I recently placed a deposit for a second-hand car and now I have to apply for a bank loan. I asked two banks and they both said they cannot process my loan application as I am purchasing a car from an individual owner. They will only give the loans out to people who buy from second-hand car dealers or new car dealers.

The reason is that there is allegedly too much work involved due to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the banks prefer that the dealers do all the paperwork and they would just release the money when the loan is approved.

I am shocked as this means people like us who prefer to buy a car from an individual won’t be able to get a car loan for it. Where are we going to get a loan?

I was told almost all the banks have stopped giving out loans to people who buy from individuals due to complications with GST.

I would greatly appreciate if you could check on what the complications are as this will affect the individuals who want to buy or sell a car. This benefits the second-hand car dealers as car owners are forced to sell their car to them and they in turn sell to buyers at a higher price to make a good margin.

That leaves the car buyers and sellers at the losing end. This is not right and not fair.

I hope you could investigate and confirm this with the banks and highlight this in your papers so the public is aware of the dilemma they are in before they put a deposit on a second-hand car.

I am in a dilemma now.