Boat loans and insurance

Hampton said:
I got 6.5% with 10% down, and it was good at anywhere from 12 - 20 years. I wanted 15, but they worked it up at 20 years. Then, it was between Christmas and New Years, and I had to close by the end of the year, so I went with the 20. My payments are really low, but I don't want to be lulled into a false sense of happiness, so I think I'm going to make extra principle payments.

Even though I bought an '05 well below retail, I don't think I can stay above water (so to speak) let alone build up any equity if I just make the required payment. The good news is that I can cut back to the min required when times get tough - and they will.
Who did you finance with? I would like to do what you're doing, have the option to pay more down on the principle when it is convenient, but not be tied to a high monthly payment. I'm in sales and it can be feast or famine, so I have to go with as low as possible payment for when it's bad, but pay more down when times are good.

I'm not sure I want to put 15% down. I don't like to put money down on depreciating purchases, I'd rather have that money earning rather than sitting in a bad investment.
 
We financed through Beacon Credit (loan through Key Bank) around this time last year. We qualified for a 20 year, 6.5% loan with 0% down. Yes that puts us a bit upside down but the payments are low and we are able to make principle-only payments on our schedule.

This was a calculated risk - we were able to buy the boat of our dreams now and afford to run her. As our income continues to increase we will continue to pay down the principle so we will be paid off well before the 20 year point.

-CJ
 
This seems to be a great topic about interest rates that may be used in the future when someone decides to ask about interest rates. I want to push it a little further. If I recall correctly from the other board doesn't the amount that you finance have alot to do with the rate that the loan institutions can offer. I am not talking about % of value, but actual loan amount; ie. if you are financing a 20,000 boat their best rate is x, if you are financing a $40,000 boat x-1 rate; if you are financing 80,000 x-2 rate, etc. Not really 1 whole point but you get where I am going with this. If I remember and forgive me if I am wrong on this but last February when we financed the boat I realized that if I would have financed $3,000 more dollars I probably would have saved about a point. I had never experience underwriting like this and it was a new concept to me. Had I known I would have had them add some feature to the boat (would have been a good excuse to get that wakeboard tower) to get it to the % rate change but at the end of the day it was a done deal. Am I dreaming this or am I correct. :huh:

Wesley

Edit: Ok maybe this explains it better just went to boatus financing and here is what they had on their page regarding today's rates (just seems different from anything else I have ever financed).

Today's Rates Are:
* 6.99 APR for loans over $100,000
* 7.12% APR for loans $50,000 - $99,999
* 7.50% APR for loans $25,000 - $49,999
* 9.50% APR 10 years for loans $18,000 - $24,999
Subject to change without notice, other restrictions may apply.
 
It is different from say home loans. Typically home loans are always the same percent no matter how much you finance, relative to your credit and ratios of course. But the exception in home loans has to do with the term, 15 vs 30 years for example. The 15 year rate is typically lower than the 30 year rate. The other exception is if you finance a very low amount of money or you go over the conforming loan limit which is $417k. Either one of those scenarios will get you a higher rate. There are of course tons of variables, but that is the basics of it.

Wesley, I understand your point. If you are at a close conversion point, say that there is a different rate for financing 74,999 vs 75,000, it would probably be better to finance the the higher amount for the lower rate. Its like getting the discount per widget, the more you order, the lower it is per unit.
 
Exactly, lets take the loan interest rates above.

You finance $22,000 for 10 yrs at 9.5% Payment 284.67
You decide to buy the wakeboard tower (or any other accessory) for $3,000. This now makes your loan:
$ 25,000 for 10 yrs at 7.5% Payment 296.75
This cost you a total of $12.08 more a month x 12 x 10 = $1449.60

So basically you get $3,000 more boat and it is only costing you $1,449.60 and that is if you go over the whole term of the loan. If you pay it off sooner which most will, you end up saving more because you are not paying all of the interest.

It was just something different that I did not realize until I had purchased my boat. It turns out that the interest rate that I received was a boat show special and I found that it was going to be hard to beat the rate (on the value that I financed). That said if I knew this going in I could have asked for the tier limit and could have evaluated it to see if it made since to upgrade something to get into the lower rate tier.

Just thought it was interesting and since we had a great topic going on interest rates, we could use this in the future to post as a topic to refer to when we get that question about what type of interest rate can I expect on my new boat, etc. :thumbsup:

Wesley
 
Of course if you use your home equity line of credit you can deduct the interest from your taxes even if it not a cruiser, effectively reducing your nominal HELOC rate by 33% ... We were always able to get HELOC rates at 1/2 to 3/4 percent under prime for a 100% equity HELOC.
 
