Who is eligible to lease a car?

If you are considering entering into a personal lease agreement for your next car there will be financial checks you will need to go through, and information you will be asked to provide. Our guide will help you decide whether you might be eligible, and which documents you will need for your financial application.

Anyone can lease a car provided they successfully go through the finance application process. As a broker, Rivervale will arrange finance for you to fund your vehicle through one of our preferred finance partners. For your application for finance to succeed you will be required to undergo a credit check.

What is a credit check?

A credit check will look at: your current credit accounts and repayment history to see whether you have ever been late or missed making payments, whether you have previously had any debt problems such as bankruptcy or County Court Judgements against you, information about any previous finance applications and even details of your current account overdraft.

This information is then used to give you a credit score of; very poor, poor, fair, good or excellent. You can check your credit score for free online. Which? recommend the following companies:

• Experian
• Equifax
• Callcredit

Can I lease a car if I have a bad credit score?

Many specialist companies will offer a personal lease for an individual with a poor credit rating. For the company to offset the risk of leasing out a vehicle to someone with a low credit score, they will usually increase the cost of the contract quite substantially. However, at Rivervale, our leasing partners mainly extend credit to those with a good credit score enabling us to provide the most competitive leasing deals.

If you do have a poor credit rating, we would recommend taking steps to improve your credit score such as making sure bills are paid on time and trying to pay off any existing debt. Advice on how to improve your credit score can be found on the Money Advice Service website which has been set up by the Government and provides free impartial financial advice.

Which information will I need to provide to lease a car?

If you wish to go ahead with your application for a personal lease, the finance company you will be using will ask for the following personal details shown below;

On some occasions, the finance company may also ask for proof of address. The documents required here would be utility bills in your name that are dated within 90 days of your credit application. You may also be asked to provide bank statements to support your application.

Consider your financial circumstances for the length of your agreement

The decision made by the finance company is based on your current financial situation. Therefore, it is important that you carefully consider your ability to make repayments in the future without causing any financial hardship to yourself. You should think about any changes in your circumstances or economic factors that may affect your income. For example, the end of a work contract, retirement and even increases in mortgage rates. If your circumstances do change over the time period of your agreement, you will still be required to make payments. In many cases, you can end your contract early, but this can often be expensive.

To ensure you are getting the right product for your needs and have considered your ability to make repayments your Account Manager at Rivervale will ask you to complete our Product Suitability and Affordability Questionnaire to ensure your wellbeing.