topic Re: Financing solar? in General Credit Topics

Financing solar?

Anonymous — Thu, 21 May 2020 02:26:19 GMT

I'm exploring solar panels and the companies mentioned they work with CUs to offer low interest financing. Has anyone done this? Any idea of what kind of loan it is and what qualifications they might need?

Re: Financing solar?

jamie123 — Thu, 21 May 2020 03:44:56 GMT

I just had solar panels installed on my roof. I took out a HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit) with Alliant CU. It was virtually painless to do but I have scores in the 800s and I had substantial equity in my house. The HELOC is calculated at a 15 year payback period from the opening of the HELOC with a 7 year draw. That means it works like a credit card for 7 years. As you pay it off it frees up credit that you can spend on other things if needed. The monthly payment is always calculated to be paid off at15 years of the loan open date. Of course you can always pay more to have it paid off early.

I qualified for their best rate at the time (Last March) which was 4.00%. It is a variable rate that adjusts once per year and cannot increase more than 2% per year but will never go below 4%.

Re: Financing solar?

Anonymous — Thu, 21 May 2020 06:21:16 GMT

Hmmm... that's good to know. I just bought my home in December so it sounds like I may need to wait a bit or consider using a stock award or bonus. Thanks for the info!

Re: Financing solar?

BmoreBull — Thu, 21 May 2020 12:10:54 GMT

I don’t know where you live, but I’m an electrician for a solar company. The company I work for has only two options, buy outright or finance. Other companies, here in Maryland, offer the panels and installation for free. The catch is you have to agree to change your utility provider to them for 20-30 years. From what I understand, depending on your usage of course, the panels pay for themselves in roughly 8 years. That’s including savings on electric bill and any excess energy that you can sell back to the utility company. We also install the Tesla batteries ( works like a backup generator), but from what I understand they take about 20 years to pay themselves off.

Re: Financing solar?

Anonymous — Thu, 21 May 2020 15:22:12 GMT

@BmoreBull wrote:
... From what I understand, depending on your usage of course, the panels pay for themselves in roughly 8 years ...

Good info -- thanks. What's the life expectancy of a solar panel? Does it vary widely by manufacturer?

Re: Financing solar?

BmoreBull — Thu, 21 May 2020 15:29:16 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@BmoreBull wrote:
... From what I understand, depending on your usage of course, the panels pay for themselves in roughly 8 years ...
Good info -- thanks. What's the life expectancy of a solar panel? Does it vary widely by manufacturer?

The solar panels last about 25-30 years. Over time though, as they age, some of the cells won’t produce as well as they used to. So say a panel is producing 10kw a day, that could drop to 7-8. Other factors include wether you have a real winter where you live, pollen buildup, and the infamous squirrel damage, lol. The company I work for gives a long warranty and we do warranty work for other companies where I can tell the systems are at least 5-10 years old.

Re: Financing solar?

Citylights18 — Fri, 22 May 2020 03:23:27 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hmmm... that's good to know. I just bought my home in December so it sounds like I may need to wait a bit or consider using a stock award or bonus. Thanks for the info!

You could try to go the AMEX route as some of their cards have what they call a Plan IT feature which allows you to finance a larger purchase for around 1% and pay installments on it.

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/features-benefits/plan-it/prospect-Calculator.html

Re: Financing solar?

Anonymous — Fri, 22 May 2020 07:36:53 GMT

That's a good idea! My Amex Gold has that and whenever I've put in random crazy high amounts out of curiosity it's approved me. I'm meeting with the solar guy by Zoom tomorrow to get specific info for my house. We'll see what the estimate comes in at.

Re: Financing solar?

Anonymous — Fri, 22 May 2020 16:36:23 GMT

~~Just a reminder about that feature is that sometimes it doesn't allow a very long time to repay it, roughly 3-8 months give or take and the calculated payments will affect your DTI.~~ Nevermind I was confusing it with Plan it.

Depending on the total price you would likely do better with a Home improvement loan, lightstream for example has that exact wording (pool/solar).

Re: Financing solar?

Anonymous — Fri, 22 May 2020 20:59:23 GMT

I talked to the company today and the quote was a lot less than expected. My roof has only one area that's good for solar so it's only 19k. They charge a 3% fee for credit cards so I'd do better getting financing through their partner credit union at 4.49% since I can pay off the balance in September.

Definitely worth talking to a company if you're interested. Online it was saying more like 50k! We'll see if I qualify for this loan, my credit is around 720 across the board but I do have a new mortgage and high student loans. If I don't, I'll just wait and pay cash in September. Just would love to get that summer sunshine!

Re: Financing solar?

Anonymous — Thu, 28 May 2020 02:31:27 GMT

I was declined for the solar loan due to an unpaid chargeoff from 2013 (that is set to fall off in July!) and high DTI... no clue why they think my DTI is too high. Even with the new loan payment, my total DTI would've been 35%. That seems pretty good to me 🤷🏻‍♀️

Super bummed but I'll just wait and pay cash this fall or maybe next spring since there's no sun to be had in the fall/winter here.

Denied for a solar loan, is there any point in asking them to reconsider?

Anonymous — Fri, 29 May 2020 00:13:40 GMT

I'm feeling pretty salty about this. I applied to a local CU for a solar loan for 25k to be safe, although the estimate was 20k. They asked me to provide a LOE about a chargeoff from 2013 that was unpaid (4k) and that is falling off my credit in July (and actually just came off TU and EX but they pulled EQ) and for payment info for my deferred student loans.

I was then denied based on the unpaid CO and high DTI. I told them when I submitted the SL payment info that I had just consolidated and my payment would be dropping significantly but even with the higher payment, my DTI was 37%. Now it's 35%. Is that really considered "high" DTI? My debt is predominantly high SLs, a mortgage, a car, and CCs with 10% utilization (normally lower, but I had put a septic system replacement on my CCs for my dad's home that I just sold so that's already paid off). I don't carry balances usually so little reports.

The payment on this loan would be around $120 and my monthly income is just shy of 16k so it's really all just very **bleep**. There aren't many options for solar financing so there really isn't another great option. I could put it on my Amex and use Plan It but the solar company charges 3% for a credit card payment so that's definitely not worth it. I can also pay cash in September, but I'll miss most of the sun this year if I wait. I was planning to finance just from now until September. Argh.

Re: Denied for a solar loan, is there any point in asking them to reconsider?

dogmeat — Fri, 29 May 2020 07:05:13 GMT

I'm not very knowledgeable about DTI but I'd say 35% is right on the edge of "high."

This solar financing loan sounds intriguing. Is it a 20 year term or something? ($120/mo makes me wonder). What interest rate? I ask because there are some CUs with PLOC products that have sub-10% rates.

Re: Denied for a solar loan, is there any point in asking them to reconsider?

Anonymous — Fri, 29 May 2020 16:57:54 GMT

It's a 20 year, 4.49% loan. You can also reamortize once, which a lot of ppl do after they get the federal tax credit.

I went ahead and talked to the lender and she said the DTI isn't the main issue, it's the old CO. When that falls off, she encouraged me to re-apply. So now I'll need to decide whether it's worth a second inquiry in July.