3 Best Auto Loans with No Credit History: Rates and Terms (February 2024) (2024)

All APR figures last updated on 4/30/2023 – please check partner site for latest details. Rate may vary based on credit score, credit history and loan term.

After narrowing down our list to companies that work with no-credit customers, we compared providers on these factors:

• Reputation
• Availability
• Loan details
• Interest rates
• Customer service

Here’s an overview of our top picks:

Our top three recommendations for no-credit auto loans are myAutoloan, Autopay and Auto Credit Express. Be aware that the starting annual percentage rates (APRs) below apply to borrowers with good credit histories, so they may not be available to no-credit customers.

#1 MyAutoloan: Best Low-rate Option

Starting APR: 4.49% for new car loans
Loan amounts: $8,000 to $100,000
Loan terms: 12 to 84 months
Better Business Bureau (BBB) rating: A+ with accreditation

If you don’t have a credit history, myAutoloan is a good place to start. The company works with a wide range of lenders in its network, and some of those lenders can accommodate borrowers with little or no credit history. You can get new-vehicle financing, used-car financing and refinance auto loans through myAutoloan. It also offers lease-buyout loans and private party auto loans.

MyAutoloan Pros and Cons

What Sets myAutoloan Apart

Here’s what sets myAutoloan apart from its competition:

• One-stop shop: The myAutoloan marketplace offers multiple types of car financing options, which makes it a great place to compare rates if you haven’t decided whether you want to lease or buy a car.
• Online offers in minutes: You can compare offers from up to four lenders within minutes if all your information is complete. Some other companies require you to wait for a call back instead.
• Get a check for the loan amount: Once you’re approved, myAutoloan sends you an online certificate or a check you can take directly to the dealership. Having a check in your hand gives you an edge when negotiating the price too.

Keep reading: myAutoloan review

#2 Autopay: Most Well-rounded

Starting APR: 4.67%
Loan amounts: $2,500 to $100,000
Loan terms: 24 to 84 months
BBB rating: A+

Autopay works with people at all levels of the credit spectrum, which makes it a great option for no-credit auto loans. The company’s network of lenders offers vehicle purchase loans and refinance loans. Options from Autopay include cash-back refinance loans (also known as cash-out auto refinancing) and lease-payoff loans.

Using Autopay is easy since the application is online, and you get access to a loan specialist who can help you throughout the process.

Autopay Pros and Cons

What Sets Autopay Apart

Autopay offers a few unique features in the auto loan industry:

• Loan Champions: When you work with Autopay, you’ll get access to a Loan Champion who will walk you through each step of the process and handle payment transactions and title transfers for you. Having someone to help you through the process can be especially helpful if you don’t have experience with auto loans and you have no credit history.
• Lender variety: Autopay’s lender network includes many types of financial institutions that set their own loan requirements. That’s why Autopay can work with people who have bad credit, thin credit or no credit.
• VIN lookup: During the application process, you can look up the exact vehicle you want to purchase if you have access to its VIN. This will give you the most accurate rates.

#3 Auto Credit Express

Starting APR: Not specified
Loan amounts: Not specified
Loan terms: Vary by lender
BBB rating: A+ with accreditation

Auto Credit Express specializes in financing for borrowers with bad credit, low credit, no credit and bankruptcies. The provider has been in business since 1999 and works with dealerships and other lenders to offer auto loans, refinancing and lease options. If you haven’t been able to find financing from other companies, it can be a good idea to check out Auto Credit Express.

Auto Credit Express Pros and Cons

What Sets Auto Credit Express Apart

Here’s how Auto Credit Express stands out:

• Specialty lending network: Since it works with many lenders, including dealerships, Auto Credit Express can offer loans for people who don’t fit the standard credit criteria.
• Resources and tools: Auto Credit Express offers resources for building credit and useful tools like a car loan calculator and car loan estimator.
• Availability: Auto Credit Express is the only provider on our list that caters to people with no credit, bad credit or thin credit.

Keep reading: Auto Credit Express review

Having no credit is not the same thing as having bad credit. Having no credit means you don’t have enough financial data for a credit report, and having bad credit means you’ve mishandled credit.

