HDT Financing

Shawn Patterson · May 10, 2017

When we initially purchased our Volvo 730 I didn't want to try and find someone to finance what was a commercial vehicle or outlay the cash from our savings to purchase the truck, so we took out a personal loan through USAA for the purchase with the idea that we would refinance once the truck was titled as a Motorhome. Even with our excellent credit the refinance turned out to be a bit more challenging than I had expected.

When we took out the initial loan USAA had said they would be able to convert the personal loan to a secured RV loan once the truck was titled as such. Turns out that wasn't really true... So off I go, contacting lenders to see if anyone would finance us at a reasonable interest rate. Alliant Credit Union, RV Lending Group, Xtreme Motorcoaches, Commercial Fleet Financing and our local credit union all said "no" because we don't fit into their little box of a motorhome and they can't look up the vehicle in the NADA guide.

I then tried to see if we could get a better interest rate on a personal loan and pay off perhaps half the balance from savings. Nope, no luck there either... Some of the interest rates were lower, but after the fees were added in it was worse than what we had. I was feeling a bit discouraged at that point and was about to throw in the towel when I came across Lightstream.

I submitted the application and supporting income documentation online Monday afternoon, answered some additional questions they had about what the money was going to be used for on Tuesday and had a check in the bank this morning for almost the complete outstanding balance of the truck. AND the loan isn't secured by the truck so we don't have to show a lienholder on the title! The net result was a reduction in the interest rate from 10.99% to 4.74%!!

Not sure if this would work out for everyone as credit and income situations are certainly unique, but these folks were great to deal with and would be worth checking out if you are considering financing an HDT.

I'mdonewiththis forum · May 10, 2017

Dang, that's an impressive drop in interest! I am wondering if they just financed the motorhome, meaning they may not have financed the purchase of a commercial motor vehicle for conversion? Really doesn't matter to me, just thinking on the keyboard....

Shawn Patterson · May 10, 2017

It's sort of odd they way they went about it... They knew that the money was going toward paying off the existing loan on the truck and there is verbiage in the contract stating it must be used for that. The interest rates are in line with what they have stated on their website for RV loans, and yet they didn't require to be added on as a lienholder, which is more like it was an unsecured personal loan. It was definitely a very different approach from everyone else I had talked to, but the end result is exactly what I was hoping for!

GlennWest · May 10, 2017

Our credit union, HFCU, wanted to finance ours. They originally said no but when I ready and had the cash, they wanted to. We let them and used the cash for other items, Smart car, bed for truck, hitch, etc.

Moresmoke · November 18, 2018

Oddly, this might be one instance where keeping it as a truck might be benificial. I financed at a local bank. They had no problem financing it as a truck, even loaning me more the the purchase price so I had enough to get it set up how I wanted. (In all fairness, I paid less than “book” value for the truck.)

dan412 · November 20, 2018

Bank wouldn't loan money for a truck because I was not going to be using it for work. They wouldn't loan for RV because it was a HDT so had to pay cash.

steiny93 · June 30, 2020

When we purchased the volvo 610 it was hyper easy.

Initial thinking was to use cash on hand as per this site we assumed getting financing would be a challenge. Previous to purchase we happened to be in a local bank and they had a tabletop advertising crazy low interest rates for rvs / boats / vehicles / etc. Since we were also buying a 5th wheel at the same time I figured I would ask them about the financing options.

The bank didn't treat the hdt any different then a vehicle or an rv. Ours started as private truck in SD which we then converted to an RV in ND. The bank was all good with it.

Tylerak · February 12, 2021

On 6/30/2020 at 1:48 PM, steiny93 said:

When we purchased the volvo 610 it was hyper easy.

Initial thinking was to use cash on hand as per this site we assumed getting financing would be a challenge. Previous to purchase we happened to be in a local bank and they had a tabletop advertising crazy low interest rates for rvs / boats / vehicles / etc. Since we were also buying a 5th wheel at the same time I figured I would ask them about the financing options.

The bank didn't treat the hdt any different then a vehicle or an rv. Ours started as private truck in SD which we then converted to an RV in ND. The bank was all good with it.

What bank?