Financing solar?

[Anonymous]

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?

[jamie123]

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%.

[Anonymous]

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!

[BmoreBull]

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.

[Anonymous]

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

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

[BmoreBull]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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

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

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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.

[Citylights18]

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@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!

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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

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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). 

[Anonymous]

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!