Financing Balloon after Ford Options

[UnforAll]

After 3 follow ups and paying off future payments on Ford Options, they refinanced my Ford Options to normal loan with same APR (2.25) as earlier.

Sounds annoying, but glad you were able to finally make it happen and at the same interest rate.

Curious whether you just decided to pay off the last (2-3?) Options monthly payments in order to be done with the hassle and move on with the modified/rescheduled loan, or was there another motivation?

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[lazydot]

Sounds annoying, but glad you were able to finally make it happen and at the same interest rate.

Curious whether you just decided to pay off the last (2-3?) Options monthly payments in order to be done with the hassle and move on with the modified/reschedule loan, or was there another motivation?

I just wanted it to be done with hassle of dealing with Ford credit support team. I would have waited till last payment if there was a choice to do this online.

 

[Albus Puer]

I'm on Ford Options and I've been calling Ford Credit since the end of April but have yet to receive the refinancing information. Apparently only their Credit Reanalysis department handles it and very few people do it. My 3 years are up on June 24th and the balloon payment is $22K. I still have not received anything. I'm getting concerned. This can't be that hard. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[mikeinet]

I'm on Ford Options and I've been calling Ford Credit since the end of April but have yet to receive the refinancing information. Apparently only their Credit Reanalysis department handles it and very few people do it. My 3 years are up on June 24th and the balloon payment is $22K. I still have not received anything. I'm getting concerned. This can't be that hard. Anyone have any suggestions?

I just got off the phone asking myself

You need to call them and they can transfer you. They'll only do it AFTER you have made your final payment on the program (30 days until the car turn in date) 800-727-7000

 

[dml105]

Keep the faith. I was nervous about the refi also, and whether it was going to happen on time, but when it was my time, it happened very quickly and mostly seamlessly. (VA has a different law that prevents them from keeping the payment the same, but the interest rate remained unchanged.)

It showed up in Ford.com the next day.

 

[Albus Puer]

I've been calling that same number and made my final payment. I'm just 13 days before the balloon/options end date. Did you already get the paperwork and start the process?

 

[Scooby24]

Good to know the interest remained the same, what were the finance duration options (2 years, 3, 4?)

 

[Electric Goat]

Is it a refinance or is it just a loan modification? I keep my credit locked/freezed. Also, I've switched jobs since then. Does anyone know if I'm going to need to unlock/unfreeze my credit and give them updated employment information?

 

[hybrid2bev]

Is it a refinance or is it just a loan modification? I keep my credit locked/freezed. Also, I've switched jobs since then. Does anyone know if I'm going to need to unlock/unfreeze my credit and give them updated employment information?

You do not need to unfreeze your credit. There’s no credit check done for the Ford Options refi. No new credit information will be needed.

 

[Electric Goat]

You do not need to unfreeze your credit. There’s no credit check done for the Ford Options refi. No new credit information will be needed.

Great. Thanks

 

[carbonizedbrett]

I'm on Ford Options and I've been calling Ford Credit since the end of April but have yet to receive the refinancing information. Apparently only their Credit Reanalysis department handles it and very few people do it. My 3 years are up on June 24th and the balloon payment is $22K. I still have not received anything. I'm getting concerned. This can't be that hard. Anyone have any suggestions?

My Options is up 6/25! And I've been having a similarly frustrating experience.

I called "too soon" (maybe 60-90 days in advance) according to the person I spoke to but when I asked him when the "right time" was, he checked his notes or whatever and said that it didn't say. So he offered to submit the request and "see what happens" and said he'd call me if it got "kicked back." I received no offer and he did not call me to tell me there was any issue.

I called less than 60 - but more than the 30 days is says is required on https://www.ford.com/finance/finance-options/ford-options/ - and was told that my last regular payment needed to hit or print or something on the account before we could request the refinance information. They gave me the website address of the inspection company where I was supposed to be able to schedule a pre-return inspection. It did not recognize my Ford Credit account number and VIN. I called back and they said "sometimes that happens, we will submit a request and the inspection company will call you to schedule." The inspection company never called.

