Are there fees for Ford Motor Credit loans?

[sajohnson]

I searched but couldn't find anything.

Are there fees associated with getting a loan at a Ford dealer?

I've left messages for the finance dept. at our dealer but haven't heard back.

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[Econoline]

No fees or early payoff penalty if the loan is through Ford Credit. Private financing through a dealer might be different.

 

[sajohnson]

No fees or early payoff penalty if the loan is through Ford Credit. Private financing through a dealer might be different.

Thanks Econoline.

So just to be clear, the only cost (other than the principal) is the interest? I'm concerned about "origination fees" and "just because we can fees". I asked FMC and they said I should ask the dealer.

The reason I'm asking is that I'm trying to decide whether to withdraw money from a stock index fund. I'd rather not (because the market is down) -- I just have to weigh the potential costs.

 

[Econoline]

I've had two FMC loans, 0% for 60mo, and .9% for 36mo on BS. Neither had any fees, just a fully amortized loan with monthly P&I.

The decision whether to finance or draw from an investment to pay cash is more involved, depends largely on the interest rate you can get on the loan. You might consider 100% financing for now, see how things look in a year. You can pay off the loan from your index fund anytime you want, or never.

 

[sajohnson]

I've had two FMC loans, 0% for 60mo, and .9% for 36mo on BS. Neither had any fees, just a fully amortized loan with monthly P&I.

The decision whether to finance or draw from an investment to pay cash is more involved, depends largely on the interest rate you can get on the loan. You might consider 100% financing for now, see how things look in a year. You can pay off the loan from your index fund anytime you want, or never.

Good advice Econoline.

The money we have easy access to is in a local bank account earning almost no interest, so I don't feel bad using it as a down payment.

If I use the index fund money, it would just be a straight withdrawal (not a loan).

Ordinarily it would make sense to take all the money you can get at 0% to 1 or even 2% or more -- finance the full amount and leave your money invested, earning substantially more. Our situation is a bit unusual in that we have savings but our income (and fortunately, our expenses) is low. So making full car loan payments would be difficult.

Even financing about 50% of the total cost may force us to use some index fund money to either continue making payments or pay the loan off in a year or two. My hope is that the market will be looking better at that point. Of course my master plan could backfire...

Probably TMI.

 

[Flash3x]

We financed through Ford Motor Credit. No extra fees from them. The other fees you mention are going to be dealer fees and will vary from dealer to dealer.

Documentation fees are a good example, one dealer might charge $50, another might charge $600. I believe most if not all states have caps on what dealers can charge but I could be wrong about that.

 

[sajohnson]

We financed through Ford Motor Credit. No extra fees from them. The other fees you mention are going to be dealer fees and will vary from dealer to dealer.

Documentation fees are a good example, one dealer might charge $50, another might charge $600. I believe most if not all states have caps on what dealers can charge but I could be wrong about that.

Thanks Flash.

The only fee that our dealer (and others I spoke with) mentioned is a "Doc Prep" fee. The max Maryland allows is $500 -- naturally, they all charge $500. The Doc Prep fee is charged regardless of whether the customer gets a loan or not.

I am/was concerned about things like surprise "loan origination fees", etc. I'm basing my decision (on whether to get partial financing or pay 100% cash) on the total cost of borrowing. I know that generally speaking, dealers are famous for last minute surprises and extra charges -- so it occurred to me that they might do the same with loans:

"Sure, you qualify for the 0.9% rate -- come on down!" Then when you sit down you realize there are hundreds of dollars in fees, and suddenly that 0.9% doesn't look so good anymore.

From the replies in this thread it sounds like that's not the case.

 

[Flash3x]

Thanks Flash.

The only fee that our dealer (and others I spoke with) mentioned is a "Doc Prep" fee. The max Maryland allows is $500 -- naturally, they all charge $500. The Doc Prep fee is charged regardless of whether the customer gets a loan or not.

I am/as concerned about things like surprise "loan origination fees", etc. I'm basing my decision on whether to get partial financing or pay 100% cash on the total cost of borrowing. I know that generally speaking, dealers are famous for last minute surprises and extra charges -- so it occurred to me that they might do the same with loans:

"Sure, you qualify for the 0.9% rate -- come on down!" Then when you sit down you realize there are hundreds of dollars in fees, and suddenly that 0.9% doesn't look so good anymore.

From the replies in this thread it sounds like that's not the case.

If it makes you feel any better, our dealer had no surprises in store for us. It was about as straight forward as could be. The only negative we had was they wouldn’t honor my X Plan pricing. All numbers were on a piece of paper for us to look at, nothing hidden.

The only thing that was negotiated was the extended warranty, which I ended up getting for very close to what you can buy it for online from various Ford dealers. I threw them a bone there and paid a couple hundred bucks more than I could’ve got online.

As far as the loan through FMC… painless. No discussion of alternate interest rates, nothing. We were educated enough to know what the best rates available were for us and we didn’t even have to ask, the sales lady informed us of the same info we already knew. I prepared for that day like I was about to go into battle, in the end all of my preparation wasn’t needed.

FYI we paid 50% in cash and financed the rest. Got the monthly payment to a very comfortable level without paying so much out of pocket that we put ourselves in a bind. Do what’s comfortable for you to live with month to month.

 

[RSH]

The only fee if you want to call it that is Ford typically wants a down payment for their financing. The down payment can very depending on your credit.

