Airplane Financing

charheep

charheep

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charheep
I know we have had threads before, but I wanted to see if there was new players in the airplane financing game.
Just looking for places to investigate or recommendations.

Yes, financing a toy is wrong.
Yes, better to pay cash.
Yes, this chloroform smells funny.

Please just banks or financing info please.

Thanks.
 
Don't think the players have changed much,rates vary a percent or two ,have to look at down payment requirements ,total amount of payments and any pre payment penalties. I'm with bank America ,but you can do better. Shop around .
 
AOPA has a financial service as well. Spoke to them once, but didn't buy in the end. But they were very professional and followed up etc.
 
charheep said:
Yes, financing a toy is wrong.
Yes, better to pay cash.
Yes, this chloroform smells funny.
Thanks.
Click to expand...

That's the chime of people who are exceptionally fortunate, born into money or self made cash machines.

Us REAL people have to finance, so screw that BS. Fiance away!!

I used Alex at US Aircraft Finance. She caught 2 liens that the previous 2 owners never saw and got the seller to clear up before we moved forward. Paperwork was straight forward, no BS and pretty easy. I'm not rich by any means, and I was approved for more plane than I could afford.

I shopped a few places and USAF seemed like the best choice for me. They do have a 2 year prepayment penalty and a $500 origination fee though.
 
stratobee said:
AOPA has a financial service as well. Spoke to them once, but didn't buy in the end. But they were very professional and followed up etc.
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AOPA uses Bank of America.
 
Unit74 said:
That's the chime of people who are exceptionally fortunate, born into money or self made cash machines.

Us REAL people have to finance, so screw that BS. Fiance away!!

I used Alex at US Aircraft Finance. She caught 2 liens that the previous 2 owners never saw and got the seller to clear up before we moved forward. Paperwork was straight forward, no BS and pretty easy. I'm not rich by any means, and I was approved for more plane than I could afford.

I shopped a few places and USAF seemed like the best choice for me. They do have a 2 year prepayment penalty and a $500 origination fee though.
Click to expand...

This..I used alex as well and they even found a Lien from the previous owner. She helped out a lot. And yeah pre payment is a no no with them.
 
Unit74 said:
That's the chime of people who are exceptionally fortunate, born into money or self made cash machines.

Us REAL people have to finance, so screw that BS. Fiance away!!
Click to expand...
or save your money and adjust your expectations to fit your budget. There are plenty of "real people" who made their own way, worked hard and saved carefully, and got their toys without debt. I bought my 1st plane while paying my own way through college. I didn't try to buy a Seneca or A36, I got a 65hp ercoupe because that's what i could afford.

No need to gin up class warfare to rationalize your debt. Those people you call "exceptionally fortunate" didn't get that way by paying interest on expensive toys.
 
Last edited:
HELoC

And take the interest as a deduction at the end of the year. I've had a 2.25% rate on mine for the past 11 years. Balance has been 0 for a while though.
 
EdFred said:
HELoC

And take the interest as a deduction at the end of the year. I've had a 2.25% rate on mine for the past 11 years. Balance has been 0 for a while though.
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I was also going to suggest a home equity loan, assuming you have home equity!

It's how I financed my Cirrus.
 
TomHaines said:
AOPA no longer uses Bank of America. AOPA Finance uses a variety of banks to find the best deal for the individual's circumstance.
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I went through AOPA and they referred me to First Pryority Bank out of Tulsa. Frankly, I think there are others out there with slightly cheaper rates, but I wanted to do business in my home state.
 
Unit74 said:
That's the chime of people who are exceptionally fortunate, born into money or self made cash machines.

Us REAL people have to finance, so screw that BS. Fiance away!!
Click to expand...

is that what happens when she leaves you for spending all your money on a toy?
 
I stayed with the AOPA financing through several bank changes (the people stayed the same but they went from like MBNA to Nations to BofA or the like). I can tell you that they'll finance just about anything but have the ABSOLUTE DISASSTER of a customer service department. For years there was an annoying $4 discrepancy on my bill. Repeated inquiries could never explain it. Every year at Oshkosh I'd ping the rep standing in the booth and each time they promised to take my info and call me with an explanation.

I NEVER GOT ONE.

Finally, I had enough when after my engine failure they were obstinate asses when it came to endorsing over the insurance check (which was for far less than what it actually cost to fix the plane, it was only for the post-engine-failure damage..). The work was completed but they managed to **** off not only me but the mechanic who did the work (he said he'd never seen anything like these guys). Finally I noted that the insurance check was MORE than the loan balance and told them to just take it and pay off the bloody loan.

