What to Do When You Need to Make a Big Purchase but Have Bad Credit

This guide will offer a few tips on what you can do when you need to buy something big but don’t have great credit to do it.

Plan Ahead When You Can

You can usually determine ahead of time when you might need to make a big purchase in the near future. Try to use this to your advantage by avoiding any other purchases that could affect your credit negatively. Don’t take on any new credit cards or other credit-based obligations. If you have rent or other payments to make, pay them promptly to avoid any potential red flags when it is time to make your big buy.

Find out How the Seller Can Help

Any person or company selling big items is eager to make that sale, and in many cases, they can help you get into a better position to be able to make a purchase. If you’re buying a car, for example, you can talk to a used car dealership to see if they work closely with local credit unions and can get you a better rate on a vehicle. Some of these shops may offer a pre-approval process or less stringent credit qualifications to buy a car. You lose nothing by asking these questions.

Check with Nonprofits

You can call ahead to any nonprofit agency in your state to see if they offer any financing programs to help people who need to buy something big but don’t have great credit. Not every state will have the same types of programs, and some programs may only cover certain kinds of purchases, but it is something you should look into before you decide to buy anything.

Make a Big down Payment

The nature of large purchases means that you might not be able to pay for the entire thing all at once. These big purchases are one of the main reasons credit exists. However, some sellers are willing to overlook bad credit if you can show you are able to make a large down payment on the item you want. This initial payment will probably need to be larger than a typical down payment, but it’s an option that might work for you.

Credit is a necessary part of many big purchases. You may be able to use some of the tips above to make large purchases and start restoring your credit.

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