New Boat Financing

[zoom650]

If you're shopping new boats, pick up the phone and call the finance manager at your favorite boat dealer or two. He's got his "best deal" lender on tap and is the one with all the money answers.

I was offered a loan up to 20 years. Banterra Bank was the name of that lender, not that it matters. The rate wan't that great, and was more for convenience for me at the time.

If buying a used boat, then you'll need to shop lenders. It's pretty easy to join a credit union. I think you'll see shorter length of time offered in the used market. Rate will probably vary depending on amount of your down payment.

[ron nh]

Credit unions, up here anyway, will go 15 years on 30k or over.

[Nate]

Bought our boat last year. Used the financing company the dealer works with. They placed the loan with First Merit Bank (now Huntington). 6 years, 4.99%. I shopped around online and found a few places that were 4.5% but figured I would just stick with the financing company the dealer used to keep things simple and because I will probably pay it off quickly anyway.

[ROLAND]

another option as far as getting a good rate, look into home equity loans... for me the heloc loan was best... I had the house paid for so I just opened a home equity line to buy my boat. What I like about those loans is you are not locked into an exact "payment" each month. There is normally a minimum, but on some months if things are tight you could pay a little less on your boat if need be.. fortunately nothing big happened so I was able to pay off the boat in just about a year. also, the home equity loan rate at that time was 1.99% Doubt that they're that low now. That was 6 or 7 years ago.

[ron nh]

[quote="Nate"]Bought our boat last year. Used the financing company the dealer works with. They placed the loan with First Merit Bank (now Huntington). 6 years, 4.99%. I shopped around online and found a few places that were 4.5% but figured I would just stick with the financing company the dealer used to keep things simple and because I will probably pay it off quickly anyway.[/quote]
First off, Where did you come from? I thought there were only 2 Qwest on here. You should be able to get much lower on a 6 year. Is it that high now, When I bought in 2015 7 years were 3%.

[Nate]

[quote="ron nh"]
First off, Where did you come from? I thought there were only 2 Qwest on here. You should be able to get much lower on a 6 year. Is it that high now, When I bought in 2015 7 years were 3%.[/quote]

Been lurking for a while . . . Bought the Apex in May of 2016.

Fed increased rates in December 2015 and banks expected more in 2016 (although it didn't happen until December 2016h so they increased in anticipation. A point or two makes little difference since I will probably pay off in two years.

[brocja01]

Just did ours, through the dealer. 10% down, 15year, 4.9%.

Didn't think that was too bad.

[mpilot]

We must be lucky down here I guess. Almost everyone I know has loans that are below 3.5% if not below 3% like ours, even for 12-15 year loans. We do have quite a few credit unions that are fighting for business so I suppose that helps.

[Bamaman]

Like has been said, FICO scores really matter.

I suggest using credit unions for boat loans, and they'll average around 4.00% APR.

Financing rates are higher on boat loans due to higher than normal delinquency rates and higher percentage of repossessions and losses. There is also no national source of boat auctions to liquidate boats, and finance companies don't promptly move their repossessions very fast. Throw in long term financing on boats, and the loss potential to any financial source is much higher than on automobiles or light trucks.