Is It Hard To Finance A Golf Cart? (Buy Here Pay Here Option)
I have found a couple of primary reasons I would want to make a big investment and finance a golf cart.
- I don’t have the money or
- I don’t want to pull money out of investments to fund it.
Typically, financing a golf cart is easy. It helps to have a minimum credit score of 650 to get funding from a bank. However, many golf cart local dealers offer “Buy Here Pay Here” which allows them to finance a golf cart even with a subpar credit scores (or without credit approval required at all).
But with either problem, it doesn’t have to be hard to finance a golf cart. In this article, we will talk about how you can finance your used or new golf cart, whether an installment loan or down payment is necessary, and how long you can finance a golf cart.
What kind of loan do you get for a golf cart?
An installment loan is going to be the best bang for your buck when financing your new ride. Places like Sheffield Financial have a finance department that makes the process infinitely easier. Or you can check out the calculator on their site to help you make an estimation on what the loan terms would be.
If you’d like a little riskier and pay higher fees, you can get a financing plan from your regular credit card and pay it off on time. Traditionally, I would get a newer card that has a “minimum spend” on it where I would get a truckload of points just for using the card. Or get one that has no interest at all for a certain amount of months. This will negatively affect your credit score since it is an unsecured debt, but will still get you one of those new electric golf carts you have your eye on.
Other options can be Yard Card, Roadrunner Financial, and Freedomroad Financial that you can get from new E-Z-Go Dealers. These places are member FDIC and they will tell you the minimum and maximum amount of money you can get with a loan.
of Callaway ERC Triple
Track Golf Balls for
yourself or your buddy!
How many months can you finance a golf cart?
As a general rule, you can finance a golf cart anywhere from 24 to 60 months. The amount of months you can finance a golf cart largely depends on your credit worthiness. Simply put, a higher credit score the better.
Other available financing options can include weekly and bi-weekly payments. This obviously depends on your ability to make the payments. For me, it is much better to get from under the “cloud of debt” when investing in a new or preowned golf cart.
Usually, the online application process, regardless of who you use, is free. Meaning worst case, you can apply and just see what happens. No company can force you to take out the loan. So be smart about it and really look at your situation.
What is the best golf cart loan term?
This is subjective as it depends on your situation, but anything under 7% interest rate would be considered a good rate. Exceptional financing offers could include an annual percentage rate below 3%.
Please be very careful of higher interest rates above 7% as at that point it is not really worth your credit hit and you will end up losing out on more money long term. Think of it this way, it is cheaper to borrow money under 7% since your normal investments are getting at LEAST a 7% to 9% return in the stock market year over year. That is also assuming you have a lot invested in safe assets like index funds.
and apparel.
gear, accessories and apparel. (affiliate link)
Financial institutions and Banks
- Secured loan– Your banks and credit unions will provide a loan where your golf cart itself serves as collateral for the loan. Many lending institutions claim they will loan on as low as $1,000 and for as low at 4.5%.
- You’ll want at least a 650 credit score for this. Check out our used golf cart checklist if you’re going the used golf cart route.
- Unsecured loan- If you don’t want to use your golf cart as collateral, then you’re essentially looking for a personal loan or unsecured, which can have a higher interest rate: as much as 13%
Credit Cards
If you already have a credit card with a high enough balance, then you can just use the credit card to pay for your new ride. You’ll want to make sure you can handle the new monthly payment with the interest rate that your credit card has.
This will make it easier to get the golf cart and to keep you from having buyer’s remorse.
Golf Cart Dealerships and OEM Financing
All the major golf cart manufacturers and dealerships will offer financing. Just do a little shopping around to find the best interest rate for your credit score. You also want to look at their service department and location to make sure you’d be happy using them if you need repairs done on your golf cart. Also make sure to get familiar with golf cart maintenance and troubleshooting checklist.
Also look for year end interest rate specials when they’re trying to move a lot of older models to make room for the newer ones.
Check the fine print on these contracts. There are usually up front fees that they charge for the financing so make sure you loo at the APR to see that actual interest rate you’ll end up paying over the life of the loan.
Buy Here Pay Here Options For Your Cart
If your credit is less than stellar and you’re looking to secure financing, you can go with the buy here, pay here places or with the creditors who specialize in the bad credit sector. Just know that you’ll likely pay a higher interest rate because of it. No worries though. Just focus on paying down the loan as quickly as you can.
If they can’t help you either, then you’ll want to focus on building up your credit score. Work on paying things consistently if you can pay down your debt. And check your credit reports to see if there are any items that are wrong.
Many financial institutions get things wrong on your report and just by challenging certain items, you can get them removed.
Loan Repayment Insurance and Protection Plans
Once you get financing, you’ll want to look at the option of loan repayment insurance. For a small fee you can have confidence if something happens with your job that they can cover your payments full or partially until you’re able to get back on track with it.
To close this out, just focus on finding the financing that is right for your needs and keep track of the fine print when comparing your options for financing a golf cart.
