Anyone understand Ford Credit?

[ZMan]

So I've owned my F-150 for a few months now, so far I've paid extra on all of my payments. I make all my payments online on FordCredit's website. The problem I'm having is when I pay extra, the extra amount isn't actually going towards the principle, they're splitting it and putting some towards the interest and some towards the principle, which is pretty much a waste if you ask me. Every month my minimum payment keeps going down as well, because I've been paying extra.

So basically what I'm asking, how do I go about making the extra money I'm putting on the loan actually go towards the principle?

 

[wildbill23c]

You may try to contact ford directly and ask them if they can manipulate your extra payments like that. I know on my Toyota pickup when I made extra payments the same thing happened, but regardless your balance is going down. When I would go directly to my credit union and make a payment in cash they would ask me which I wanted to apply it towards principle or interest. I always did towards the principle, but either way you have to pay off both anyways. Once the interest is paid off your payments will go more towards principle. So the more interest you pay down, the faster your principle will go down afterwards. I know at the beginning it seems like the principle is almost stuck, then after a couple years the principle starts going down a lot faster as the interest is starting to inch closer to zero.

 

[adsm08]

Best way is to send any extra in on a paper check and write "to principle" in the memo line.

Postin' from teh Galaxy

 

[straycat]

Best way is to send any extra in on a paper check and write "to principle" in the memo line.

Postin' from teh Galaxy

^^^What he said. We did this on both of our houses and paid them off quicker. You must state 'Pay to Priciple' for the extra amount.

 

[PanamaExpat]

They want to keep stringing you along for as long as possible... More money in their pockets and more odds that you might be late on a payment and they can shazamm you with a late charge. Finance companies are not your friend. When I lived in the USA one of my best friends was a regional manager of for a chain of them and we would run repos together for fun and excitement. I learned a lot about the gimmicks of the car financing industry then.

 

[ZMan]

When i had my buick i paid it off 2 years early and saved myself a lot of money on the interest by paying extra on every payment. im trying to do that with this truck just not sure if its working!

 

[ZMan]

Best way is to send any extra in on a paper check and write "to principle" in the memo line.

Postin' from teh Galaxy

I think I'll try this, found the address on their website where I can send checks. I'll still make my online payment and send checks now and then.

 

[naford]

I say call Ford credit. They should be able to give the answer. Oh by the way if they do give you an answer post it up here. Just for curiosity. I've seen loans that even extra payments had to be full payments no partial. Loans where even though they allowed partial payments the payment wasn't counted against the loan until they had a full payment. One that they only allowed two extra payments a year. One that the payment arrived in the mail on Friday the loan payment was due on Saturday but they deliberately didn't open the mail to that PO box on Friday. So everybody had a late charge.

 

[adsm08]

One that the payment arrived in the mail on Friday the loan payment was due on Saturday but they deliberately didn't open the mail to that PO box on Friday. So everybody had a late charge.

I think that is illegal. It's also why you should not be allowed to charge a late fee if the post mark is three days prior to the due date.

 

[tmcalavy]

You can take charge of your credit, or let them run your profile...best advice given so far is to write the check and specify that it goes to principle. Consumers/customers are like throw away coffee cups to these companies...you can expect zero humanity from them, but then they are in a business where only sharks survive. Another option is to get your bank/credit union to refinance at a better rate so you'll actually get some customer service. We learned that back in the early 90's...always try to do business with a CU first...and we've bought/sold 4 houses and can't count the cars/trucks (gettin' older, don't want to).

 

[PanamaExpat]

Finance companies and vultures share a lot in common.

 

[ZMan]

Best way is to send any extra in on a paper check and write "to principle" in the memo line.

Postin' from teh Galaxy

Unfortunately this did not work, and I am not happy about it. Looked in my account history today and $35 of my $200 check went towards the principle, the rest towards interest. Sounds like I'm going to have to call them.

 

[Surrey]

Unfortunately this did not work, and I am not happy about it. Looked in my account history today and $35 of my $200 check went towards the principle, the rest towards interest. Sounds like I'm going to have to call them.

Do you get charged interest monthly on the principle?

 

[4.0B2]

you're basically paying the next payment early with how they are applying it. My mom had a hard time with Ford Credit on my dad's truck to. MAKE SURE you call and tell them what you are doing. Stay on the phone till they understand you ARE NOT paying the next payment. You are paying principal.

CALL THEM. We have been there and done that.

 

[ZMan]

you're basically paying the next payment early with how they are applying it. My mom had a hard time with Ford Credit on my dad's truck to. MAKE SURE you call and tell them what you are doing. Stay on the phone till they understand you ARE NOT paying the next payment. You are paying principal.

CALL THEM. We have been there and done that.

I called and that's exactly what they said do to, call them and tell them I want to put the money towards principle.

Thinking about it, thats just how finance companies work I guess. I had a similar problem with my mortgage, we accidently made a double payment one month and they sent us a check for that extra payment, so we just went back to the bank and told them to put that money towards the principle.