iA Auto Finance car loans after bankruptcy or a proposal

Who iA Auto Finance is

iA Auto Finance belongs to iA Financial Group, one of Canada's largest insurers, and it lends only through dealerships. Its programs are non-prime by design: it exists for the file that a bank, including a bank's own non-prime arm, has declined or would decline. It is active on both sides of the river and is as comfortable with Quebec paperwork as with Ontario's.

In our experience, iA's particular strength is insolvency. Where some lenders wait for time to pass after a discharge, iA reads the file as it stands today: is the income there, are the payments since the event current, and does the new payment fit.

The files iA approves

These are the profiles we place with iA most often.

• Discharged bankruptcy, including recent discharges, with the certificate in hand.
• Completed consumer proposal, with the certificate of full performance.
• An active consumer proposal where payments are current and the trustee confirms in writing that the car payment fits the budget.
• Bad credit with collections or a past repossession, once new income is established.
• Employment income with a few months on the job, or self-employment with bank statements showing deposits.

What iA looks at

Income first, then stability, then the vehicle. iA verifies pay stubs, job letters and bank deposits, sets a payment-to-income limit, and assigns a tier that determines the rate and vehicle budget. On an insolvency file it wants the paperwork: the discharge certificate, the certificate of full performance, or the trustee's contact details and a statement of proposal payments. A file with those attached is decided quickly; a file without them waits.

What an iA approval looks like

A tier, a maximum payment, a vehicle budget and a term. Rates are higher than a bank's, in line with the tier, and the loan is open so it can be paid down or refinanced without penalty. iA reports every payment to Equifax and TransUnion. That reporting is the point: a year of clean payments on an iA loan after a discharge is usually what moves a buyer into bank territory on the next vehicle, or into a refinance on this one.

How to improve your odds with iA

On an iA file, preparation matters more than anything else.

• Bring every insolvency document on day one. The trustee's details and a payment statement can turn a decline into an approval on an active proposal.
• Make sure the proposal or any remaining payments are current; iA reads the months since the event, not the event itself.
• A down payment lifts the tier and widens the vehicle budget.
• Choose a vehicle inside iA's age and mileage range; it will not stretch the vehicle to fit the buyer.

iA where you live

iA lends in both provinces. Insolvency is federal, so a bankruptcy or proposal is read the same way in Ottawa and Gatineau. The purchase differs: Ontario registration with HST, or SAAQ registration with GST plus QST, and the SAAQ inspection if a Gatineau buyer takes an Ottawa vehicle. We sequence the inspection and the loan so neither waits on the other. In Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador the same program applies; the purchase follows that province's rules, with HST at 14 or 15 percent, a current provincial inspection and registration at the provincial registry, and we handle that paperwork the same way.

When we place a file elsewhere

If the file is near-prime with no insolvency, Scotia Dealer Advantage or TD Auto Finance usually return a better tier. If the file is below iA's floor, very recent events with no payments since, or income that cannot be documented, EdenPark, Iceberg Finance or Santander Consumer are the next stops. We present once, to the lender whose program fits, so the only inquiry on your file is the one that gets you approved.