Advice on obtaining a small personal loan to buy a vehicle...

[rkb1278]

Hello all,

Please forgive me if this is posted in the wrong area. As the title states I am looking into a small personal loan in the amount of $5000 to purchase a second vehicle. I was hoping I could get some feedback on where to start and some experiences that others have had. 

I am currently in the process of rebuilding my credit. I would rather not apply for this loan right now but, unfortunately, life has left me without a choice. Current FICO scores are as follows:

EQ- 640

TU- 637

EX- 620

My biggest questions are:

Do I even stand a chance of approval?

Anyone else in a similiar situation get approved?

Any tips or tricks that I could try?

Thanks in advance for any feedback I can get. 

[Berk]

Start with your bank or credit union and see what they offer you. You may be able to get a small loan from them at a decent rate using the car as collateral. 

[Anonymous]

What sort of vehicle? You'll have better luck with an auto loan but they generally have requirements like less than 10 years old and 100k miles or minimum loan amounts. NFCU CLOC comes to mind, but 15.9% APR is pretty high if you plan to pay this off over more than a few months. Then again with your scores I wouldn't expect anything lower for an unsecured personal loan.

[RobertEG]

If the personal loan is unsecured, then it may be harder to obtain, and with less favorable terms.

If you default, they would have no repossession to rely upon, and thus would be requried to go through prolonged civil action and then additional proceedigs to effect attachment of assets.

Auto loans offer the car as secured interest.

What and why would you prefer a personal loan as opposed to a secured auto loan?