Financing a Boat? (was Insurance)

First off, everyone's been a great help, THANKS.

I understand this has been covered, but banks have been changing their policies since the last threads on this. There's this COVID-19 thing going on, (you might have heard of it).

My boat costs $77,000: 1987 CHB 42' Ponderosa Tri-Cabin.

1. My Puget Sound Credit Union affiliated with my employer

$75,000, 10% down. 6.2% for 120 months max

2. Boeing Credit Union

"Only" $48,000. 20% down. 4.9% for 160 months max

I quote, "Were not giving out many boat loans now". And you have to jump through a bunch of hoops to get qualified.

I also just had a home refi fall through AFTER I SIGNED a million pieces of paper. This as my wife lost her job a day before. Arrgggg! I thought once u signed they couldn't back out.

Question, has anyone gotten a loan or refi on a boat lately and where? If I'm not intruding, how much and what percentage? What was the maximum months they let u drag the loan out?

Note: the lowest monthly payment is what I'm looking for. In reality, I'm just renting the boat from the bank. I'll probably be dead before it's paid off

Name of bank or credit union would help me.

Thanks

I have not looked at finance rates lately but we used Cindy Lewis at Sterling with great success. 410-903-6611

The thread is titled insurance....just curious....

I'm getting old, (insurance). Did these kids change the name on me? Is it now called, "Blood Money", "Gecko", "Duck", Scam"?

I noticed Cindy's name and "Sterling" bank in threads before.

Do they specialize in boat loans?

Both my places above have a branch I can walk in to. With long distance banking, do you just fax them all the info like pay stubs, proof of employment, your first born?

Get ahold of Mike Jenkins or Lesley Bishop at Trident Funding- 206-721-7704. They are marine lending specialists, and very good at what they do.

Sterling and Essex are both big boat loan companies.

-Chris

Comodave said:

I have not looked at finance rates lately but we used Cindy Lewis at Sterling with great success. 410-903-6611

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We just did a deal using Cindy. She made the process a lot easier. Rates we found were around 4-4.5%.

Folks like her have knowledge of a number of lenders and I was quite happy not having to research/contact multiple lenders myself.

OH NOOOO! I cut and pasted my loan question onto my "insurance" titled thread. I guess the boat loan is insurance if I ever get kicked out of my house.

I'm an idiot!

My insurance question. Geico insurance for my boat....

$1750 a year.. no accidents never owned a boat. Too much?

1750 a year is pretty good for decent coverage and your experience level......suprised they aren't requiring training or a captain for a period of time.

psneeld said:

1750 a year is pretty good for decent coverage and your experience level......suprised they aren't requiring training or a captain for a period of time.

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Yup- GEICO has a requirement for experience in like sized vessels...I helped write their yacht policy and requirements last year.

Ducatihottie said:

I also just had a home refi fall through AFTER I SIGNED a million pieces of paper. This as my wife lost her job a day before. Arrgggg! I thought once u signed they couldn't back out.

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A material change like loss of job can always trigger a change.

Likely not going to help on boat loan either.

To the OP, Do you have enough equity in your home to borrow against it to buy the boat? 77K ain't a whole lot of money. Like 2 car payments for 5 years. Why would you want to stretch it out more than that. Banks aren't standing in line to loan money for 33 year old boats unless you have a lot of skin in the deal and are well insured. Have you looked into insurance cost? The bank will want enough to cover total loss and then some. Where will you keep it? How much will that cost? The cost to buy above the sales price? It all adds up. I guess I am asking.... Do you know you can afford to keep it if you can find a lender to loan you the money to buy it? Not trying to discourage you but it's almost like you are begging to be discouraged.

Right or wrong thread, you do raise an interesting point. "I'm basically renting the boat from the bank".

About 20 years ago, I was in my 40's. I knew an older lady, pretty wealthy. She was around 80 years old. She had sold her house, got a pile of money for it, no mortgage, she had owned it for a long time. I asked here where she was going to live and she told me she had just bought a condo, got a thirty year mortgage on it.

She didn't want to burden her kids with a house or a condo. She would divide up the money she had at her own pace. Her philosophy was, let the bank deal with the condo. She didn't expect to EVER have any equity in the condo.

Go figure..

pete

Does anyone give loans for boats 33 years old?

