Applying for Ford Credit

jddrews

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My car hopefully arrives in mid-ish November. I plan on going with the Ford Options program but was wondering how to best apply with Ford Credit. I guess the main questions I have are...

1. Apply online before going to the dealership or just doing it at the finance desk?

2. Attempt to checkout online using the link provided in the email informing that the car has been delivered?
2a: If I tried this and the system crashed or didn't allow me to complete the purchase would this in any way affect my credit approval (say if I had to re-apply)?

3. Is there any point in doing any of this before the car arrives at the dealership or should I wait until delivery?

Thanks in advance. If I think of any other questions, I'll post below.
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macchiaz-o

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Wait for the vehicle to arrive. Who knows what delays could be introduced between now and then?

Apply online but only through the vehicle checkout workflow that you mentioned. There's little to no value in pre-checking your credit through the Ford Credit site unless you're unsure if you're credit worthy.

If anything goes wrong with online checkout, you'll finish and possibly redo some of it at the dealer. That's fine. Ford Credit should reuse the report they've pulled on you as long as it's within days/weeks.
 
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jddrews

jddrews

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Wait for the vehicle to arrive. Who knows what delays could be introduced between now and then?

Apply online but only through the vehicle checkout workflow that you mentioned. There's little to no value in pre-checking your credit through the Ford Credit site unless you're unsure if you're credit worthy.

If anything goes wrong with online checkout, you'll finish and possibly redo some of it at the dealer. That's fine. Ford Credit should reuse the report they've pulled on you as long as it's within days/weeks.
Perfect. Yeah, my credit rating is excellent so I'm not anticipating any issues, but I always feel a little anxious about it. Thanks for the input.
 

Davedough

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I know everyone keeps talking Options with 2.25% on Premiums and Selects and 1.4% on GTs but is the traditional loan amount still locked at 3.9%? Digging up info on fords site is abysmal. My bank offered 2% for 60 so I’ll be going that route unless Ford can beat it
 

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Apply online but only through the vehicle checkout workflow that you mentioned. There's little to no value in pre-checking your credit through the Ford Credit site.
@jddrews
Yes this is correct. I’ll add a bit more. It’s actually worse in most cases to apply online outside of the checkout process.

A vast majority of the time if you apply online (outside of the checkout process) the dealer is just going to enter a new credit application for you anyways, especially for Ford Options.

So, applying online will only get you another hard credit inquiry and lower your number of days since your last Ford Credit application.
 


HuntingPudel

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@jddrews
Yes this is correct. I’ll add a bit more. It’s actually worse in most cases to apply online outside of the checkout process.

A vast majority of the time if you apply online (outside of the checkout process) the dealer is just going to enter a new credit application for you anyways, especially for Ford Options.

So, applying online will only get you another hard credit inquiry and lower your number of days since your last Ford Credit application.
IOW, don’t jump the gun. Follow the work flow. ?
 
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jddrews

jddrews

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I know everyone keeps talking Options with 2.25% on Premiums and Selects and 1.4% on GTs but is the traditional loan amount still locked at 3.9%? Digging up info on fords site is abysmal. My bank offered 2% for 60 so I’ll be going that route unless Ford can beat it
Man, who knows. The Ford website has been so wonky all month I'm not relying on it for anything. It's probably worth seeing what your dealership can offer, though. They pull from all the same bank lenders and credit unions in your area as far as I know.

It's good that you have your bank's offer in your back pocket.
 

spanky99L

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I know everyone keeps talking Options with 2.25% on Premiums and Selects and 1.4% on GTs but is the traditional loan amount still locked at 3.9%? Digging up info on fords site is abysmal. My bank offered 2% for 60 so I’ll be going that route unless Ford can beat it
so you would sacrifice a $1000 or possibly $2500 incentive?
 
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jddrews

jddrews

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@jddrews
Yes this is correct. I’ll add a bit more. It’s actually worse in most cases to apply online outside of the checkout process.

A vast majority of the time if you apply online (outside of the checkout process) the dealer is just going to enter a new credit application for you anyways, especially for Ford Options.

So, applying online will only get you another hard credit inquiry and lower your number of days since your last Ford Credit application.
Awesome. This makes a ton of sense.

Any chance my dealer would suggest skipping the online checkout and doing it all at the dealership? Would there be any motive behind that?
 

RickMachE

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so you would sacrifice a $1000 or possibly $2500 incentive?
We only get a $1,000 incentive here in Michigan. With an offer for 0.9% for 4 years, we didn't see any advantage to Options.

