Mazda American Credit showing up as Ford Financial?

[Anonymous]

DH has a car for DD financed through Mazda. On EQ, this account shows up as Ford Financial in Franklin, TN. TU & EX show Mazda in Franklin, TN. Balance & acc't # are the same. Have one of the two companies acquired the other??? I know it won't matter in scoring, but I do know that certain finance companies have a "rep" on manual review. We were questioned rigorously as to why we had a car financed through AmeriCredit, because they are supposedly for bad credit (they bought our car loan when they bought out another company, we didn't finance through them directly).

[Anonymous]

There is a very strong business relationship between Ford and Mazda. I do believe Ford does own a percentage of Mazda, but dont' know the specifics. I remember YEARS ago, like in 1995 I believe, I bought a brand new Ford Ranger PU (biggest POS ever, I worked at the Ford dealership and couldn't get the darn thing to run properly, it literally would turn off while I was driving it! Sold it 6 months later upside down for my Honda and never looked back....) and the engine was made by Mazda.  I think a lot of their 4 cylinder engines are made by Mazda. I'm just some chick remember some old details, so the others who really know the scoop will chime in, but don't be freaked out by it or anything, they do go hand in hand.

Message Edited by UpUpUp on 10-29-2008 12:04 PM

[Anonymous]

K, so consensus is no biggie, right? On a manual review, having a Ford acc't won't look worse or better than having a Mazda?

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't think so at all. Plus, if someone on manual review cares enough to prefer Mazda over Ford in terms of them being a lender, then you'd think they would be savvy enough to know they are one of the same when it comes to that stuff...

[Red1Blue]

Mazda Finance is managed by Ford.

[MattH]

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@Anonymous wrote:
There is a very strong business relationship between Ford and Mazda. I do believe Ford does own a percentage of Mazda, but dont' know the specifics. I remember YEARS ago, like in 1995 I believe, I bought a brand new Ford Ranger PU (biggest POS ever, I worked at the Ford dealership and couldn't get the darn thing to run properly, it literally would turn off while I was driving it! Sold it 6 months later upside down for my Honda and never looked back....) and the engine was made by Mazda. I think a lot of their 4 cylinder engines are made by Mazda. I'm just some chick remember some old details, so the others who really know the scoop will chime in, but don't be freaked out by it or anything, they do go hand in hand.

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Yes, Ford and Mazda have been very close for decades. Ford owns about a third of Mazda's shares, but the relationship of the two companies goes much deeper than just stock holdings: each company purchases parts from the other company, they share engineering efforts on major projects, and each company also has frequently rebadged complete vehicles made by the other for sale in its market.

Here's a summary of Mazda's corporate history from the Ford Motor Company web site:

http://media.ford.com/print_doc.cfm?article_id=15147

Message Edited by MattH on 10-29-2008 07:58 PM

[Anonymous]

Thanks, Matt.  Not only was that link informative, it was very interesting!  And, now that you say it, they have rebadged vehicles, haven't they?  Thanks so much for the info!

[Anonymous]

I think I read somewhere a few years ago that Ford owned 30% of Mazda. 

Dan