I've seen some folks suggest you need to post a few payments (3?) before you can payoff your Acura Financial Services loan without forfeiting the finance-related discount you received on the car purchase price. I just called AFS and they said that's BS - you can pay off the loan at any time without penalty or loss of promotion. This is consistent with my loan paperwork, but I'm not entirely at-ease with the "without penalty" language they use because it is not further defined anywhere. Seems coy and I'm not a trusting person on these kinds of things.

So I'd like to verify before making any moves: What recent experiences have others had in this regard? (FWIW my first payment just posted.)

Thanks!

 

My first statement from Acura Financial had a payoff amount that was good until the payment due date.
I sent a check for that amount and got a letter yesterday saying that I was paid in full and that the DMV would send a title with no liens or encumbrances at no charge.
I also received the title yesterday from the state.

 

We paid ours off after the first payment, no problem with the discount.

 

Provided your terms don't mention anything about a "prepayment penalty" you should absolutely have no issue with this.

 

When I bought my TLX back in 2018 with a financing deal they said that while you can pay it off early the dealership gets the bonus if you wait the 3 payments. I figured since they gave me a good price I'd roll with it for the 3 payments.

 

This was my situation as well. Was told that if I pay it off before 3 payments have been made, then they loose the $ from selling the Acura financing. What do I know? I waited until after the 3rd payment. Interest was low anyway. It was a small loan as I traded in a one year old car that had no loan..

 

I bought my RDX around June 15th. The finance guy had some silly idea for me to wait three payments before paying it off. I had no intention of doing that. I contacted Acura finance a few days later and seems to me I had to wait for a loan number to come through or something. I paid it off by July 1st. I don't think you owe them anything. Don't waste your money on paying interest. There was never any mention of loosing the bonus cash...in fact the only thing the lady at Acura finance said was congratulations on paying off my loan.

 

Ahh, that makes a lot of sense. I'm in the same situation where I'm not paying much interest anyway; however, I think I'd rather just pay it off now and use a portion of the modest savings to tip my sales guy.

Thanks everyone!

 

I am taking advantage of 0.9%, its practically free money.

 

The dealer takes the hit if the loan is paid off before month 3. Depending on the loan amount it's a $500 or $600 "charge back" to them.

Right from a friend in the business.

 

I imagine its the similar to most manufactures with loan payback. When I bought my Volvo I deal 99% of the time with the Sales manager and can u trust a car salesman, maybe not, but he was fairly upfront with me. There was an incentive by volvo if you financed the car and he too said I could pay it off right away, BUT if one paid it off prior to 3 payments they "may" get dinged for it. he stated sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. He told me just pay 99% of it off..then after 3 months pay it off! He gave me a good price, looked after me after the sale with a few minor issues, so for me was just common courtesy towait that 3 months. What I wish I had done a bit earlier was contact Volvo finance to get the required info so I could make that initial payment, as they took their time,so I had to pay a bit extra interest.

 

The finance manager told me flat out they would get hit if 3 payments were not made on the Acura finance deal.

Part of the negotiations on the car price got down to that $500 or so for them so I promised I'd pay 3 months before paying it off. Now obviously they couldn't make me keep to it but a deal is a deal and my word is worth more to me than a couple dollars of interest. I make the 3rd payment then paid it off a week later.

This dealership has treated me very fairly over the years for service even though until this latest RDX they couldn't match a deal on a new sale.

 

I was also told that the dealership would only get their financing bonus if I kept the loan active for 3 months and they recommended I make hefty prepayments each month to reduce the interest cost to me so I made my first payment plus $15K, my second plus $10K and then paid it nearly off with my 3rd payment (easy to do online). I ended up paying about $150 total in interest. I suppose I could have screwed the dealership, but felt good about the deal we cut.

 

i made 3 payments on my own for like $10k each before the first payment was due, then paid it all off.

if you do feel like you want to wait 3 months before paying it off I would recommend paying all but a few dollars over your monthly payment amount as your first payment. Then your balance will be just a few dollars more then your next monthly payment. So after you pay that you will owe about $10 as your final payment at month 3. That will save you a lot on interest.

most people make the 1st two regular payments and then pay it off in the third month.

 

This Acura finance special deal, I never considered this approach. I don't recall the dealer mentioning any special finance deals when I got the car back in 2019. I did get many thousands off however so I guess I didn't give it much thought and just paid cashed on pickup. Next one in 2024 I will see what is offered.

 

There must not have been one in play when you bought. I negotiated the lowest price possible between 5 dealers and when it got down to the last 2 the winning dealer knocked off a final $250 if I "promised" to keep the loan three months. Getting me to finance with that program got them a $5 or 6 hundred dollar kickback. The other dealer wasn't interested in negotiating further. It was an inventive tactic on the winning dealer's part.

At 1.9% the interest for three months is negligible especially making large payments of extra principal.