car loan according to one ex-sales manager.

“It’s one of the reasons why I got out of the business, it was becoming so hard to get a deal over the line because people were being rejected for credit at such a high rate because of new credit reporting regulations that see people’s repayment history recorded on their credit file,” the sales manager said.

Leading consumer and financial law firm MyCRA Lawyers CEO Graham Doessel says the current rock bottom sales figures which are at their lowest since 2012 and 12.5% down year on year with January figures at the lowest since 2009 at just71,731 vehicles sold, could almost be lifted overnight – if only car dealers realised why potential buyers credit applications were being rejected.

“It doesn’t take much to seriously hurt your credit score and then, in turn, be rejected for finance,” Mr Doessel said.

“Make a credit inquiry or two and your score will drop, be late paying another loan and you hurt your score more, forget to pay a utility bill and record a default and you are pretty much guaranteed to be rejected for a car loan.

“The crazy thing is almost all of these black marks on your credit file can be removed, some within 7 days,” Mr Doessel said.

Former sales manager Andrew Blake said RHIs or Repayment History Information on credit files is a nightmare for the car industry because most buyers don’t even realise this information is being recorded on their credit file and could be the reason why they’re being rejected for a car loan.

“You can have no defaults and no judgements but because you paid a couple of bills late, you have a terrible credit score and end up being rejected for a loan. This is killing car salesmen round the country,” he said.

Mr Doessel believes car dealers have been blindsided by credit reporting regulations being enforced since the Royal Commission into banking, and probably don’t realise how easily someone rejected for credit can be helped.

“We want to help potential buyers and dealers understand why loans are being rejected because many buyers have poor credit simply because of minor infractions or even mistakes on their credit file that can be removed quickly, meaning sales don’t have to fall through.

“The easiest thing for car buyers to do is get a copy of their credit files at https://www.FreeCreditRating.com.au before they hit the car yard, if your score is below 500 you will be rejected for a loan,” he said.

“Many people can, however, improve their score quickly by having enquiries, defaults, RHI and Judgments removed from their file in some cases within 7 days,” Mr Doessel said.

“We recommend dealership business managers advise clients to check their credit files if they have been rejected for finance because chances are it can be easily fixed,” Mr Doessel said.