It sounds like the right place to make any large lump sum outside of the initial down payment is at the pre-18th month mark. You have the option to put in your tax credit plus more to lower the total cost of the loan. effectively getting you a semi-loan period to that pre-18th month mark to do something else with the capital such as other investments. Of course you'll be paying interested leading to this point.
Does anyone finance their panels?
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It sounds like the right place to make any large lump sum outside of the initial down payment is at the pre-18th month mark. You have the option to put in your tax credit plus more to lower the total cost of the loan. effectively getting you a semi-loan period to that pre-18th month mark to do something else with the capital such as other investments. Of course you'll be paying interested leading to this point.
willow_hiller
Active Member
So some (temporary) bad news, some good news, and some odd news.
Asking Tesla to add the down payment to my order reset the pricing and bumped me up from $23,500 to $24,600. I gave them a call and they said it was an accident and sent me a new order page with the $23,500 restored.
On the good news front, I had assumed that down payments would be due in a similar schedule to cash (50% before and 50% after install), but instead they're due 5 days after permit inspection.
And on the odd news front, the down payment is made directly to Tesla (they're calling it an "initial payment"), so Mosaic does not factor it in for interest rates or amortization. (I don't know if they ever offer less than 3.99% APR anyway). But in my new Mosaic loan agreement, they're factoring in a 26% prepayment of the financed amount, rather than a 26% prepayment of the total system cost, which is a little funny considering that 26% of my total system cost will be significantly greater than 26% of my financed amount.
Asking Tesla to add the down payment to my order reset the pricing and bumped me up from $23,500 to $24,600. I gave them a call and they said it was an accident and sent me a new order page with the $23,500 restored.
On the good news front, I had assumed that down payments would be due in a similar schedule to cash (50% before and 50% after install), but instead they're due 5 days after permit inspection.
And on the odd news front, the down payment is made directly to Tesla (they're calling it an "initial payment"), so Mosaic does not factor it in for interest rates or amortization. (I don't know if they ever offer less than 3.99% APR anyway). But in my new Mosaic loan agreement, they're factoring in a 26% prepayment of the financed amount, rather than a 26% prepayment of the total system cost, which is a little funny considering that 26% of my total system cost will be significantly greater than 26% of my financed amount.
They go based thinking you will finance 100% of the project and 26% is the ITC. So you are giving them the your tax savings some time the first 18 months of financing. That's the only thing I can think of. LMK what it turns out to be.
willow_hiller
Active Member
Yeah this is exactly what I was thinking too. They just default to 26% of the loan, assuming the loan covers the whole system.
Maybe down payments are rare enough that their systems aren't set up to account for them?
Update on the payment process. Tesla now uses "Plaid" instead of PayPal for payment of the final invoice, and it does not let you use credit card. I also only had one payment for the entire system after passing inspection, no first payment upon installation or any of that.
So it looks like the days of "credit card financing" or a bunch of points earned for purchase of the system are no longer...
So it looks like the days of "credit card financing" or a bunch of points earned for purchase of the system are no longer...
holeydonut
Supporting Member
Update on the payment process. Tesla now uses "Plaid" instead of PayPal for payment of the final invoice, and it does not let you use credit card. I also only had one payment for the entire system after passing inspection, no first payment upon installation or any of that.
So it looks like the days of "credit card financing" or a bunch of points earned for purchase of the system are no longer...
Plaid required you to connect a bank account for ACH? It's funny since Plaid is owned by Visa; you figure they'd actually encourage customers to scrub some fees through a Visa transaction.
This was just so Musk could announce "We've gone plaid."Update on the payment process. Tesla now uses "Plaid" instead of PayPal for payment of the final invoice, and it does not let you use credit card. I also only had one payment for the entire system after passing inspection, no first payment upon installation or any of that.
So it looks like the days of "credit card financing" or a bunch of points earned for purchase of the system are no longer...
Though there was some thought they used PayPal because of Musk's connection to the company, but I guess no longer. I wonder if Tesla still has a way to process these payments if you call directly, as I think they did do this for some (but it may have been done via PayPal.) Certainly if they told you that you could use Paypal, that would be reasonable to expect. For everybody else who just heard about it, it really is too bad, but I am not really surprised - it seems like a huge expense for Tesla and not something I expect their peers offer.
Yeah it is a bummer. That said, the price reduction since I clicked the order button is way, way more than any points for travel that I couldn't use anyway.
And yes, Plaid required a checking or savings account to proceed.
And yes, Plaid required a checking or savings account to proceed.
Has anyone had any problems refinancing their mortgage with a solar loan? Do banks make you pay it off before you can refi?
holeydonut
Supporting Member
If your solar loan is secured by your house (like a HELOC or PACE loan the Refi lender may require special consideration to mortgage. I completed a Refi a few months ago with Rocket Mortgage and they asked me to pay off the HELOC before proceeding.
Even If your solar is financed by a personal loan or has no lien on your home, a Refi lender will still consider the monthly payments as a drag on your DTI and FCF. So the solar could impact your Refi if it’s pushing your risk profile outside of the box the lender is using. While interest rates have come down, lenders are tightening who they’ll lend to.
Must be a very new change. We paid final 50% 10 days ago on PayPal using a Visa card. Did the same thing with $100 down, and the first 50% payment to get construction scheduled.Update on the payment process. Tesla now uses "Plaid" instead of PayPal for payment of the final invoice, and it does not let you use credit card. I also only had one payment for the entire system after passing inspection, no first payment upon installation or any of that.
So it looks like the days of "credit card financing" or a bunch of points earned for purchase of the system are no longer...
Silicon Desert
Active Member
That's rather interesting considering Elon made so much money as a co-founder of PayPal
And owned/owns a ton of PayPal shares.That's rather interesting considering Elon made so much money as a co-founder of PayPal
Thanks. How about Tesla and whoever handles the loan (Mosaic)? Unsecured loan or still a problem when refinancing?
willow_hiller
Active Member
I'm not sure how it would work when it comes down to brass tax, but Mosaic says they do not place a lien on your home, just the panels: Understanding Liens and Selling Your Solar Home | Join Mosaic
Has anyone requested to keep their SREC's while financing through Tesla? I called in and they had no problem with my request. After a couple minutes on hold they came back on and said it was removed. I saw the credit/negative value disappear from the top of the "Pricing Details" section with the costs and "Solar/Powerwall Bundling Discount", but I am now seeing it in the credits section with the "MD Solar Energy Grant", "Federal Tax Credit", etc. I'm honestly not sure if it was in that section previously.
willow_hiller
Active Member
Yes, I'm in MD as well and this was explained to me as a quirk of the system. They always show state incentives, even when Tesla doesn't pay them. As long as it's not being subtracted from the system cost, you're set. In my case, I made sure that my loan plus my down payment plus my deposit added up exactly to my total system cost.
Same thing here, in MD. I had a particular concern because one version of our contract they mistakenly added language assigning the SRECs to Tesla (and didn't even give me the credit.) They actually caught their mistake, so I believe it was just that.
Just to be safe (and because it makes sense anyway, money-wise) I would suggest beginning the registration process as soon as you get PTO. I did see one person mention there was some confusion between them and Tesla over SRECs (may be a different state) and it helps to be first so Tesla's application will be the one rejected.
willow_hiller
Active Member
Has anyone actually made a monthly payment to Mosaic or Sunlight financial, yet? I'm curious if they report the principal component of each payment, or if that's something I'll need to calculate myself. I want to try and factor in any interest paid into my payback period calculations.
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