How soon can I refinance Ford Motor Credit loan?
 

I financed through FMC to get the $1000 incentive. Dealer told me to make three payments and then I could refinance. I remember refinancing after 1 payment two cars ago and never heard a peep.

Anyone do this recently and did you have any issues?

I would call up the FMC loan company to see for sure.

When I bought my wife's Honda we refinanced within a day or two from driving it home.

I contacted FMC and found out you can refinance (i.e., payoff FMC) immediately with no penalty.

Subject : Re: Payment Information <<##>>

Dear XXX,

Thank you for contacting Ford Credit.
I apologize for any confusion. You are welcome to payoff your account at any time. As of today's date, the payoff amount for your account is $XXX.XX with a good through date of 08/20/09. Once received, we will issue paid in full documents, which will enable you to have our lien removed from the vehicle title. Please remit the payoff, with your account number, to:

Ford Credit
P.O. Box 790119
St. Louis, MO 63179-0119

Thank you for visiting us on-line.

Sincerely,

Tina
Ford Credit
44904021

I don't see anything in the contract. Salesman made it sound like they might be penalized if I refinanced early than 3 payments.

ASAP...it will not affect you...maybe the dealer,but not you.

A few years ago the salesman told me I could refinance at any time.

Dealer told me 3 months as well. I don't think FMC cares, but he made it sound like the dealer wouldn't get full credit for the $1000 discount. You might check with your Credit Union before the purchase....sometimes the rate will change from "new" to "used". Some will define it different.

I was told the same thing on my wifes car, wait three months. I refinanced through my credit union within two weeks of buying. Over a year ago and no issues. Its all about that interest they receive.

Immediately.

The sooner the better.

Refinance ASAP! You will not be penalized.

If anyone is looking at rates, USAA (for those with prior-current military) is tough to beat at 4.19% for 48 months. Local Credit Union here was 5.75% for 48.

Good luck! -Matt

X2...

The 3 month deal is BS... my dealer said I could pay it off whenever I was ready. Went through USAA and got a heck of a deal.

One thing to consider... they will only finance XX,XXX.XX amount, based on their valuation of the truck. I unfortunately rolled some negative into my '09 and when I refinanced, they would only cover the value of the new truck and nothing more. Good and bad, I had to come out of pocket a little rather than paying it down over time... good news is I was forced to elminate that negative...

The reason why they tell you 3 months is because anytime before that the dealer/ finance manager get charged back a few hundred dollars from ford credit. As a rule of thumb we usually tell our customers wait until you get the first bill in the mail that way ford has time to process the loan.

I did the same last time. Went home, waiting 3 days for it to be in the system and sent the check out. That way the dealer does not makes his cut either. There was no penalty for me. And I am doing it again this week after buying my FX4.

I just refinanced my '10 FX4 through USAA...can't beat their rates!

do it right away take your $1000 and run i did.

Just wondering why you are against a dealer making money. I Dont blame you for refinancing it before the 3 months, hell i did the same thing. On the other had business' have to turn a profit in order to stay in business. I just hope your not one of the guys that pays them a couple hundred dollars profit on a 40k+ truck and complains when they dont bend over backwards for you when something goes wrong. Rant off...:beers:

Thanks all for the input. I am a USAA memeber and was already preapproved so that part is easy. marwilli1 makes a good point. If Ford Motor Credits rates were more competitive I would not mind but they qualified me at 8.99% while USAA gave me 4.69% so hard to feel sorry for Ford. I did buy there truck:)

I'm a USAA member too, but My other credit union offered 4.4%... I took the 1000 rebate for Ford financing and my dealer told me I only had to make 1 payment... Just made it last week and now I am in the process of refinancing...

No Marwili, I sold Nissans years ago and kind of know where they are making the cut. Profits are one this, but if you knew the inner workings of a dealership and the statements that are made after a sale, you would know why I prefer to just pay it off asap. Big business and yes they deserve a profit, but no matter what the dealer ALWAYS makes his cut while the poor salesman has this and that taken out of his net before he gets his check. Did not like it and only sold them for 3 months to get the wife the Maxima she wanted for 15k less. :thumbsup:

You worked at a Nissan dealer for 3 months... and i suppose that makes you an expert on how dealerships run. I have worked at a Ford store for the past couple years now and will never claim to know how they all operate. I can say that there are a lot of times where we do only make a couple hundred bucks or even loose a couple to put a deal together, and most of the time those customers are the ones who still think we've made thousands on them. Just because you have 3 months experiance at one dealership does not mean that they all run/operate the same. Like i stated before I dont blame you for refinancing the truck since fords rates are ridiculous. But it seemed to me that you were more concernd about making sure the dealer didnt get there couple hundred bucks on the financing.

