Car finance on a 457

[Guest Eralc]

Hi,

 

I was wondering if anyone could help us? We are living in Sydney for 2 years as my husband is on a work secondment. We are here on a 457 visa (and, somewhat naively hadn't fully appreciated the limitations this would place on us).

 

We are desparately trying to get an $8000 dollar loan for a used car (we have already put a $500 deposit on a car, having been assured by our bank that they would be able to give us a loan - a week and a half later they have changed their minds). We earn a good income (over $100,000 p.a.), and I am finding it very frustrating trying to find somewhere that will consider us for a loan. We have tried some of the major banks - the only one that will consider us need the company to act as guarantors, which they won't do. The finance company at the car sales place will give us a loan, but at 20% interest, which is just not financially sensible for us.

 

Does anyone have any good ideas about what we could do? With a 2 year old, and another on the way, I am pretty stuck without a car where we are living. Thanks so much for any help.

[kdyer12]

We are in Melbourne on a 457 and went to buy a second hand car. To be honest the rate of interest was that big that we calculated that we could buy a new car at a much lower rate of interest via a dealership for the same price. We got a hyunai Getz, with 4 years warranty for 14000.00 dollars.

Only proviso was the loan had to be paid in full 6 months before the 457 visa end date.

Hope that helps

[bryam99]

Hi there,

we bought a new car on 100% finance from a Holden dealership. They were very helpful and same thing, we just have to pay the loan before our visa runs out. We were a bit naive about the limitations of the visa too :embarrassed: lots of things crop up!!

[Quinkla]

I’m afraid you won’t get finance on a loan that would run beyond the date of your visa expiry. That’s because the finance company doubt that you would still be around to make the repayments. You may be able to get a short term loan but they are expensive as there are high costs to set up a loan and the finance company doesn’t get as much interest from short term loans as it would get from a longer term loan. You may have to save up cash and buy a very old used car. That’s where I’m at.

[Guest Bernicem80]

Hi

We too are on a 457 and bought a new car 6months ago. As others have mentioned, the term of the loan had to be slightly less than the time remaining on our visa - so the finance people know that it will be paid off prior to the visa expiring.

 

Let me know if you want me to find anything else out for you, as working in the industry I might be able to find a lender that could help!

 

Regards

[Pond321]

I used a company called Stratton Finance. They were excellent – it was no harder than getting a loan in the UK. However, as previously stated, the loan cannot last longer than your 457 – I think I took out a term of 42 months (given my 457 lasts for 48). The interest rate was about 8.6%, which seems pretty fair over here. The finance they offered was cheaper than the finance the dealer (Booran Suzuki) were offering – in fact, the finance guy at Suzuki basically said I would be better off going with them than his finance company. I would google them and give them a call.