With all of the hype around electric vehicles exploding over the past few years, the idea of owning a Tesla has become a lot more reasonable for consumers all over the country. Of course, there is still a wide gap between dreaming about owning a fancy electric car and actually pulling the trigger on purchasing one, but closing that gap is getting easier and easier every single day.
If you are interested in purchasing a Tesla, one of the first things you should do is plan out exactly how you will pay for it. And if you happen to have an old collection on your credit report, this process might be a little intimidating.
Let’s break down the steps you can take to find out if financing a Tesla is possible for you!
Check Your Credit Report
The first step for anyone looking to finance anything is to pull your credit report and see exactly where you stand.
All major credit reporting agencies provide consumers with a free report at least once/year, but going with a service like MyFico.com puts those reports in more context, which is often worth the small fees they charge.
The key here is to get a recent copy of your credit report so that you can see exactly what your score is and what things might be impacting your score. If you come in at a high number, you should have no problem financing anything you like. If not, we have some work to do.
Address Any Red Flags
The most common negative on any credit report is outstanding collection accounts. However, in most situations, you can get those old creditors to agree to remove their red flags from your credit report as a part of a settlement deal you work out with them.
Even if you cannot work out those details, making sure that all of those old collection accounts are paid off and everything else is current is the first step towards making yourself look good to lenders.
Make a Realistic Assessment
Once you finish trimming the low-hanging fruit on your credit report, it’s time to make a more broad assessment of where you stand. In some cases, issues like massive medical bills or too short of a credit history will not be something you can improve on quickly.
Make an honest and realistic assessment of where you stand with your credit score and set out a plan to make improvements over time.
Execute a Plan to Improve Your Score
Once you have a plan to improve your credit score, the only thing left to do is execute that plan. This is often easier said than done, but if you are diligent about taking care of the issues on your report, it is only a matter of time before things start to improve.
Once those improvements start to show in your credit score, you will be free to start thinking about signing that deal and financing your Tesla. And just like that, you will never have to bother with purchasing gasoline again!
