I didn't like the high apr from ford credit. like 6.75%. So I have been adding $20 extra to the monthly payment per month. To round to nearest hundred. I made 3 payments so far. The next payment is $33 less then original minimum payment. Seems better then refinancing with credit union with 4% apr. Just an FYI

 

Wow, 6.75% through FMC? It was 9.6% when I bought my truck in 08. I had to pay FMC for at least 3 months before I could refinance elsewhere because if I didn't finance through FMC first, I would have lost one of my incentives. Right now I'm financed through a credit union for 6%, my payment is 295.10. If you pay a double payment, that will really change your numbers too.

 

You need to be sure Ford Credit is applying the extra $20 to your principal and not simply applying it to your next payment (interest and principal).

Here's a free spreadsheet you can use to compare early payment options.

Dark - it's been well documented that there is no requirement to make ANY payments to keep your Ford Finance rebate ($1000). The three payment rule was dreamed up by dealers to make sure they received their entire kick-back from Ford Credit.

 

With my good credit rating my dealer got me 3.79% from a bank in Ohio for 72 mos, I just pay a little more each month hopefully pay it off sooner. And I got the incentives also.

 

Yeah I guess you're right about the 3 payment rule Shotgunz. I had to figure out where I was going to get a good rate for refinancing anyway so paying 3 months at $328 a piece wasn't bad IMO.
Another thing I was told when I was buying my truck was in order to get the $3000 Ford Loyalty rebate, my boss and I could change his truck's title into my name for a couple days just to get that rebate. I think you had to have a 1996 or newer to recieve the rebate, I had a 1990 Ranger which was too old and my boss had a 2000 F150.

 

I have added extra money to every payment on every loan I have ever had for the last 20 + years and it does make a difference. Anything to help whittle that principal down.

 

Some guys are very happy with their dealers and wanted to make three payments to make sure their dealer received the entire kick-back. If you're happy with your dealer and it only costs you a few bucks for your dealer to get $100s or even $1000s....why not?

On the other hand, if your dealer falls into the stealership category, you may not want to be so nice.

It just pisses me off that the dealers make up these 'rules' (flat-out lies) rather than telling the consumer the truth.

 

That's pretty good. My dealer found me 4.49% which was better than what my credit union was offering. Of course, payment term plays a big role in that number...

 

FMC is very high with their rates, but that is how they make up for the incentives. The only car I have financed is financed at 2.9% through a local bank. Also, be careful making that extra payment, It is likely being applied to interest. Not bad, but not as good as ensuring it is applied to prinicpal. I don't know that refinancing for 4% would be worth it, unless you have a large balance and a long term.

 

I'm not positive, but I think this is illegal (unless you specifically ask for it).

At worst, the financing company should be applying any over-payment to the next (or future) payments (total loan balance).

 

I financed through FMC to get the additional $1000 rebate at 6.9%. A week after I financed through Chase at 3.7%. This saves me $30/month. After 4 months I will break even on the deal since it cost around $120 for the title change.
The finance guy at Ford volunteered the information about needing to stay with Ford for 3 months or losing my rebate without me asking. If he wouldn't have lied I wouldn't have been so motivated to refi a week after I bought the truck.

 

I did the same thing on my truck. I put no money down, borrowed full amount of the purchase, including tax and title. Then I started making $1000 month payments using the money I had saved up for the truck. FMC does reduce principle so I save interest, but they do one thing a little different than you would expect. If your truck payment is $500 a month, then I have already made my first two months payment, and the balance due for the next month is 0. You don't have to make a payment that month. That is OK, because I can still send in another $1000. The balance will remain 0 through the length of the loan, and I would just keep on sending in each payment.

This did not work for me because I wanted to auto-pay the $1000 per month. The problem is that the auto-pay feature will not draw the $1000 out of my account once the balance due is 0. I would end up with a $1000 payment ever other month.

 

I did the same thing. I was told to wait for my first statement. He said that to make sure the account was set up and the statement would show the pay off. USAA offered me 3.9% for 72 months compared to 8.9% through FMC. When the dealer said that I told them FM credit was high and I am going to refinance ASAP! I plan on doubling my payments to pay off the truck early!

 

i refinanced mine about 3 weeks after purchase i called fmc and got the acct. # and refinanced

 

I was lucky and got the 1.9%