What kind of financing rates and terms are out there?

Merrykalia wrote:
My credit union is currently offering:

New and used
12 - 47 months
1.390%

48 - 84 months
1.800% - 2.900% New
2.740% - 3.900% Used

We always use them. They offer much better rates than anyone else offers on mortgages, and loans for cars, truck and RVs.

My credit union is in the same ranges, approximately. But sometimes a dealer can do better, with factory incentives to pay down some of the loan, which can't be used to lower the price, or a price incentive doesn't lower it as much as the loan incentive.

I'm at a point in my life when anything I want I have to think about paying it cash out of savings, but sometimes financing gets me a better price than cash, and sometimes interest rates on the loan are a lot lower than lost income on my capital. You need to investigate and compare all your financing/buying options, and the two things cannot always be separated.

See what the dealer comes up with, know what you can do with your usual lenders, with RV specialists, borrowing against savings or cash values, or just paying out of cash on hand. Sometimes second mortgages work too, mortgage interest rates are currently being held ridiculously low, well under real inflation.

When we were buying our Roadtrek we spoke with both the Credit Union that we bank at and also two banks that we have accounts at. All had higher RV finance rates than what the finance companies the dealer worked with. As has been said the rate will vary greatly by your specific financial circumstances, the terms you want, and your location. Talk to the dealer that you are buying from and go to every bank that you have accounts at. A new or back to 2010 Roadtrek can cost up to $80,000 depending on the model and year so you may want to look at long terms.

gtsum wrote:
Wow, those rates are much lower than I would have anticipated....what is a "normal" rv loan these days (fifth wheel, or trailer)? 5 years, 10 years, 15 years? I would guess the longer terms are more for large Class A's (pricey ones)?

Most lenders I saw base the length of term on the total amount borrowed, not the type of RV. $50k or less might be say 10 yrs, 75k up to maybe 15 yrs, 100k 20yrs. You can always set up a shorter term if you wish, these examples are max lengths and are examples only.

Wow, those rates are much lower than I would have anticipated....what is a "normal" rv loan these days (fifth wheel, or trailer)? 5 years, 10 years, 15 years? I would guess the longer terms are more for large Class A's (pricey ones)?

My credit union is currently offering:

New and used
12 - 47 months
1.390%

48 - 84 months
1.800% - 2.900% New
2.740% - 3.900% Used

We always use them. They offer much better rates than anyone else offers on mortgages, and loans for cars, truck and RVs.

When I looked around to finance back in 2011, the credit unions gave me excellent rates, so I went through the process of getting pre-qualified.

Were I planning to do similar now, I'd probably go through GS or USAA.

double post:S

Essex is popular

Try good sam. They have a good website with rates, calculators, etc. Although we found lower rates elsewhere on our 2013 ERA, it is a great place to start, and you won't get hurt there if that is the best rate/terms you can find. I have not looked lately, but you should at least find 15 or 20 year terms rates probably in the low to mid 4% range, but again I have not looked lately.

You can also google "used RV loan rates" and a ton of offers will come up. Good luck.

It depends on quite a lot of factors. Among them are:

Your credit history
Your FICO score
What you're buying (A,B,C,TC,TT,PopUp, etc.)
New or used
Your down payment
The term (length) of the loan
Where you are in the country
And the list goes on.

The easiest way to learn "what's out there" is to go see your local bank. At the very least, you'll have a place to start. If you've been their customer for a good while, they'll likely be happy to talk with you.

All that said, my suggestion would be that you be sure to separate the financing and the purchase. If you let the dealer arrange the financing, well, lean over comes to mind.

Cheers.