We applied online, dealer then pulled the data into their system. Of course it didn't pull any of the "Other", which was the entire qualification... Dealer's finance guy called and said "what am I missing", and I told him "you need to pull in the Other Income". When he did that, he went "Oh, okay".

I told the GM that they were not to do a credit pull since Ford had done it, but the reality is that multiple pulls like that within a day have zero impact on the credit score (beyond the first small hit).
Our credit score wasn't affected at all by the pull, or the loan, in fact it went UP slightly (0.35%) the month after, then went down 0.58% the next month. It all comes down to credit utilization.
 
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hybrid2bev

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Awesome. This makes a ton of sense.

Any chance my dealer would suggest skipping the online checkout and doing it all at the dealership? Would there be any motive behind that?
Yes they could. Dealers are like a lot of things around this vehicle. You have early adopters who are down with the way things are going to work in the future and then you have the old school dealers.

It takes a bit of work for the dealer to setup the online checkout screens on their side (but it’s not rocket surgery). Some early adopter dealers will invest in getting setup, some won’t.

Some fear a new way of doing business, some embrace it.
 

Davedough

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so you would sacrifice a $1000 or possibly $2500 incentive?
My state is only $1000 and given the fact that the balloon at the end of 48 months means you owe almost $24k still whereas at the same point on a traditional loan, you’re left with half that left to pay. I won’t have the 24k to pay at the end so I’ll have to refinance. Who know what that interest rate will be. Even if you keep it at the 1.4 and extend another 3 years, you only gain $1500 when all is said and done but you’re paying a year longer. That doesn’t seem worth the headache to me. If the car is shit, I want to have positive equity in it to sell. Also, we can barely trust dealers to get financing and options right without trying to cheat you, I have ZERO faith they won’t try to gouge me if I elected to turn it in at the end of the options term. So now I’m stuck with a bill to even get rid of it. The risk isn’t worth $1500 to me
 

hybrid2bev

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My state is only $1000 and given the fact that the balloon at the end of 48 months means you owe almost $24k still whereas at the same point on a traditional loan, you’re left with half that left to pay. I won’t have the 24k to pay at the end so I’ll have to refinance. Who know what that interest rate will be. Even if you keep it at the 1.4 and extend another 3 years, you only gain $1500 when all is said and done but you’re paying a year longer. That doesn’t seem worth the headache to me. If the car is shit, I want to have positive equity in it to sell. Also, we can barely trust dealers to get financing and options right without trying to cheat you, I have ZERO faith they won’t try to gouge me if I elected to turn it in at the end of the options term. So now I’m stuck with a bill to even get rid of it. The risk isn’t worth $1500 to me
Check your contract.

On mine, if I refinance the rate will be the lessor of my contract rate or the state maximum rate. So I’ll get the same rate again.

You do the refinance directly through Ford Credit, not the dealer.

Ford Mustang Mach-E Applying for Ford Credit 1624313571385-


If you turn it in at the end of the term you are responsible for mileage, wear and the disposition fee. So if the vehicle is worth less than the balloon, you have an easy way out.

https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...ndard-lease-similarities-and-differences.883/
 
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spanky99L

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My state is only $1000 and given the fact that the balloon at the end of 48 months means you owe almost $24k still whereas at the same point on a traditional loan, you’re left with half that left to pay. I won’t have the 24k to pay at the end so I’ll have to refinance. Who know what that interest rate will be. Even if you keep it at the 1.4 and extend another 3 years, you only gain $1500 when all is said and done but you’re paying a year longer. That doesn’t seem worth the headache to me. If the car is shit, I want to have positive equity in it to sell. Also, we can barely trust dealers to get financing and options right without trying to cheat you, I have ZERO faith they won’t try to gouge me if I elected to turn it in at the end of the options term. So now I’m stuck with a bill to even get rid of it. The risk isn’t worth $1500 to me
If the car is shit, and/or worth less then the "balloon" payment, on a options plan you just turn it back in. Seems like a better deal based on your concerns.
 

Davedough

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If the car is shit, and/or worth less then the "balloon" payment, on a options plan you just turn it back in. Seems like a better deal based on your concerns.
For a fee. Mileage and wear fees. What’s stopping a shady dealer from determining that a couple door dings merit a few thousand in wear fees? Excessive is subjective. I’m not willing to take the risk for $1500 difference. That’s $25 per month over the course of 5 years. I’d rather have a traditional loan with no hoops at a low interest rate
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