 

[sajohnson]

If it makes you feel any better, our dealer had no surprises in store for us. It was about as straight forward as could be. The only negative we had was they wouldn’t honor my X Plan pricing. All numbers were on a piece of paper for us to look at, nothing hidden.

The only thing that was negotiated was the extended warranty, which I ended up getting for very close to what you can buy it for online from various Ford dealers. I threw them a bone there and paid a couple hundred bucks more than I could’ve got online.

As far as the loan through FMC… painless. No discussion of alternate interest rates, nothing. We were educated enough to know what the best rates available were for us and we didn’t even have to ask, the sales lady informed us of the same info we already knew. I prepared for that day like I was about to go into battle, in the end all of my preparation wasn’t needed.

FYI we paid 50% in cash and financed the rest. Got the monthly payment to a very comfortable level without paying so much out of pocket that we put ourselves in a bind. Do what’s comfortable for you to live with month to month.

That does make me feel better, thanks.

It would be nice if the dealers would send the customers something ahead of time, sort of a 'summary of what to expect', what to bring, etc.

The dealership we're working with has been in business since 1917, and in the same family the entire time. Near as I can tell they have a good rep. Most reviews are positive with the negative ones primarily about service (not sales).

I'd be much less concerned if it weren't for our initial experience there. My wife and I were told (several times) that we were responsible for paying any MSRP increases from Ford. That didn't sound right (or ethical) so after we got home I checked into it and discovered that Ford has "Automatic Price Protection" -- so MSRP increases are not retroactive -- they only apply going forward.

The other thing that bothers me a bit is that while we put down a $500 deposit, and we have an "Order Summary", it is not signed. Opinions about that range from "A signed buyer's order/order summary is a rock-solid, air-tight, legally binding, slam-dunk document" to -- "Signed or not, it's not a contract and the dealer can still ask for 'ransom' (last minute ADM)." So maybe it doesn't matter, but it gave me the impression that they might be planning some extortion.

Had that initial experience been smoother, I'd be a lot more laid back. It sounds like the finance part of the deal will be easy, and most likely the entire experience.

 

[Flash3x]

I seem to recall reading somewhere here that at least a few dealers weren’t aware of Ford’s price protection. Or they played dumb and when the customers proved it to them by showing them the policy they of course relented and said “we are so sorry, we didn’t know, sure you can have it for the old MSRP”. How many people would ever know about Ford’s price protection if they never specifically searched for it or stumbled upon it while reading a forum like this? Bet a lot of people pay the higher sticker price without ever knowing.

We didn’t have a signed sales order either, just an unsigned order summary like you. I worried about that too after reading some of the horror stories online. In the end it didn’t matter for us since the dealer didn’t play any games, but they could have. You are going on trust at that point but overall I tend to think it’s a rare occurrence. It does happen but those kind of stories get amplified on forums like this. I think most people that paid over sticker knew they were going to pay over sticker before hand. Don’t let it bother you to bad,

Just my opinion, YMMV

 

[sajohnson]

I seem to recall reading somewhere here that at least a few dealers weren’t aware of Ford’s price protection. Or they played dumb and when the customers proved it to them by showing them the policy they of course relented and said “we are so sorry, we didn’t know, sure you can have it for the old MSRP”. How many people would ever know about Ford’s price protection if they never specifically searched for it or stumbled upon it while reading a forum like this? Bet a lot of people pay the higher sticker price without ever knowing.

We didn’t have a signed sales order either, just an unsigned order summary like you. I worried about that too after reading some of the horror stories online. In the end it didn’t matter for us since the dealer didn’t play any games, but they could have. You are going on trust at that point but overall I tend to think it’s a rare occurrence. It does happen but those kind of stories get amplified on forums like this. I think most people that paid over sticker knew they were going to pay over sticker before hand. Don’t let it bother you to bad,

Just my opinion, YMMV

Thanks Flash.

Yeah, it's difficult to determine whether any given salesperson/sales manager knew about Ford's Price Protection program before being made aware. Some people have pointed out that in the "before times" (pre-COVID; chip shortages; supply line issues) multiple MSRP increases during a model year were almost unheard of, so it's possible that many dealerships had no reason to be aware of price protection. That's a valid point.

OTOH, dealers --esp the larger ones -- sell enough cars that whenever the occasional MSRP increase happens, they are bound to have a few vehicles between order and delivery. It's not as if it NEVER happened before.

So a cynical person might suspect that most dealership employees that are in sales *are* aware of the program. That said, I'm not sure that an unethical dealership can get the refund/rebate from Ford without the customer's signature. I just don't know how that part of the program works -- but if the dealer can get the refund without the customer knowing, they would certainly have an incentive to play dumb. Let the buyer eat the MSRP increase and then keep their refund.

You said it perfectly:

"How many people would ever know about Ford’s price protection if they never specifically searched for it or stumbled upon it while reading a forum like this? Bet a lot of people pay the higher sticker price without ever knowing."

 

[Dogula]

I searched but couldn't find anything,

Are there fees associated ith getting a loan at a Ford dealer?

I've left messages for the finance dept at our dealer but haven't heard back.

There is usually an "Acquisition Fee" associated with a Ford Credit Loan.

 

[jsus]

There is usually an "Acquisition Fee" associated with a Ford Credit Loan.

Wrong. That's a lease. Ford Credit Red Carpet Lease program includes acquisition and disposition fees (latter if you don't buy that car or buy/lease another).

 

[RSH]

As mentioned, an acquisition fee is typically tied to a lease, sometimes they are waived depending if some type of promotion is going on.

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