gettin a loan

[truculenity]

So Im looking at a boat and would like to consider taking a loan out to purchase it. This will be the first time ive ever taken a loan and would like some advice from the boating community.

I talked with my bank the other day and they directed me to their online boat loan section. upon inspection the boat must be <7 years old and the company must be in business...

well those dont apply for the boat im looking at, should i change my search criteria to meet that?

or look at different places for a loan? any advice is appreciated. loan amount will be <30k if that matters.

[LOVEBOAT]

credit union they were the best for me. I ended up paying cash from my savings, but the credit union was easy to work with and had good terms.

[truculenity]

do you need to have an account with the credit union to get a loan from them? or to get a better rate?

[shemstreet]

You could check with BB&T, Bank of America, and Bank of the West. I just financed a 2003 bass boat through BB&T, the age limit was 10 yrs old for the boat. I mention these three because I have had boats through BB&T and BOW, and BOA has always been in the mix as a possible bank from my various dealers.

There are also marine specific lendors that usually either advertise on here or have customers on here that will recommend them like Russo and others. Also look on Bass Boat Central, they have a forum for boat financing.

The older the boat, the harder it is to finance though.

[planet 5]

Look around. I do boat financing and we have banks that will go as old as 30 years on boats. Ask some of your local dealers to see if they can refer a good bank/broker for you.

You'll need a credit score around 700, you must have past comp high credit, your DTI must be below 40% and the boat must meet the lenders loan value. Meaning they won't give you $50k loan on a boat that they put a loan value of $40k.

Good Luck