So I waiting until after 5/25 (my 35th payment date) and called back on 5/31. They told me they'd submit the request and within 14 days, I receive my refinance offer. I asked about the inspection again and they said they'd put in another request.

On 6/1, the inspection company called my office number so I missed their call. I called them on Monday, 6/3 and the soonest they could schedule my inspection was 6/24 - they day before I'm supposed to return the vehicle.

Then I got another voicemail from somebody at Ford Credit asking me to return their call. I did, got somebody other than the person who left me the message, who said they just needed to verify my email address, which I did. The same email address at which I receive the verification code to log into the Ford Credit website....

Well, today is day 15 and I just called Ford Credit because I have not received any refinance information. They conferred with their supervisor and today the story is that you can't get refinance information until your balloon is actually due. I explained this makes no sense at all and asked for somebody to call me on Monday to explain this.

@Ford Motor Company - what on Earth is going on? I started trying to follow the return guide for Ford Options well in advance and at every turn, Ford Credit has not given me the information I need to make a decision about keeping or returning the vehicle - both in terms of refinance options and scheduling the pre-inspection.

 

[luckie]

Wow, so this can be a big challenge.

…on a related topic, For those who have completed the inspection please share your experience for the many of us nearing that step. For example: did they count dings and dozens of teeny tiny paint chips on your car’s front grill area and then charge you $$$ for them?

 

[carbonizedbrett]

Wow, so this can be a big challenge.

…on a related topic, For those who have completed the inspection please share your experience for the many of us nearing that step. For example: did they count dings and dozens of teeny tiny paint chips on your car’s front grill area and then charge you $$$ for them?

I just had my inspection done yesterday. The AiM representative used an app to take a series of photos of the vehicle, including photos of the tires with a tread depth gauge.

I have some road rash on one wheel but it's less than 6" (per Ford's guidelines.) I have a minor ding in the drivers door and another minor one in front of the charge port door (caused by it being pushed back, once.) The trailing edge of the roof panel (with the antenna on it) has some paint scraped off. (I think it happened during the roof glass recall but the dealer claims it was caused by the accident their valet was in. There was some minor rear-end damage and they were supposed to address that roof panel when they repaired the hatch and bumper but they did not.)

The guy was friendly and professional. He didn't really look closely at any of those things. They're relatively minor - the worst IMO was the roof panel. It's not super noticeable but if I were keeping the vehicle, I'd worry it might rust and I'd be making the body shop fix what they said they were going to.

The grand total of my excess wear charges was $0. Whew!

The only damage I described above that can be seen in the "standard photos" in the report is the front right wheel. He did not take any "damage" photos. I assume that if he noticed anything chargeable, he would have taking close-ups to document them.

Once the report is complete, you can get a PDF copy of the text report (he gave me a printed copy) and see the photos at https://fmcc.aiminspections.com/ with the VIN and loan/lease number.

 

[carbonizedbrett]

Also, for folks with contracts ending this week (June 24th), the person doing these contracts is on vacation and we'll be getting our contracts next week. We apparently have a grace period and because of the delay, the contract will have the first payment due in August instead of July.

Oh, and regardless of the language in our contracts, Ford is extending the same rate for everybody except residents of three states. I do not know which three are the exceptions but NY and NY contracts will get the same rate as their original rate. (Mine was 2.25%.) I *really* wish I knew that a few months ago....

 

[Neil4Real]

Also, for folks with contracts ending this week (June 24th), the person doing these contracts is on vacation and we'll be getting our contracts next week. We apparently have a grace period and because of the delay, the contract will have the first payment due in August instead of July.

Oh, and regardless of the language in our contracts, Ford is extending the same rate for everybody except residents of three states. I do not know which three are the exceptions but NY and NY contracts will get the same rate as their original rate. (Mine was 2.25%.) I *really* wish I knew that a few months ago....

Did you do the inspection to turn the car in or are you keeping it? This post reads like you're waiting for the contract but then the 2nd paragraph makes it sound like maybe not?

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