Everything you ever wanted to know about the "All Credit Applications Accepted Scam" but didn't know who to ask. Also known as the "All Credit Applications Approved Scam".
This is one of the most commonly used car dealer advertising scams used in dealer's advertising and is highly effective to drive traffic to the dealership.
Targeting individuals with less than perfect credit, you can find the term "all credit applications accepted" in a car dealers print, TV, Internet, and radio ads.
There are many variations of this statement, it's just a play on words. The car dealer wants you to believe no matter how bad your credit is, they will be able to find you financing and approve you for a car loan.
Why Dealers Advertise All Applications Approved
This popular dealer advertising scam is used to drive traffic to the dealership. Customers with questionable or bad credit read the advertisement and believe their chances are greatly improved to finance a car.
The all credit applications accepted statement or variations of the statement, when used in a dealers advertising, will drive high amounts of bad credit car buyers to the dealership.
Once these customers show up at the dealership in hopes of being approved for a vehicle. It's the car salesman's job to weed out the people that can actually buy a car from the people who can't.
Familiarize yourself with how dealers finance cars to see why it's important to know how the finance process works in a dealership.
How the All Credit Applications Accepted Scam Works
This statement is usually combined with a call to action statement or urgency statements when used in a dealer's advertising. Here's an example of how you may see this statement in a ad below:
Special Lenders On Site
All Credit Applications Will Be Accepted!
Labor Day Weekend Only
The idea behind the "All Credit Applications Approved" statement is to give you a false belief you're essentially guaranteed to be approved for a car loan. This type of advertising is directed towards people that have bad credit or have been recently turned down for a car loan at another dealership.
When combined with other statements the ad continues to make you believe there are special banks and lenders visiting the dealership to help you get a car loan. The urgency statement, "Labor Day Weekend Only" instills the illusion, the offer is only available for a limited time so you better hurry up and get there.
The true meaning of the all credit applications approved statement is not that you're guaranteed to be approved for a loan. It means the dealer will accept or approve of you submitting a credit application to them. This scam is a very dirty little play on words but is continually used because of its high effectiveness to create large amounts of traffic.
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How to Avoid the All Credit Applications Accepted Scam
- Have a good idea of how the auto finance process works in a dealership. You can read more about how to finance a new or used car, how dealers make money financing vehicles, and how to get a pre-approved car loan in my detailed auto finance guide.
- Don't let the finance department know more about your credit history than you do. Know your credit history before visiting a car dealership. Get and review your personal credit reports and scores from a reputable online company such as MyFreeScoreNow before applying for loan.
- Avoid deceptive car dealership advertising. Competitive pricing always gets you the best deal. Have car dealers compete in a reverse bidding war for your business by having them send you discounted price quotes to your inbox. Read more detail on how to get car dealers to bid for your business online.
- Only finance a vehicle with a dealership as a last resort. The best online auto loan companies we recommend will provide you with free no-obligation auto loan quotes. if you choose you may use these quotes to negotiate a better interest rate with a dealers finance department.
- Always look for the asterisk or symbol when you see a price or payment posted in a car dealer's advertisement. You should always carefully inspect the advertisement and read any small print you find. This small print will disclose any special details that pertain to the offers in the advertisement.
- If you have some bumps in your credit history or no credit history at all and would like to get pre-approved. Read my article for tips on how to get a car loan online with bad credit.
Familiarize yourself with more car dealer scams to avoid overpaying for your next new or used car.
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