igoflying

tenx82

Ford Credit does NOT have a prepayment penalty that I've ever heard of. However, dealers don't get their finance incentive from Ford if you pay it off in less than 90 days. It sounds like he was lying to you to make sure the dealership gets their incentive, but I would still verify that with Ford Credit.

Ricktwuhk

He was LYING to you. You can pay the loan off immediately, and keep the rebate, and they lose their incentive as stated. There is NO PREPAYMENT PENALTY WITH FORD CREDIT.

Hopefully you took the regular rate, and highest rebate, from Ford Credit. And got the SC rebates since that's where your truck is being registered.

02fx4dude

All F&I guys say this. Check the sales contract you just signed and look for a line about payment penalty or minimum number of payments, if it isn't in the contract it doesn't exist. As far as Maryland law, a bank might be able to tell you or call the attorney general of MD and ask.

F&I told me the same thing three years ago and I refinanced the next week no problems.

ThunderStruck007

He's lying to you.

When I bought my truck, Ford was offering a $750 discount IF you financed through them... of course the interest rate was RIDICULOUS... it was like 8-9% ...
But when I was talking to the finance person, here is what they had to say:

They saw that I was taking the 750 and financing through Ford. The lady there was EXTREMELY nice, and she goes, "sir, you have GREAT credit, there is no way you should be paying that much in interest"
Then she goes... " I would highly recommend you take the discount, and then immediately refinance"
Then, (this is the part you care about - I asked about penalties, etc. and shes said "we always tell our customers to wait at least 3 payments before refinancing; however there is no reason you can't do it right away"

What I took from that was, 3 payments at Ford's interest rate is "enough money" to cover any expenses or perhaps offset some of the "discount"... However, legally, there is absolutely NOTHING keeping you from refinancing the very next day after you purchase your truck.

I refinanced my truck loan at my credit union about a week later. No issues; is cheaper, lower interest, and a shorter term!!

todd92

I have taken the $750 finance rebate 3 times now, and paid off the loan immediately. Each time the F&I person said I had to keep the loan for 3 months. I have never incurred a penalty, and if the dealer was losing something, I would think after 3 times they might mention it to me, but no.

user721

+1 for doing the refinance. I would add, though, that in some places there is a little bit of pain because of the way titles are managed. In NC, if you pay off the loan before the electronic title clears with the lien holder it can get lost in a weird place since the lien holder has to immediately release the title upon payoff. This actually happened to me and forced me to go to the NCDOT headquaters in Raleigh to clean up the title work and allow me to pay my registration fees. Had I actually waited the 90 days, the title would have cleared with FMC and the transfer would have gone just fine. But... I saved ~$100 in financing fees (I just paid off the loan in my case) and 15% by switching to Geico.

camoNchrome

Apple in Columbia told me to make 3 payments before I pay off the Ford loan or they wouldn't get their kick back from Ford.

tvsjr

"So, since I have no legal obligation to do so... how much of that kickback am I going to see? I assume you believe in profit-sharing, yes?"

rliles1

Last year, I pulled out my checkbook to buy my new truck, and my Ford dealer told me there was a $1,000 rebate for financing through them, and I could pay it off on the first payment without penalty. When I got the first statement, it said the payoff was such and such on a date about 2 weeks in the future. I didn't wait, and mailed them a check for the payoff amount the next day. A couple of weeks later, I got a check from Ford Finance for about 1/3 of the interest. I had paid it off before it accrued that much, and they refunded it to me.