Of course what they did is send me the check already endorsed on their side so I could endorse it. I could have cashed it at that point but I wanted to be done with these clowns.

Oh, and when I got the final reconcilliation (they owed me money remember) I found that the mystery $4 charge was actually some overpayment I had made early on. I had thought they were insisting I had underpaid. Why they insisted on rolling the $4 forward onto the next months payment each month rather than just applying it to principal I do not know, but evidentally that's a common stupidity with mortgage companies.
 
Thanks for all the responses.
I dont like BofA but I may give AOPA a call.
I heard (way past tense, no recent news) good things about Red River State.

I checked with my local credit unions and banks, no one seems to want to touch airplane financing.

US AF looks good. I have skipped over the website a few times but taking a closer look, I will give them a call also.


Thanks again!
 
EdFred said:
HELoC

And take the interest as a deduction at the end of the year. I've had a 2.25% rate on mine for the past 11 years. Balance has been 0 for a while though.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure you can't deduct the interest (what little there is) if it's not funding a home improvement.
 
paflyer said:
I'm pretty sure you can't deduct the interest (what little there is) if it's not funding a home improvement.
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You can. That is one of the advantages to a Heloc. At least at the federal level. Not sure about the state level, since we don't have those in Texas.

-Dan
 
dweyant said:
You can. That is one of the advantages to a Heloc. At least at the federal level. Not sure about the state level, since we don't have those in Texas.

-Dan
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Provided you're not over the limits. You can't deduct the part that exceeds $100,000 (for joint filers) or the effective equity (FMV - other deductible debt), whichever is less.
 
dweyant said:
You can. That is one of the advantages to a Heloc. At least at the federal level. Not sure about the state level, since we don't have those in Texas.

-Dan
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I'm pretty sure I'm correct (federally), at least at my income level.

In PA there's no deductions at all for state and local income taxes.
 
While we're on the topic, have any of you found creative ways to finance an avionics upgrade to the tune of $20,000-$30,000?
 
BGF_Yankee said:
While we're on the topic, have any of you found creative ways to finance an avionics upgrade to the tune of $20,000-$30,000?
Click to expand...

Went to the original lender with the estimate,and re financed . No problem.
 
rbridges said:
is that what happens when she leaves you for spending all your money on a toy?
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I know.....right? Didn't catch that....I'm tired of spell checkers shirt all the time!:rofl:
 
Hey....while I'm at it. Has anyone bought a tired airplane and rolled refurb and avionics into the loan? Like buying a steam gauge Saratoga and doing the interior and a panel with it all rolled into the loan?
 
charheep said:
Thanks for all the responses.
I dont like BofA but I may give AOPA a call.
I heard (way past tense, no recent news) good things about Red River State.

I checked with my local credit unions and banks, no one seems to want to touch airplane financing.

US AF looks good. I have skipped over the website a few times but taking a closer look, I will give them a call also.


Thanks again!
Click to expand...


Call US Aircraft Finance too.... They are not brokers, they are loaning you their money and have some flexibility over the big bank. Last I talked to Alex, she was getting ready to Solo! That was about amounts ago.
 
Unit74 said:
Hey....while I'm at it. Has anyone bought a tired airplane and rolled refurb and avionics into the loan? Like buying a steam gauge Saratoga and doing the interior and a panel with it all rolled into the loan?
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I suppose if the LTV post-upgades is in line with lending rules. Problem is that you might only get half of the installed value back in an overall appraisal.
 
I have used AirFleet Capital, worked with Lezonne. Would use them again if needed.
 
Unit74 said:
Hey....while I'm at it. Has anyone bought a tired airplane and rolled refurb and avionics into the loan? Like buying a steam gauge Saratoga and doing the interior and a panel with it all rolled into the loan?
Click to expand...

you'd be better off financing a plane that already has that stuff in it. The seller knows they will only get a fraction of their costs back. Unless you have a reason to buy that particular plane, I wouldn't finance a plane knowing I was going to upgrade the panel right away.
 
Good luck on finding some money. In my case, the financing cost was very well offset by being able to fly immediately instead of waiting until I could "afford" it. Like Jeff said though, be very careful about buying too much airplane just because a bank will loan you the money. Whether cash or finance, I think a lot of people do this.

Most of all, enjoy and have fun!
 
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