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Back in July 2009 I posted the following on my blog, under the heading of  ‘If you have guaranteed a debt you may be able to avoid payment’. I’ve repeated the blog below as I believe it is worth showing again, given the current economic climate but also I have uncovered something else that may be a little worrying if you have guaranteed a debt and the Read more »

Lots of lenders and brokers are starting to quote lease rentals based on 6 rentals in advance in order to make the monthly rentals appear low. It also helps with underwriting as the higher the initial rental, the lower the risk. However, I still try to stick with 3 rentals in advance which may make the monthly cost look high but it makes the initial rental Read more »

It seems that lenders in the vehicle finance sector are becoming more anal in the way that they are transacting business, requiring more information than ever before when applications are made in company names and becoming very tough about complete information and proofs when it comes to personal applications. This has led to customers Read more »

The credit system in the UK is in need of a really good shake up. Credit decisions seem to be made based on some very iffy information and totally illogical. Take two people doing similar jobs, earning the same amount of money who both apply for credit on similar cars. The first client has a perfect, unblemished record. He has a mortgage and a couple of Read more »

Have you heard of log book loans? Do you know what they are? As more people find themselves out of work and desperate to raise some cash to pay bills or attend interviews they are looking at some of these grey areas of raising cash. There are of course the loan sharks that everyone should avoid but there is one area that seems to have an air of Read more »

Banks are lending less to leasing companies making life even more difficult for small businesses to secure funding. As of 31^st March 2011 lending to the leasing companies was down by 16% from £28.4 billions the previous year to £23.8 billions. Leasing is seen by many small businesses as an alternative way to fund their vehicles and equipment as Read more »

I have mixed views over my next piece. You see over the years I have recommended to clients that they make use of the law wherever they can to save money. One area that I have heavily promoted is covered by sections 99 and 100 of the Consumer Credit Act, better known as Voluntary Termination, whereby once you have paid half the total cost of the finance, you can simply hand the car back to the HP provider and they have to stand any loss between what would normally be required to Read more »

I have issued another general warning about the lack of money available to lend and the subsequent repercussions. I have had many people writing to me explaining that they had strong credit but have been declined for loans on several occasions and are now being told that they have dropped into the sub-prime category, which means they will pay high rates of interest if they are able to secure finance at all. The reason for this is the fact that whilst there are still lenders willing to offer low rates Read more »

Statistics really get on my wick! Speaking to fleet owners and various lenders it is clear that there is less money to lend and businesses as well as consumers are finding it more difficult to finance vehicles. My own association, the NACFB has said that current lending by members is around £7 billion compared to £20 billion in the mid 2000’s. And yet banks and the lender’s association, the FLA say that they are lending more and that, according to FLA statistics their members are lending 16% more to Read more »

On the 14^th September I attended a meeting of the good and great in the vehicle finance industry at the London offices of Grant Thornton. The purpose was to debate the challenges of the industry which would be reported in the journal of the industry, Motor Finance. There were many conflicting views but the bottom line is that we are still in for a tough time. Clearly there is a lack of liquidity in the vehicle finance Read more »