The most important aspect of what we try to help with is restoring your good name. It generally takes two years to re-build your credit rating, provided you make your payments on time, of course.
The day you get your new car is the day you draw the line in the sand, separating you from the bad credit and entering into your new, good credit. It doesn't happen overnight, but it will happen.
The circumstances around whatever happened in your life to cause you to have had some credit difficulties are probably no longer in existence. As time goes by, whatever is on your credit bureau is getting older and older and becoming less and less important. How you pay your new car loan is showing potential future lenders how credit worthy you are.
After paying for your new car for two years you have pushed that bad credit further into history and presented the 'credit community' with your new, good credit.
Most of our clients are able to re-finance their car loans with conventional lenders after two years, or some trade their cars in on a brand new car and take advantage of the low interest rates manufacturers financing offers, which they now qualify for.
A car loan is the best way to re-establish your credit. Some people get a secured credit card to start the rebuilding process. This is considered 'minor credit' in the credit community and will not qualify you for a car loan in the future. Even a home mortgage doesn't impress the banks as much as an auto loan. When you consider that the bank is holding an appreciating asset as security, and even if you disappear, their security doesn't, there really isn't much risk in first mortgages. They also know that even in hard times, the first thing people pay for is the roof over their heads. But stick around and pay off a car loan and you will get their attention.