Wow, talk about someone not understanding a written statement. Interpret what I wrote as you will. And NO that does not make me an expert, just a better informed consumer trying to pass on info. No where did I make ANY claim that I knew how they all operate. Do not assume what other people are concerned about, that is how arguments start. What the dealer made he made. You cannot go backwards. This was only meant as added info, not a forum about knowledge content.

Dealer quoted me 6.49 on 60 months with 1000 back, ford credit. Credit union is 4.49. I think I will wait a month then refinance with credit union.

Why the wait? Get it out of the way now. Thanks

Took the 1000 off with the min amount financed, $7500 at 6.9%. They asked me to wait to pay it off after the 3rd bill. I'll probably pay it off with the 2nd bill if not earlier; want to give it a little time for title to process.

Refinaced yesterday @ 3.99 after a week. Ford gave me a 9.9 rate with excellent credit. When I asked why so high the dealer said that's the way it is. 3.99 saved me $70 a month. Oh well, that's the way it is.

My wife finally got around to sending out refinance papers to the credit union yesterday... Thier rate dropped to 3.4! that's a whole percent lower! Sweet!

Only if they made any money on selling the "rate" which is a rare thing with all the financing deals available through FMC.

The only things the dealer will get charged back on when a loan is paid off early is credit life/accident health.

nh3. 9.9 seems to be the new FMCC rate, even with great credit. Good for you for not going for it. On a side, note, I just paid cash for a new vehicle and they still tried to get me to finance twice before I was done, even though I said I was paying cash from the beginning.

I purchased my truck in February and financed the minimum $7000 to get the rebate. Rate offered was 7.9% over 36 months. The dealer asked me to not pay off before 3 months since they get charged back, and since I felt they were fair with me on negotiations, I would be fair to them. I've made 2 of 3 equal payments and the final one will be made in a couple of weeks. Total interest will be about $90, which is not a bad trade for a $1000 rebate.

You can refinance immediately.

you can refinance immediately I did it if the dealer tells ya any different he is B.S. you

Thanks for the heads up. I'm in the process of buying a new truck now and I heard the 3 month request too. They did make it sound like it was in the contract. My local credit union will give me 4.49% too. I asked them about the 3 month deal and she told me they could purchase any legal lean, at any time. So I feel "why wait? It's like Donald Trump would say "It's not personal, it's business"!!

Bob

There is no pre-pay penalty on a car loan. Pay it off whenever you want.

I took the FMC loan too to get the extra $1,000 off but they can kiss my arse if they think I'm paying over 8.00% for a car loan when I can either pay it off immediately or finance at sub 4% levels.

The finance guy here asked me to wait three months before refi because "they frown on it" if you do it right away. I asked "who do they frown on...you or me?" He said both. I told him I didn't give a **** if they frown on me.

He then changed up a bit and said they actually frown on the dealer and if they get too many that refi right away then the dealer might not be able to offer that incentive any more. Sounds like a load of BS...but it's his problem at any rate...not mine.

That is total BS.

Thanks guys. This was very helpful. The same people told me this at Covert about having to pay at least 3 payments which would equal the $1000 that I got from the rebate. They have been ****ing me around since day 1. This weekend I will go and refinance my truck. They basically told me that if i didnt wait the 3 payments that I would lose the $1000 rebate.

These guys are all full of crap. This is why I gave up the $1000 and went with the very cheap (2.9%) financing right away, rather than deal with this mess.

Old thread that I don't think should die because it's very useful. Should be a sticky if you ask me. :)

I just did mine as well. You can refinance for 2.0% right now (bankrate.com). I went for the $1000 rebate and financed through FMC but if I wait 3 months at my current rate I give back $180 bucks of that $1000 rebate because the rate is so crappy. Dunno if I'm going to be nice yet or not. :)

Yep, you can do it anytime. If you do it before 3pymts it goes against the dealer and they get dinged by FMCC. If you pay out the first three they get their 1000 bucks back. I guess it depends on how much you like your dealer...

I was trapped too for 3 months, or fooled i must say. The reason I heard of the such high rates from FMC is they know your going to refinance anyway so they use in conjunction to get the sale and the high rates do afford them some money even if you keep the loan for a month or two. That and they figure some people just forget.

But really to finance the day after like some get all proud off is not a big deal. Whether I refinance now or in 90 days the rates are going to be the same and the extra 2% interest that ford charge me for a few weeks isnt costing me anything.

Crappy thing is refinance rates are not usually as good as getting the original loan through an institition.

Think i got 4.9 through ford and refi for 3.25 through USAA. Also beware on these 1.9 rates people throw out they are usually for new cars and are for 36 months sometimes 48 months.

Refinanced mine a few days after the sale for 1.9% through my credit union. Won't lose a wink of sleep over my dealer's loss.