IS this you? Well off, broadsheet reading, able to take frequent holidays – but can’t get the finance for a car?

It seems the risk averse nature of finance companies – aided and abetted by the non-thinking computer program which plods along with its 1s and 0s without a shade of grey or understanding – is leading to many affluent people finding out they are turned down for car finance credit.

That’s certainly the view of Richard Cox who called me in the office to explain what his company, The Funding Corporation, had found.

And, because we all like a label, Richard has called these people the “adverse affluent”.

Richard told me: “Just about every profession is represented among the adverse affluent, and it will have come as a shock to many to find themselves turned down for car finance by a lender.

“Until quite recently, credit blemishes such as a missed instalment to a wine club or a late credit card payment might have been nodded through by a bank.

“Now they can add up to an automatic rejection without any consideration given to a person’s ability to afford the loan repayments,” added Richard, whose company funds cars sold by ACF Car Finance.

I know what he means. A friend of mine is currently buying a house and was at first rejected for the mortgage. And why? For the sake of a missed credit card payment – value sub £50 – and subsequently paid, the computer program has deemed him unfit to finance a mortgage.

The black mark was enough to trigger the computer’s alarm bells in a classic “the computer says no” case when quite clearly he has the means to afford the mortgage comfortably.

I told Richard about this. “This is typical. These people show no evidence of money mismanagement issues, but are often the victims of past minor lapses which have since been remedied.”

So are you one of the ‘adverse affluent’, able to afford a business car lease but are turned down for credit? Let me know.

I’ll cover the issue in another business car manager blog.