Motorcycle Financing

[MikeyRocks]

So I have one of those loans the dealership offers you with the "Low Monthly Payments!!!" which I feel is very misleading. They offer you this low payment knowing if you keep making that payment, your bike will NEVER get paid off. I always paid more than needed, but are there any lenders out there offering a better deal that I can possibly refinance into? I'm sure there's financing available out there where I'd be paying less than the 9.9% interest I'm paying right now...

 

[faz]

Check with your local credit unions... they usually have a great rate for motorcycles (relatively speaking) and all it would take for you is to open an account with them. (of course, you need good credit.)

 

[K2sfc]

I got 6.75% with Redwood credit union

 

[Skidmarx]

It sucks that money market account interest rates have fallen to below 1% but credit card and loan rates are still up. Lame.

How about doubling up on payments? The second payment goes directly to principal. It saves tons of cash in interest.

 

[Hanniballs]

Credit unions are the way to go. I use Pacific Service. Their current rates are 5.79 - 11.49%. I got the 5.79% but I do have good credit.

 

[cruzinZ]

Check with credit unions. When I got my bike they were running a special @ 4.75%. My brother got lucky when he bought his Jeep. He ended up getting 3.19%.

Good luck and refinance it asap. 9.9% is money down the drain... epically if your paying more than the minimum to try to get it over with. Get a cheaper rate & keep paying more on top of what you owe every month. You'll get it paid off.

 

[MikeyRocks]

Thanks everyone, looks like I'm going to have to consult with a credit union.

 

[Hooli]

Co-signed on credit unions.

 

[Stormdragon]

Also look into shorter loans. Often the interest rate is lower on shorter loans, making the payments almost the same.

 

[Hoe Dogg]

+1 thats what i do. got a locked 7 % rate

Check with your local credit unions... they usually have a great rate for motorcycles (relatively speaking) and all it would take for you is to open an account with them. (of course, you need good credit.)

 

[shiryu]

So I have one of those loans the dealership offers you with the "Low Monthly Payments!!!" which I feel is very misleading. They offer you this low payment knowing if you keep making that payment, your bike will NEVER get paid off. I always paid more than needed, but are there any lenders out there offering a better deal that I can possibly refinance into? I'm sure there's financing available out there where I'd be paying less than the 9.9% interest I'm paying right now...

If you're going to buy through those factory financial plans, typically those suck you in rates end after 2 years then it becomes 22%. Its an ARM for motorcycles. Strategy calls $800-1000 payments if you want to pay it off in a year, or 500ish a month over 2 years.

 

[hyo650]

the on thing you HAVE to watch out for is that the loan (realistically, however, a line of credit) you're getting is fully ammortized. A lot of those $49/ month things are interest only payments that barely cover the interested that has accrued on the loan. Usually, the first thing i ask when i'm talking about financing is if it is an ammortized loan. If they dont offer it, shop arround til you find a place that'll do it for you.

 

[sifr]

Frankly, if you can't pay cash for the bike, save your pennies until you can. If you're having trouble affording the bike, you're going to have trouble affording gear, gas, maintenance, and insurance, too.

 

[greener]

I got a generic cash loan from my credit union and its only 3%

 

[TTTom]

the on thing you HAVE to watch out for is that the loan (realistically, however, a line of credit) you're getting is fully ammortized. A lot of those $49/ month things are interest only payments that barely cover the interested that has accrued on the loan. Usually, the first thing i ask when i'm talking about financing is if it is an ammortized loan. If they dont offer it, shop arround til you find a place that'll do it for you.

Yup. it's a sad story... noob buys new 600 on revolving credit loan which doesn't require insurance, noob drops bike and can't afford to fix it, two years later noob still owes $9K on a wrecked bike.

 

[vienjoseph]

So I have one of those loans the dealership offers you with the "Low Monthly Payments!!!" which I feel is very misleading. They offer you this low payment knowing if you keep making that payment, your bike will NEVER get paid off. I always paid more than needed, but are there any lenders out there offering a better deal that I can possibly refinance into? I'm sure there's financing available out there where I'd be paying less than the 9.9% interest I'm paying right now...

Hey Mike, I'm with Statefarm insurance and I also had helped a lot of folks on BARF with their insurance. I know a lot of people may not know but Statefarm is also a bank. We offer refinancing loan or new purchase loan, one of the benefit Statefarm loan offer is gap insurance automatic included. Call me if you want me to check on some rates for you. Cheers!

 

[ian408]

What sucks is that most sales people will sell you a bike or a car based on monthly payments. As a buyer, monthly payments are important but you should know more about what the interest rate is, what the terms of the loan are and how much you will pay over the life of the loan. You have the responsibility to know this before you sign on the dotted line because the sales guy knows that to hook you, he must make you comfortable with the payment plan.

 

[Slick51o]

My credit isn't great but I owned my truck outright, so I was able to take a loan out on the truck, since it has full coverage, at 6% and used the cash to buy a used bike from a private seller

 

[Cal24Rallymaster]

Credit unions are the way to go. I use Pacific Service. Their current rates are 5.79 - 11.49%. I got the 5.79% but I do have good credit.

+1 on Pacific Service. I have a loan from a couple years ago at 6%. I don't know about rolling another loan over to them though. You can call and see.

 

[Cal24Rallymaster]

So I have one of those loans the dealership offers you with the "Low Monthly Payments!!!" which I feel is very misleading. They offer you this low payment knowing if you keep making that payment, your bike will NEVER get paid off. I always paid more than needed, but are there any lenders out there offering a better deal that I can possibly refinance into? I'm sure there's financing available out there where I'd be paying less than the 9.9% interest I'm paying right now...

It is buyer beware when it comes to things like this. The financing that most manufacturers use is credit card loans. You have a minimum payment that is based on your current balance. As you pay it down, the minimum payment goes down. The game they play is that they offer competitive rates for a fixed amount of time, like 3 years. But if you only make the minimum payment, you don't pay off the loan in that time. After that, the interest rate goes up to about 19%, and now the minimum payment hardly covers the interest, so you never pay it off.

If you understand that going in, (If your dealer didn't explain it to you, then you should be looking for a different dealer!) you can decided you're going to pay say $160/month instead of the $99/month they advertise, you pay off the loan before the rate goes up and you have a reasonable 3 year loan.

If however you only make the minimum payments, just like a credit card you never pay it down. You end up making payments of $190/month after 3 years, and have a 3 year old bike that you owe thousands more on it than it's worth.