New boat financing

[huntercj]

Looking for advice on where to get the best new boat financing. I live in northern Minnesota very few banks up here to choose from.

[spyguy]

Credit Union - interest rate is extremely low depending on your credit score.

Mine - 2.99%

[Calvin Svihel]

Credit Unions do have the lowest rates when it comes to boat financing. However most of them have short terms, like 60 months or even 72 months. When it comes to 40-70k for some boats, most people want a longer term to pay just in case life throws you a curve ball financially you can pay the smaller amount if needed. Always recommended to pay extra if budget allows on any simple interest loan to ultimately avoid paying more interest than you have to.

So to answer the question about who has the best rate/term. I think most boat dealers have the ability to go longer term than credit unions, but credit unions have the best rate. Set a budget for a boat payment, find financing that makes sense for the budget, and set a goal to have boat paid off that fits family or personal lifestyle.

Its tough to answer financing questions on a forum because everyone has different finance goals, credit, and budgets. Best thing to do is find a boat and payment that fits you and the budget.

Plenty of banks and credit unions willing to lend in Northern MN
Good Luck,

[Slim03]

Dealers typically have access to many different lenders for loans and will work with them to get you the best possible deal.

[97roughneck]

I've mentioned this on this forum before to limited response, so I don't know why people are adverse to the idea but if you have good equity in your home, a HELOC (Home Equity Line Of Credit) is a good way to go.

Mine is set up for 5 yrs @ 3.75%. It's interest only payments so it's up to you how fast you pay down the principle. So you have to be pretty disciplined.

The huge advantage of this loan to me is the interest is deductible on your taxes, same as the mortgage interest you pay on your house. The 2.99% rate at the credit union is just consumer debt and not deductible.

I'm very adverse to paying consumer interest so this is a way I can have a toy without saving all the money for it upfront. Even though I still pay interest, it's good (deductible) interest. If there is such a thing.

[Swamp Ape]

I think what Roughneck says is solid. Unless you have very little equity in your home. We did this years ago on a more expensive inland lake boat and it was nice to write off the interest. We had another boat that we were able to finance as a second home (Cabin) due to the size of it and the fact that we used it like a cabin in a marina on Lake Superior.

I live in MN as well and have had really good luck with regular loans through Affinity Plus FCU. They have great rates and offer extended length loans on new boats (up to 15 years I think). They also run promotions throughout the year where you can lower your interest rate by signing up for various promotions. Worth a check.

that's my $.02

[MoWalleyeguy]

I used a Credit Union... just made a call and got 2.30% so I jumped on it. I put some money down and also did "auto-pay" which both helped lower the interest rate.

[reclending]

Originally Posted by huntercj

Looking for advice on where to get the best new boat financing. I live in northern Minnesota very few banks up here to choose from.

We have options for your area. Let me know if we can help.
Thank you,
Ken
(517) 543-6921

[CMesserschmidt]

Originally Posted by 97roughneck

I've mentioned this on this forum before to limited response, so I don't know why people are adverse to the idea but if you have good equity in your home, a HELOC (Home Equity Line Of Credit) is a good way to go.

Mine is set up for 5 yrs @ 3.75%. It's interest only payments so it's up to you how fast you pay down the principle. So you have to be pretty disciplined.

The huge advantage of this loan to me is the interest is deductible on your taxes, same as the mortgage interest you pay on your house. The 2.99% rate at the credit union is just consumer debt and not deductible.

I'm very adverse to paying consumer interest so this is a way I can have a toy without saving all the money for it upfront. Even though I still pay interest, it's good (deductible) interest. If there is such a thing.

The new Tax plan that was just passed put the kibosh to deducting interest on Home equity loans. And there is no grandfathering either. So if anyone has done this, you're losing that write off.

This kind of sucks but it is what it is.

[Scott C]

Originally Posted by MACH

The new Tax plan that was just passed put the kibosh to deducting interest on Home equity loans. And there is no grandfathering either. So if anyone has done this, you're losing that write off.

This kind of sucks but it is what it is.

Its really a good thing IMO, maybe people will think twice about borrowing against a house for something as trivial as a boat. Then again if they are that compulsive they can still do a full cash out re-fi and get a boat.