How to Get a Horse Trailer with Bad Credit

If you have a horse and are involved in equestrian sports, a horse trailer could quickly become necessary. Transporting horses cannot be done in other kinds of trailers. Horse trailers are specialized equipment and therefore quite expensive. You may be able to purchase one with a loan, however. Read on to learn a bit about bad credit horse trailer financing.

Can a Horse Trailer Be Financed?

If you don’t have enough cash to buy a horse trailer, it is possible to get a loan to buy it. However, a horse trailer cannot be financed in the same way as a house or car. If you want to buy a horse trailer for your personal use (that is, not as part of your business) then you will need to get a personal loan to finance it.

Many different lenders offer personal loans. The requirements and limits for each lender are different, and so are the benefits and lending costs associated with each. 

3 Best Horse Trailer Loans

Below are a few options you can explore if you are looking for a personal loan lender to make all your bad credit horse trailer financing dreams come true.

Upstart

Upstart is an online lender. Upstart gives loans to people with fair or bad credit scores. They do this by focusing on other factors, including your education level and employment status. The repayment terms for a loan from this lender are 36 or 60 months, with late fees of $15 (or 5% of the payment) for late payments. 

To check your eligibility, Upstart uses a soft credit check. If you are approved, you could receive the money in one business day. The origination fee varies between 0% and 8%.

Upgrade

Upgrade also allows you to pre-qualify without a hard credit check. When deciding whether to approve your application, Upgrade considers how much of your income is currently ‘free’, among other factors. 

In other words, even if you have a bad credit score, if you have a significant amount of money every month that you don’t have to dedicate towards loan repayments and other expenses, Upgrade may approve your application.

If your application is approved you could have the money in your account the next day. Then, you have between 24 and 84 months to repay it. Upgrade charges a $10 fee for late payments and an origination fee of between 1.85% and 8%.

LightStream

Lightstream is a good option only if your credit score is very good. LightStream does not charge an origination fee or any fees for late payments. In addition, you can get a 0.5% discount on your interest rate if you arrange autopay repayments for your loan. If you are approved for a LightStream loan, you could have the money in your account the same day, then you will have between 24 and 84 months to repay it.

Alternative Ways to Finance a Horse Trailer

If a personal loan does not meet your need for bad credit horse trailer financing, here are a few alternatives you can explore.

Home Equity Line of Credit

A line of credit is similar to a loan but works like a credit card. A home equity line of credit (HELOC) is a credit facility that uses your house as collateral. This allows you to get credit for things as you need them. A HELOC would work if, for example, you were just getting started in the sport and were unsure how much money you would need for equestrian equipment.

You pay interest on the amount you have used from the home equity line of credit and pay it off on a rolling basis, like how you pay off a credit card.

Using your home as collateral to pay for sports equipment is not a decision to take lightly. If you fail to make repayments, your HELOC lender could foreclose on your home to recover the money you borrowed. Keep this in mind when deciding how to go about bad credit horse trailer financing.

Home Equity Loans

A home equity loan allows you to get a loan by using your home as collateral for a loan. Unlike a HELOC, you receive the money as a single lump sum, so you have to know in advance how much you need. This would work if, for example, you needed to buy one specific thing, like a horse trailer, whose price you knew beforehand. 

If you are approved, you begin paying back a home equity loan continuously until the end of the repayment period. Since you are offering your home as collateral, home equity loans tend to have lower interest rates than personal loans. 

However, keep in mind if you fail to repay a personal loan, you lose your credit score. If you fail to repay a home equity loan, you lose your home. 

Thus, using your home as collateral to pay for sports equipment is not a decision to take lightly. If you fail to make repayments, your lender could decide to foreclose on your home to recover the money you borrowed. Keep this in mind when deciding how to go about bad credit horse trailer financing.

Horse Trailer Financing for Bad Credit

The concerns addressed below frequently come up in the bad credit horse trailer financing debate. 

Is There a Minimum Credit Score to Finance a Horse Trailer?

Whether there is a minimum credit score depends both on the type of loan and the lender you choose for bad credit horse trailer financing. Some personal loan lenders will approve your application even with a low credit score if you meet other requirements such as:

• high ‘free cash flow’
• education level
• employment status
• payment history of rent, utilities, etc.

How to Get a Horse Trailer Loan with Bad Credit

Different lenders have different requirements that you have to meet. Therefore, they also have different procedures you have to follow to achieve bad credit horse trailer financing. However, in general, you will have to provide the following: 

• your social security number (or equivalent)
• information about your income
• your banking details
• your contact information (phone, mailing address, etc.)
• some form of official identification (e.g. passport, ID, driver’s license, etc.).

Read More

• How to Remove Paid Collections from a Credit Report
• How to Get Approved for a Cell Phone with Bad Credit
• How Many Points Will My Credit Score Increase When I Pay Off Collections?
• How to Check Your Credit Score Without an SSN
• How to Remove Late Payments from a Credit Report
• Why Did My Credit Score Go Down When Nothing Changed?
• How Accurate is Credit Karma?
• Can You Be Denied a Job Because of Bad Credit?

Final Thoughts 

If you are seeking bad credit horse trailer financing, you will generally have to do it using a personal loan. Some personal loan lenders don’t require a good credit score to approve your application, as long as you meet other criteria such as education level, income, or employment status. An alternative is to use your home as collateral for a home equity loan or line of credit. If putting up your home to buy sports equipment for personal use sounds like a good idea to you, you could benefit from much lower interest rates than a personal loan.

Frank Gogol

I’m a firm believer that information is the key to financial freedom. On the Stilt Blog, I write about the complex topics — like finance, immigration, and technology — to help immigrants make the most of their lives in the U.S. Our content and brand have been featured in Forbes, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, and more.

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