Nikoli
Member
My check from PenFed stated it was for a Roadster Sport 2.5. Oh well, the VIN is on there for the S. It's in Teslas hands now so I expect to have a firm delivery date soon.
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
How to finance with PenFed quickly without going insane
- Thread starter rcc
- Start date
+1 on this. While Penfed is great, they are slow, then again, so is Tesla. Received notification Monday Night (12/17) that I was assigned a VIN, wired $$ my downpayment to Tesla and received final MVPA reflecting my downpayment on Saturday (took some nudging).
Faxed everything to penfed (was pre-approved on 12/7) and called to confirm receipt. They said the loan officers were gone until Wednesday due to the holidays. But, my fax should be reviewed quickly since I was already conditionally approved awaiting VIN and final docs.
Call in today, they say they have a huge backup being closed for the past 4 days. The CS Rep says, "hopefully they'll get back to you in 48 hours" Hopefully? Egads.. It would be nice if you could actually get a hold of someone working in the loan dept instead of a CSR just relaying messages.
Then I get the email today saying, car is ready for pickup! :love::love: But don't have my financing check. argh :scared: So am arranging plan B financing with Tesla.
In hindsight, I should have liquidated more stocks and just written a check and do a refi on the auto.
Shokunin - How does the refi part work? Would you expect the same rate and terms from Penfed on that? Do lenders do this commonly? Thx.
That's the way I went - but by necessity not plan. Tesla emailed me last Thursday that the car could be picked up on Sat/Sun (22/23). With getting the VIN Thursday evening, no way I could complete the transaction in 1 business day. Wrote several checks from a couple of accounts, and when the title arrives, PenFed will issue me a check per the same terms and I'll backfill the funds i 'borrowed'. Took the loan officer about 10 minutes to redo the loan for this path, and I told Tesla that the original title was lien free. Have my car and in a few weeks should have my $'s.
Just an update. Got the approval late today from Penfed and I could complete the transaction online and they could cut a check tomorrow and ups overnight it. Unfortunately the check wouldn't arrive until sometime monday (a bit too late, I guess I could have asked for sat delivery). In the meantime, I got approval in matter of hours from WFB (applied at 4pm wednesday night) approved 9am on thursday, scheduled for 9am pickup on Friday. I'll eventually do a refi on the wells fargo loan with Penfed.
Penfed was actually moving as the CSRs mentioned, 48 hour turnaround. This would all have been fine and dandy if a) I wasn't in such a hurry and b) Tesla has a 12/31 deadline to move cars out. A lot of this scrambling could have been avoided if Tesla moved faster on getting those MVPAs out. I had high volumes, holiday delays, short work "week" and tight deadline all working against me. All my other cars were either paid in cash or financed with one of those checks the banks send to me to go car shopping up to $xx,xxx.
lesson learned: wire Tesla your downpayment way in advance. This way when they create your MVPA it'll reflect the downpayment and the difference due will equal the financed amount penfed is looking for. You won't have to wait for a second MVPA (if you wire after they send you the final MVPA).
Hopefully my second delivery will go much smoother.
Penfed was actually moving as the CSRs mentioned, 48 hour turnaround. This would all have been fine and dandy if a) I wasn't in such a hurry and b) Tesla has a 12/31 deadline to move cars out. A lot of this scrambling could have been avoided if Tesla moved faster on getting those MVPAs out. I had high volumes, holiday delays, short work "week" and tight deadline all working against me. All my other cars were either paid in cash or financed with one of those checks the banks send to me to go car shopping up to $xx,xxx.
lesson learned: wire Tesla your downpayment way in advance. This way when they create your MVPA it'll reflect the downpayment and the difference due will equal the financed amount penfed is looking for. You won't have to wait for a second MVPA (if you wire after they send you the final MVPA).
Hopefully my second delivery will go much smoother.
Puyallup Bill
Member
Looks like it is staying at 1.49% for January. Also note that they are offering 1.85% on a three year certificate.
I joined PenFed on the 26th, I just got my member number and whatnot today so I called them and did a pre-approval for a car loan for $60K....that is still pending. I did ask them about the 1.49% rate and I was told that they didn't think it would be go up for a while but if it did it would go up in Feb. Because I am now getting a pre-approval now whatever they approve me for will be good for 90 days.
gg_got_a_tesla
Model S: VIN 65513, Model 3: VIN 1913
That doesn't seem right, I was told that twice. I will call them back tomorrow and confirm.
jcadman22
Tesla Owners Club Maryland
I completed an online application last week and was approved within minutes. I went through the process until it started asking for dealership and VIN info which I won't have until sometime later this month (hopefully) at which point I planned to go back to the application online and complete the process. Much to my surprise, I received a pre-approval letter and blank check in the mail this week.
As others have noted previously, I was counting on the rate being locked for 90-days from my application/approval date (12/28). However, the letter that I received confirms what GG said - the rate locks when that check is presented. I'd really like to get that settled by the end of the month to knock out that little bit of uncertainty.
As others have noted previously, I was counting on the rate being locked for 90-days from my application/approval date (12/28). However, the letter that I received confirms what GG said - the rate locks when that check is presented. I'd really like to get that settled by the end of the month to knock out that little bit of uncertainty.
So you never needed to send in a copy of your pre-MVPA to PenFed? Does the blank check have both of yours and Tesla's names on it? I don't quite understand what you meant by "rate locks when that check is presented". Presented to you or to Tesla?
I believe he's using the legal definition of "presentment," which is when Tesla cashes the check. In other words, "presentment" occurs when Tesla's bank, after receiving the check from Tesla, presents the check to PenFed for payment.
sounds like the standard sales pitch "sign up now before the rates go up" to try and commit you to using their service, even if they know the rate won't actually go up for a year. they probably have statistics showing that if they get you to do the sign up/pre-approval now, rather than waiting until you're actually ready, that your more likely to use them in the end and their conversion rate from a prospective to a final sale is much higher.
If you are thinking about financing through Penfed with the 1.49% loan, you should know that they have a $500 deductible requirement for collision and comprehensive with your insurance carrier.
If you are expecting or want to have a $1000 deductible for your cost estimates, going to a $500 deductible will raise your overall cost of ownership. For me, it translates to about an extra $250 a year ($1200 over 5 years) to have this loan and makes my effective rate closer to 2% for the loan.
I only found out about this requirement after they sent me the check and final paperwork.
If you are expecting or want to have a $1000 deductible for your cost estimates, going to a $500 deductible will raise your overall cost of ownership. For me, it translates to about an extra $250 a year ($1200 over 5 years) to have this loan and makes my effective rate closer to 2% for the loan.
I only found out about this requirement after they sent me the check and final paperwork.
That is very interesting about their deductible requirement. Is this specific to the Model S or some other criteria? If that's the case, I may end up going with a different finance company. I know there are others offering 72 and 84 month loans between 1.99 and 2.49 - that would really help bring down the monthly payment a lot.
Similar threads