See my other post and call Cindy Lewis. If anyone can get it financed, she can.

Jennifer at Peoples Bank in Seattle. They’ve been doing marine loans in the PacNW since Moby Dick was a minnow (yes, impossible biologically). Can’t recommend them too highly. Loans for boats up to 35 years old and amounts under 100k at IIRC 4.5% (I was just checking recently). Insurance in the PacNW - Red Shield thru Bristol. RS is PacNW based and only insures on the west coast. $200k replacement value with May-Sept rider so I can circumnavigate Vanc Is @ just under $1900. Had one claim last year (diver) and easy peazy process with good service and great attitudes. Bristol has always been helpful.

Two PacNW companies that have earned my recommendation.

Beaverlake said:

Jennifer at Peoples Bank in Seattle. They’ve been doing marine loans in the PacNW since Moby Dick was a minnow (yes, impossible biologically). Can’t recommend them too highly. Loans for boats up to 35 years old and amounts under 100k at IIRC 4.5% (I was just checking recently). Insurance in the PacNW - Red Shield thru Bristol. RS is PacNW based and only insures on the west coast. $200k replacement value with May-Sept rider so I can circumnavigate Vanc Is @ just under $1900. Had one claim last year (diver) and easy peazy process with good service and great attitudes. Bristol has always been helpful.

Two PacNW companies that have earned my recommendation.

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Seconded on both. Jennifer and Jenn at People’s Bank were awesome to work with.

I strongly second GH41. You would, by far, get the best "boat financing" rates if you're in a position to refinance your home. I note that you've been turned down once on home refinancing, but I think it would be better to try to remove the obstacles for home refinancing than to find an entity that will provide boat financing with outrageous terms! I've also seen discussion on-line over the years suggesting that ideally, one would want to borrow no more than 50% of the cost of a NEW boat. This is so that when it comes time to sell it, the sale proceeds will have a good chance of covering the loan pay-off.



Personally, I wouldn't go near a situation where I would have to borrow nearly the entire purchase price of a 30 year old boat. Too financially risky!


If you're not looking to have a boat for a very long stretch of time, you might consider looking for a real rental situation -- or possibly even a "multi-owner" situation. This would reduce your entry cost into boating and greatly minimize financial risk.

I'm placing about 40,000 down on a $77,000 boat.

I earned this while working in NYNY during this COVID-19 mess. My wife said I could do what I wanted with the money.

Are there anymore places that would loan money for a 33 year old boat? Does the large down payment help?

Ducatihottie said:

I'm placing about 40,000 down on a $77,000 boat.

I earned this while working in NYNY during this COVID-19 mess. My wife said I could do what I wanted with the money.

Are there anymore places that would loan money for a 33 year old boat? Does the large down payment help?

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Have you contacted any of the resources that have already been recommended?

Awaiting for them to open. Left messages though. THANKS

Lending appears to have changed in the last 6 weeks between Covid, huge spikes in unemployment and the DJIA deep dive.

We recently became snowbirds. My wife is the primary resident of a house we own (no loan) in Florida. My primary residence is in another state. We spend 6 months in each location so the idea of 'Primary Residence' is really a paperwork concept. I can't get a home equity loan or LoC on the property in Florida because it is considered my secondary residence. She can't get one because she is not working. This is despite us having income and owning the house outright. This was not a policy 5 weeks ago. Banks are getting tough.

So far.... NO success with my old boat with

Cindy Lewis at Sterling and

LMike Jenkins or Lesley Bishop at Trident Funding

They say it's the COVID-19 that's making lending difficult.

Is insurance in the bag too?

Certain things are triggering lending and insurance these days. Normally I have zip issues.. but this last 36 months have been harder than the last 36 years.

Thanks Pua. Are you Hawaiian?

No luck with mike Jenkins or Lesley Bishop at Trident Funding-

Alaska USA Federal Credit union worked well for me and others. They were easy to work with and had great rates.

I'm on hold with Alaska credit union now my motorcycle loan is with them.

Alaska federal credit union..NO in anything older than 23 years.

Ducatihottie said:

Alaska federal credit union..NO in anything older than 23 years.

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That is going to be a common theme with lenders.

If anyone wants to pass on my name to their lender, (maybe your friends

Brian Hall
617-309-9991