If you don’t have a credit history, you’ve likely never taken out any type of loan or credit card. And since you don’t have any payment history, lenders have a hard time assessing your ability to repay a loan. Here are a few reasons you may have no credit history:

• You’re a young driver and haven’t opened any financial accounts
• You pay for everything in full and avoid taking on debt
• Your last credit account activity was over 10 years ago

In contrast, having bad credit means you’ve opened financial accounts and mishandled them. Maybe you missed payments or took on more debt than you could afford to pay back. Either way, some companies do specialize in bad-credit car loans. In the table below, you’ll see the effect of credit score on auto loan rates:

Here are a few ways to get no-credit auto loans:

Check Your Credit First

Check your credit score even if you think you don’t have one. Many types of financial accounts can increase credit scores, and you can check your score for free with a variety of sources online. You can also get a copy of your full credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus once per year at the federally authorized site AnnualCreditReport.com.

Compare Loan Providers

Once you’ve got a clear picture of your credit (or lack thereof), you can begin to compare no-credit auto loan providers. You can find loans like these from dealerships, some banks, credit unions and online lenders.

While a single comparison website may give you multiple offers, we also recommend shopping at multiple comparison websites since each one works with different lenders. And if you’re planning on going to a dealer, you can use online offers to negotiate your rate.

Prequalification vs. Preapproval

Many lenders offer both prequalification and preapproval. Prequalification gives you an estimate of what your rate and payment could be, and it doesn’t require a hard credit check. Preapproval for a loan is a financing offer based on a full application, and it does require a hard credit check. You may or may not need to give your Social Security number to get a preapproval.

Make a Bigger Down Payment

Making a large down payment above 20% can help you secure financing as well. This shows the lender you’re serious about paying the loan off. It also reduces the amount of debt you’ll need to take on and could get you a lower interest rate.

Get a Co-signer

A co-signer can help out a lot if you can’t get a no-credit auto loan, especially as a first-time car buyer. Even if you can get a loan, having a co-signer may help you get a lower interest rate. Of course, your co-signer has to be comfortable being listed on the loan and having the loan on their credit report.

Make sure your co-signer is in a better credit position than you are. If they have a low credit score, it may be better to shop for a loan yourself.

Build Credit First

If you have time, it may be worth it to build some credit before buying a car. You can build an average score in as little as six months if you consistently use credit wisely. One way to start is by opening a credit card with a low limit and paying it off each month. Just put some expenses you normally cover with cash on the card, like groceries or gas, and pay the balance in full. Below are 7 steps for you to build your credit and raise your credit score.

Consider the Sticker Price

How much car you can afford depends on what you want your monthly loan payment and total cost to be. It may make more sense to get a cheaper car if you’re only finding high interest rates. Doing so would help you pay off your car loan faster and save you money on interest.

Avoid Buy-Here, Pay-Here Loans

Since an auto loan uses the vehicle as collateral, almost anyone can get approved if they search hard enough. A lender can repossess the vehicle if the borrower defaults on the loan, which reduces risk. But that doesn’t mean all options are good. In particular, we recommend avoiding buy-here, pay-here dealerships because they usually offer expensive loans with higher interest rates and unfavorable terms for the borrower.

Buy-here, pay-here dealers finance auto loans directly and cater to borrowers with poor credit or no credit. On average, these borrowers are more likely to default on their loans, so the dealers make up for this by charging higher rates and loan fees. You may be offered a long loan term with an affordable payment, but you could pay much more than your car is worth in the end.

You can still find auto loans if you have no credit history, but it pays to compare your loan offers. To decide if an offer is worth it, get your monthly payment options and use a car loan calculator to see how much you’d pay in the end.

Because consumers rely on us to provide objective and accurate information, we created a comprehensive rating system to formulate our rankings of the best auto loan companies. We collected data on dozens of loan providers to grade the companies on a wide range of ranking factors. The end result was an overall rating for each provider, with the companies that scored the most points topping the list.

Here are the factors our ratings take into account:

• Reputation (30% of total score): Our research team considered ratings from industry experts and each lender’s years in business when giving this score.
• Availability (20% of total score): Companies that cover a variety of circ*mstances are more likely to meet borrowers’ needs.
• Loan Details (15% of total score): We considered the types of loans, term lengths and loan amounts that are available from each lender to determine this score.
• Rates (25% of total score): Auto loan providers with low APRs scored highest in this category. Available discounts were also taken into account.
• Customer Experience (10% of total score): This score is based on customer satisfaction ratings and transparency. We also considered the responsiveness and helpfulness of each lender’s customer service team.

*Data accurate at time of publication.