There are few things as bad as a bankruptcy or bad credit when it comes to getting a car loan. However, this does not mean you can not get a new or used car loan it just may require a little more work.

If your going through a bankruptcy during the initial process, most finance companies probably will not work with you, but after it is finalized, your financial doors will again be open to help you take on debt legally and reestablish yourself after the crash.

When it comes to bad credit, things are little easier because bad credit is not a synonym of No-Credit. Where some companies will refuse to approve your application for car loan, others will approve you and even offer a good or reasonable rate and payment terms.

Regardless of your credit history, check the following tips to find some of the best car loan and terms:

* Get a copy of your credit report before doing anything else, and review that it does not contain erroneous and derogatory information as sometimes may occur. It is estimated that 90% of credit reports contain errors or incorrect information.

What should you look for? Whatever is wrong, for instance your contact information, loan summary or derogatory debt information that is older than 7 years and should be removed.

Derogatory credit and debt reporting must only stay on your credit report for 7 years for bad credit, and up to 10 years if a bankruptcy occurs. Although this period of time is a legal term, some creditors and collection companies often abuse the law, reestablishing bad debt with different loan numbers and other tricks.

This practice is illegal and a violation of the Fair Debt Reporting Act. Wherever you find a fraudulent report contact the company and if they still won't remove the offense you may want to contact a credit attorney.

Any item that does not correspond to your credit history should be reported to the credit bureaus, Equifax, Trans Union, or Experian, for clarification.

Bureaus will contact the creditor and if there is no proof of your debt within 30 days, the disputed information will be removed. A corrected copy of your report will be issued by the credit bureau after this.

* You can add a small entry to valid derogatory entries explaining a sudden illness, car accident, etc. Creditors usually take this information into account, giving you extended credit, or better rates and terms that otherwise they normally would not.

* Do research online before signing the dotted line, because there are numerous online finance companies offering good terms and payments, don't just settle. Try using the different search engines using keywords such as "car loan", "bad credit" and so on. You will be surprised how easy it is to get approved online and get a car loan for automobiles not older than 5 to 7 years and priced up to $15,000.

* Go to a Buy Here, Pay Here. This is a useful tip for people wanting to buy older cars or whose credit will not let them buy at a normal dealership. Buy Here Pay Here dealers "self-finance" the car which means they hold the loan not a bank. The payment terms are usually rough including things like weekly payments. One of the drawbacks is that most Buy Here Pay Here's do not report to the credit bureau and any deal with them will not improve your credit score. Even though interest rates are higher than the average car loan purchased from a financial institution it's an alternative for people who want to borrow little money to buy a car, rather than walking or riding the bus

After getting approved for a car loan, do not miss a payment or make late payments. Remember that you're re-building your credit history and correcting the mistakes of the past. Paying on time every time improves your credit after 1 or 2 years, allowing you to apply for other loans and obtain better rates than you did before.