Get better credit for a certified Toyota car loan

We know everyone’s strapped for cash these days, and all that scrambling to pay the bills on time may have dinged your credit pretty badly. So we’re putting out a several-part series on improving your odds of getting a car loan on that new certified Toyota you’ve been eyeing. We’ll cover how to get a car loan with bad credit, how to improve your credit so you can negotiate a better loan, and why getting a car loan may actually be the best thing you can do for your credit score.

Previously in this series, we talked about why car loans improve your credit score and how to get a car loan with bad credit. Today, we’re going to add a few more items onto our list of ways to get better credit for a car loan.

Keep Credit Cards Open

In the days of lousy credit, it seems logical that once you pay off a card, you should close it altogether. Unfortunately, that can actually destroy your credit score. The way your score is calculated depends on your ratio of available credit to the credit you’re already using. So if you have a credit card worth $3,000 with no balance, you currently have $3,000 available credit. If you close that card, you have $0 available credit – which is not what you want. So keep those cards open, but put them away somewhere you won’t be tempted to use them.

Negotiate Lower Rates

Many people have huge APR rates because they missed a single payment and never negotiated for a lower one. If this is you, that high rate could be the reason you’re having trouble making payments. Think about it. If your bills to your creditors were half what they are now, would you have any trouble making your payments ahead of schedule? We thought so. Either call your company up yourself or get a professional to negotiate for you. These days, creditors are getting a lot of people trying to reduce their rates, so they may be more inclined to listen to a professional than you – the professional will know exactly what to say to get that payment lower.

We want you to get the certified Toyota of your dreams, and one of the quickest routes there is improving your credit. Ironically, one of the best ways to improve your credit is to get a car loan – we’ll be talking about that next post, so tune in. Meanwhile, head over to your local Ballwin Toyota dealer to talk about what you can do to get a car loan on that certified Toyota. We’re always glad to help, whatever your credit situation.