There is no minimum waiting period before you look into boat refinancing but the earlier that you do so the greater the chance you will have to save some real money. Most of the interest is paid off your boat during the first half of the loan which means that the sooner you do it, the better a deal you will be looking at. Refinancing is a great option to renegotiate the terms of your loan as well as being able to unlock some value which you have tied up in the boat, and put you in a better financial position. First though you need to consider the following.
Motivation
Before you even begin to contact lenders or look at deals you need to understand what your motivation is behind refinancing. If you are currently able to make your monthly payments on the boat then you may be better off looking for a lower rate yet and keep your payments the same to minimize the term of the loan. Alternatively, if you are looking at giving yourself a bit of slack in terms of your budget then you can look to extend the term of your loan so that your monthly payments will be lower and more affordable.
Checking Credit Score
Your credit score will dictate what kind of loan you will be able to renegotiate so next up you need to ensure that your credit score is positive. Check your credit score against the interest rate trend to give yourself an idea as to what kind of loan you will be realistically looking at.
The Value of Your Boat
Boats are not the same as other vehicle in that depreciation is guaranteed so it will make sense for you to check out how much your vessel is worth in today’s market. If you owe more money on your boat than it is actually worth then you are going to struggle to find a lender to refinance the loan. If a lender thinks that they could potentially use out on this deal if you fail to pay then they are not going to renegotiate your loan, still less at a lower interest rate.
Penalties
Make sure that you check on the existing terms of your boat finance prior to looking into refinancing as there could be penalties applied to early repayment. Whilst this of course doesn’t mean that refinancing the boat is not possible, it does mean that you will have to account for these additional fees when working out the best deal for yourself. There can often be steep early repayment fees which could actually make your refinanced loan more expensive so it is important that you understand what penalties, if any, that you are looking at.
The key to refinancing your boat is about having the knowledge before you start looking for a deal, do that and you will put yourself in a far better position to renegotiate.