The form you fill out is sent directly to our finance manager who will review the information and check your credit score. If this is your first step with us, we will stop there and contact you to determine your goals. We will not proceed without your permission. If you have already set up a purchase agreement with our sales staff, we will submit the application to a minimal amount of lenders to determine the best interest rates and terms for you.
The main factors in determining interest rate are your credit score, the total amount financed and the down payment. Generally, the higher your score, the greater your down payment, and the more you finance — the better the rates get. We won't know the exact rate until you choose a unit and the bank approves you. Lately, rates have risen somewhat — our customers with average credit will be around 6.99%, while very good credit and a down payment can sometimes get around 5.99% or less. Rates for customers with low credit scores can vary from 9.95% all the way up to 17.95%. It's important to understand that RV lenders are stricter than auto lenders — they don't offer the super low rates (less than 3%) sometimes available to car buyers. That said, we work hard to get our customers the very best rate possible.
RV lenders generally require 10-20% down payment (cash or trade equity) for financing — some require even more. We do have a few lenders that will finance 0% down RV loans, but only for high-credit customers, and the associated rates are often higher.
We have a great working relationship with about 8-10 banks and credit unions that offer very competitive rates for fifth wheel, travel trailer and horse trailer financing. We deal with competitive national banks such as Bank of America, US Bank, Bank of the West, Ally Bank, CFSB, Huntington, Banterra, and Merrick, as well as credit unions like Advancial FCU.
In many cases, even if your credit has been dragged down by various issues, we are still able to get you approved for a loan. Depending on your particular situation, we have a few banks that will provide financing even with a low credit score. Typically there are more stringent requirements in term and down payment, but we can usually find an option that works for you.
Customers are often surprised to find out the length of terms available for RV loans. We can frequently get financing approved for 10, 12, and 15 year terms, depending on the size of the loan. Longer terms often mean monthly notes even lower than with autos. Rates are fantastic right now and financing your RV lets you maintain your liquidity rather than put all of your hard-earned cash down at once.
There are no pre-payment penalties for any of the lenders we work with. The big advantage of this is while you can pay extra principal when times are good, you are only obligated for a small note when times are lean. There may be a small documentation fee (~$25) to pay off in full, but it is worth it to save years of interest. We definitely recommend paying extra when you can!
We understand protecting your credit is important, so we take great care in submitting applications for our customers. We will never "shotgun" your credit information out to lots of lenders at once, as some dealers do, which drags down your score. Our finance managers carefully select a few lenders that best fit your specific needs and start there. If those don't work, we will try a few more. It takes a little longer and requires more work on our end, but we believe in doing what's best for our customers. We will not share your personal information with anyone except the actual lenders looking at your loan.