If you use it as a "second home", the interest is typically deductible anyway. This can amount to significant savings, especially in the early part of the loan. If you carefully adjust your withholdings, you can realize the tax savings up front rather than having to wait until filing time.
 
waterlogged said:
If you use it as a "second home", the interest is typically deductible anyway. This can amount to significant savings, especially in the early part of the loan. If you carefully adjust your withholdings, you can realize the tax savings up front rather than having to wait until filing time.
Sure but is has to be a cruiser! Even cuddies are sometimes problematic and a bow rider certainly does not qualify. Using your HELOC you can still deduct the interest for your bowrider from your taxes. That was my point.
 
Welcome to the board ruf1967 I noticed this was your first posting. Again welcome to CSR and looks like you have a great boat!!! :thumbsup:
 
Although I had already secured ar rate of 6.99% for the new boat through the dealer, just last week I noticed that both the dealer's finance company and my freinds at Scott Financial (www.marineloan.com) were offering a 6.5% rate.

That half a percent makes a pretty big difference to me., so I asked the dealer if they could get that rate, and they quickly said no... only one bank was offering that rate and that bank is very selective. Honestly, I got the sense they didn't even try.

So I called Scott. As it turns out, that "one bank" just so happened to be the bank that wrote my previous and current loan, so they had a five year postive history with me. We had to move quickly since the closing might be this week. I met Dale from Scott on Sunday at a rest stop on I-95 (he met me halfway) to give him copies of my tax returns, W-2s, etc and by yesterday afternoon I had the approval at 6.5%.

Bottom line, even though there may only be a few (or in this case one) actual bank that write the loan you are looking for, and that ostensibly many brokers represent that bank, the actual broker you choose CAN make a big difference!

Needless to say, I'd like to reinforce my earlier support for Scott Financial and scpecifically Dale. This will be my fourth loan with Scott.

On another note: Any day now...
 
prodigalson said:
Although I had already secured ar rate of 6.99% for the new boat through the dealer, just last week I noticed that both the dealer's finance company and my freinds at Scott Financial (www.marineloan.com) were offering a 6.5% rate.

That half a percent makes a pretty big difference to me., so I asked the dealer if they could get that rate, and they quickly said no... only one bank was offering that rate and that bank is very selective. Honestly, I got the sense they didn't even try.

So I called Scott. As it turns out, that "one bank" just so happened to be the bank that wrote my previous and current loan, so they had a five year postive history with me. We had to move quickly since the closing might be this week. I met Dale from Scott on Sunday at a rest stop on I-95 (he met me halfway) to give him copies of my tax returns, W-2s, etc and by yesterday afternoon I had the approval at 6.5%.

Bottom line, even though there may only be a few (or in this case one) actual bank that write the loan you are looking for, and that ostensibly many brokers represent that bank, the actual broker you choose CAN make a big difference!

Needless to say, I'd like to reinforce my earlier support for Scott Financial and scpecifically Dale. This will be my fourth loan with Scott.

On another note: Any day now...

Absolute DITTO !!! I can fully second this. We also financed our 340 with Scott Financial and couldn't be happier. Hubbard, our rep at the NC office of Scott was extremely helpful, friendly and fast. A total "no problem" approach and the best rate on the market. I can only recommend them!!
 
boat loan

when i was shopping for the 290 i asked the dealer what they can do for a rate. they offered 7.35% fixed for 5 with a 20yr term.week later they found same terms at 6.89%.
you can use the financing to your benefit when buying from a dealer but do not think twice about asking for a better offer.
driller
 
BrentJones said:
Who did you finance with? I would like to do what you're doing, have the option to pay more down on the principle when it is convenient, but not be tied to a high monthly payment. I'm in sales and it can be feast or famine, so I have to go with as low as possible payment for when it's bad, but pay more down when times are good.

I'm not sure I want to put 15% down. I don't like to put money down on depreciating purchases, I'd rather have that money earning rather than sitting in a bad investment.

I was abreviating, so I confused the issue. I wanted a 15 year loan with 10% down, but settled for the 20 year loan with 10% down that they had written - Key Bank also, coincidently.
 
Wow, you guys sound like you are getting good rates. I have a very good credit score and I was offered 8.25% 20 yrs zero down for a loan of 55k.
 
Festivus,

Was your note through Bank of America? I heard that Bank of America had 6.5%. Did you go 20 years on the boat?

Flettis
 
flettis- the note is with a bank called The Citizens Bank of Laurel MD. I don't think they even have a website. Looks like the only go through brokers.
 

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