If you’re planning to go somewhere for a vacation and plan to rent or buy a recreational vehicle like an RV, then the first thing you should know is that it doesn’t come cheap. Fortunately, there are recreational vehicle loans you can avail to help you finance an RV.
The only snag is that they also don’t come cheap. Not only that, RVs or any other recreational vehicles are considered a luxury. Thus, the requirements for such loans are stringent.
In Case You Don’t Know Yet…
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Usually, the required credit score is above 650, which is pretty much a penance for people with bad credit. However, there are also RV loans that don’t require a credit check. There’s a catch again, though. The APR for such loans is typically very high.
You might ask yourself, “Why do cars have 0% financing and RVs don’t? Aren’t they the same thing?” Yes and no. Yes, they are both vehicles, but as mentioned earlier, RVs are considered a luxury, which means it’s more expensive.
RVs also have 0% financing in some dealerships, but they are usually rare. To dig more into the topic of RV loans, let’s talk about it in detail.
What are RV loans?
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An RV loan is usually the loan you get to finance an RV. This loan is usually for long-term repayments for any recreational vehicles such as a motorhome, a travel trailer, or a camper. RV loans usually have longer repayment terms because RVs are expensive, as they typically go from $10,000 to a million dollars. Because of this, of the sheer expensiveness of these vehicles, people take out an RV loan.
Since RVs are expensive, the repayment terms are usually long, ranging from 10 to 15 years, based on the RV price you bought. This is to make sure that people are still able to pay up for the repayment regularly.
However, if you don’t like to take your time paying the loan for at least a decade, you can look for RV loans that only have a few years of repayment, albeit they are rare. There are even loan products out there that shave off some of the interest if you’re able to pay the loan before the scheduled repayment.
However, suppose you’re more interested in buying a secondhand RV. In that case, you can opt for alternative loan options in the market, mainly because conventional RV loans rarely give you the option to buy second hand ones.
In terms of alternative loan options, there are alternative lenders out there willing to let you take out a loan for an RV. Yes, these kinds of loans don’t only come from banks or online lenders like My Financing USA. They are also offered in credit unions and even dealerships that run a promotion on RVs.
However, not all of them have a low-interest rate, and some of them cost higher the longer duration of the repayment is. That said, you should find the best RV loan for you that has a low APR and excellent repayment terms.
Before that, however, you should know about the alternative loan options for RV financing. Here are some of them:
RV Type Loans
RV type loans are unique as their repayment terms and interest rates vary on the kind of RV you’re planning to buy. If you look for them in banks, they usually have reasonable interest rates. However, the principal amount you have to pay for can be pretty steep. There are also cases where the rates depend on whether the RV is secondhand or brand new.
You can also find this loan from private parties. However, they usually offer higher interest rates but lower principal payment. You can also find them in dealers, which offer the best interest rates, especially if they’re running a promo for RVs.
Dealer Loans
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Dealer loans are the type of loans you usually get from a dealership. They can also be categorized under RV type loans. How are they different from other types of loans, though? They are only found in dealerships, of course, but there is more to it than that.
Dealer loans tend to offer loans on their expensive vehicles to gain more customers. If you look at it more deeply, it is in-house financing, which means you can submit your application to the dealership itself for less hassle. Also, you can do negotiations about the whole ordeal.
Not only that, but they sometimes offered promos or discounts to make your life much more comfortable. So if you happen to find a dealer loan while looking for an RV, consider yourself lucky and grab the opportunity immediately.
Home Equity Line-of-credit
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Yes, you heard that right. You can finance an RV with a home equity line-of-credit. It’s one of the cheapest ways to finance an RV because they tend to have a lower interest rate and reasonable repayment terms. But of course, these excellent interest rates and repayment terms are due to the loan being a significant risk for you.
HELOC is secured by your home, meaning that you will lose your house when you default on the loan. That said, you might want to double-take on this decision before you go out and take a HELOC. Make sure that you can pay up for the loan before taking out one and see if you can handle the interest rate because even though it’s one of the cheapest interest rates out there, it might still be too much for you.
Takeaway
It’s a good thing to relax once in a while and go out somewhere for a vacation in an RV. Traveling in an RV sure is relaxing, but to get there, you might have to struggle first in financing an RV because it’s not easy, especially if you haven’t saved up for it.
Yes, RV loans exist, but they might do you more harm than good since not all of them have a low financing percentage. That said, find the best alternative loan option for you to have an easy time financing an RV.
