Boat Loan Quotes at LoanTruth
Millions of American households own boats. If you don’t already know, boating is one of the most popular recreational activities that the outdoors has to offer. One of the worst parts about boating is that boats cost too much for most Americans to afford to pay for outright in cash.
There are countless financial services firms, financial institutions, and other lenders across the United States that help consumers seek out loans to purchase recreational and commercial boats with. However, many of them charge tons of money in interest and financing fees.
At LoanTruth, we strive to offer all of our applicants the most competitive rates, terms, and contract conditions on the market. You can apply for loans that are as small as $15,000, though we do, in fact, offer loans greater than $350,000 to approved clients.
For all boats with a model year of 1999 or newer, we offer loans ranging upward of $15,000. We offer greater loans on boats that were manufactured as early as 1990, with minimum loan amounts starting at $25,000. Further, the interest rates on our loans start as low as 6.79 percent on loans with terms as short as 12 years, though you can even find them as low as 5.12 percent on loans greater than $350,000 with terms of at least 20 years.
Making sense of all of this financial information might be difficult. If so, just know that your minimum monthly payments could range anywhere from $135 per month to $1,319, depending on what type of loan you’re approved for. Take, for example, a loan of $15,000 with an APR, or annual percentage rate, of 6.79 percent. This loan could cost you as little as $135 per month when stretched out over a period of 144 months. It would also require you to put forward a down payment of at least 10 percent of the loan amount.
On the other end of this range is a loan of $200,000 made at an APR of 4.99 percent with a down payment of at least 15 percent of the loan amount. Spread out over 240 months, payments could be as low as $1,319 each month.
When it comes to getting your hands on a boat loan, there will invariably be dozens of questions that pop to mind. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions that our applicants and prospective lenders ask us before inking boat financing agreements.
Is a boat loan similar to other popular loans?
Automobile notes and home mortgages are two of the most common types of loans in the United States. With all loans, you’ll first have to submit an application to the lender or financial services provider you’re working with. In this case, it’s us – LoanTruth.
Expect to be asked for personal information such as recent tax returns, proof of ownership of any assets you own, and recent pay stubs or business income proof, among others. Some lenders require more types of information from their applicants than others. At LoanTruth, we pride ourselves in requiring our applicants to disclose as little information as possible for us to make a well-informed decision about whether to finance their loan requests or not.
With boat loans, if you’re approved, that is, you should expect to face higher interest rates. This is because many Americans don’t value their boats as much as the vehicles they drive or the homes they live in. Further, the market value of boats generally drops more quickly than with homes or vehicles.
Can I be pre-approved for boat loans?
Since you’re obviously interested in entertaining the potential of a boat loan, you probably know a little bit about how financing works in the United States. You already know that some lenders approve consumers for loans ahead of time. With our boat loans, we don’t offer pre-approvals.
This is because boats differ so much in terms of what they’re expected to be used for and how quickly they’re likely to depreciate in value. At LoanTruth, we and our lenders wait to approve applicants for boat loans until after we’ve received their applications.
Keep in mind that some lenders may offer pre-approvals on boat loans, though most such financing offers in the United States simply won’t exist in pre-approved form.
What credit score is necessary for boat loan approval?
Credit scores are the most reliable indicator of consumers will pay their debt back in full, in a timely manner, or at all. Although some consumers’ willingness and capability to pay loans back isn’t accurately reflected by their credit scores, most consumers will be accurately represented by the credit scores that Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian.
At LoanTruth, we typically tell our clients to apply with a credit score of at least 680, though applicants who are able to prove that they now make more money than they used to or don’t have as much debt to pay off may be given leeway in the approval process. Our lenders typically aren’t willing to work with applicants who are found to have major debt charge-offs, settlements, foreclosures, or bankruptcies in the previous five years. Fortunately, however, if these events took place more than five years ago, you won’t be penalized for them in the application process nearly as much as those who present to our application approval experts with such major blemishes.
Will I be extended a boat loan if I have bad credit?
Some lenders are willing to offer boat loans to applicants with poor credit scores. However, due to the nature of the marine lending industry in the United States, the application processes involved in marine financing hold applicants to much higher credit standards than those in other parts of the financing industry.
How long do boat loans usually last for?
At LoanTruth, as touched on above, the terms of your boat loan will require you to pay off what you borrow for as short as 144 months, or 12 years. However, some of our boat loans have term lives as long as 25 or 30 years.
If you’re seeking out boat loans for commercial fishing vessels or other professional marine equipment, you will likely be offered longer terms to pay for what you borrow. This means that you could purchase a higher-quality boat in the meantime. If you’re looking for boat loans to secure the purchase of consumer-use boats, don’t expect to be awarded lengthier terms.
What does LoanTruth do, exactly?
LoanTruth links boat loan applicants up with any of the many thousands of willing boat loan lenders across the United States. Although LoanTruth doesn’t offer loans directly to consumers, we do provide the benefit of helping people who are interested in buying boats finding financing agreement terms that they can possibly get their hands on.
We also provide the benefit of making the application process leaps and bounds easier to financial institutions that are willing to finance consumers’ purchases of boats, their repairs, and other marine equipment.
How long does the application process take?
First, understand that your application won’t be forwarded to all of the lenders that are members of our well-established network. However, hundreds, if not thousands, of lenders will be willing to review your loan requests.
In most cases, the majority of our lenders provide final decisions on whether to honor consumers’ financing requests within two to four standard business days. You may find that some approvals or denials could make their way to you the same day that you apply for boat loans through LoanTruth – it all depends on lenders’ policies and how busy they are.
