Financing a used transit, one big roadblock

Lovemysan said:

We have 5 kids and we would like 2 more, yes we are crazy. I've been watching prices since spring of 15. I started shopping in september. I attempted to purchase a t350 low roof, 15 passenger, xlt, 3.7 for $29,900 in september. I applied for 2.9% financing through a local bank and was approved for the loan. They later called back and explained that I was indeed approved for the loan but not for the transit. They explained to me that ford registers the vehicle as commercial and there was no way they could loan against it.

Fast forward to yesterday. Started looking again and found almost exactly what I want. t350, 12 pass, xlt, silver, 3.5, tow package, and limited slip axle( i have to have the LS axle its hilly and the plows don't always take care of us) $29.9k. I applied at a different local bank and was again denied. They could offer no alternatives. At this point I spoke to the dealer and he recommended apply for credit through one of their venders. I did that. I also was recommended another lender locally through a real estate contact. I'm currently working with her but so far I havent heard anything.

Has anyone else experienced this? I'm wondering if this will effect resale value on the used market in the future?

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My credit union did this to me at first on a 1.90% x 48 loan so I raised holy ****, emailed the president and all execs, explained what it was for and how incredibly popular the trend is, how dumb they were for not being aware, etc. I may have exaggerated a few points for dramatic effect, and intentionally chosen vids of women vanlifers for the all female leadership at my credit union. but hey, it worked. FWIW I'll paste the redacted email below. One more follow up email stating I was going moving my business to a competitor credit union, and the president/ceo got back to me apologizing and saying it was just confusion on the loan officer's part, that they do this all the time, and that they were going to retrain the loan officers about it. Good luck. Don't take no for an answer.


Dear President __,

As a member of your credit union, I naturally turned to you first when it came time to once again finance a new vehicle purchase. The last new __ SUV I bought was financed at __ in late 20XX. I have two perfect-standing $0 balance credit cards through __, and with a FICO score of __ at Experian and up to __ at TransUnion, I expected another smooth experience.

However, I quickly learned that an archaic policy has placed my upcoming purchase of a new personal vehicle purchase into a "commercial" category. This will now result in __ losing the opportunity to earn interest on the loan, and has damaged the __ brand in my eyes. After this experience I can't help but to see the institution as out of touch with consumer trends and financing needs. However, the issue can and should be easily resolved -- to _'s benefit -- so I thought I would reach out and provide some information which may cause you reevaluate this erroneous and dated policy.

Over the past 5 years, an explosion of interest emerged on social media for cargo vans that are used for recreational purposes. A quick search of youtube reveals the following examples, all with well over one million views. These are everyday people buying cargo vans for personal recreational use. The trend is so hot right now that when I recently spoke with Dan Geist, Head of Allocation and Production at Ford Motor Company, he informed me that two weeks ago he attended an internal company presentation where this new segment was highlighted as one of the fastest growing areas. Ford is already planning to release a Transit "Trail" model, and he said they literally had to retool their entire factory to allow it to build more medium and high roof vans because their order flow had suddenly shifted dramatically toward these larger vans due to the newfound popularity among personal buyers. There are many dozens of videos like the ones below, all with 500K-1M or more views on youtube, and on the Ford Transit forums, where I am an active member, there are millions of views and tens of thousands of posts from everyday personal vehicle owners.

Transit Cargo van 1,700,000 views

Transit Cargo van 1,159,000 views

Sprinter Cargo van 2,300,000 views



GEICO, my insurance company, is already aware of this, and they had no problem quoting me for personal insurance on my cargo van. While Manny tried his best to help me get the loan setup, he said the analysts just look for a code in the vin which indicates the vehicle is a "cargo" model, and immediately judge it as commercial. This is a bad policy that is causing __ to lose money. Unlike a commercial van, my custom ordered vehicle has loads of added features, ranging from 10-way power adjustable heated seats and audio packages with touchscreens to illuminated visors -- all hallmarks of personal use (see attached for the window sticker). I am definitely buying this van for personal enjoyment, just like my last SUV I financed with _. Being told that my upcoming new vehicle is "commercial" has changed my view of _. It feels like I'm being labeled somehow.

I therefore urge you to reevaluate this policy and update it to allow my loan to proceed. I had originally planned to just buy the vehicle outright (I still may), and Ford had 0% financing on the Transit last month, which may well return in July (I'll find out on July 7 when they update their rebate schedule), so the loss to me is minimal. However, _ will lose more because the overall experience has made me seriously question _ as my primary choice for auto, credit, and someday soon mortgage lending. At the moment there is still time to resolve this situation. I'm literally trying to hand you the interest on a $50K loan. Do you want it?

Sincerely,
John Doe
Phone Number

Follow-up email:

Additionally, I just noticed this today on Ford's own website. I also called __ Credit Union this morning and they have no problem processing the loan for personal use. I guess I'll be switching to them.


After that the AVP of lending called me and the CEO/pres wrote to me apologizing.