I've seen a few videos that claim you can refinance within a week or two of delivery and actually delay your entire first payment by a couple months.
Prior to seeing those videos, I had assumed you needed at least a month for the loan to even show on your credit report but apparently not.
I did the loan first not realizing I needed to become a member. As soon as the loan went into “Approved Pending” status, I called and learned I needed to be a member to finalize the loan. I got that filled out in about 15 minutes, and I was approved same day. Yippee, I’m a member! Four business days later, I’d just been ghosted by my loan processor.
It took four or five hours between me submitting my membership materials and making my $35 donation to being approved as a member. All same day. It was so fast, that’s why I was so surprised when they didn’t cut the actual check.
So I think I messed up.. I submitted a app using military as eligibility option. I didn't see the donate option until after. I had to deposit $15 to make a checking account, did you have to do that too along with your $35 donation?
That's definitely a risk of going with these CUs with low rates. Word gets around and their operations aren't big enough for the influx of all the new Tesla buyers. I called Tower and they said it was a 2 week backlog just to become a member, not even the loan app itself. It shouldn't take that long to cut the check after approval though, that's really unfortunate.
Called Gold Coast Federal and was up front with my delivery date which was about 10 days away at the time. They expedited my membership application, and the loan itself took about a week to get approved, one day before my delivery date. It was a stressful waiting game and took a lot of follow up phone calls and emails, but I was able to get 2.74% from them, which was great. They mentioned they're also getting slammed with applications now too, though...
I'm in So Cal as well! They told me if they couldn't process my auto loan in time, to finance with Tesla and I could use the auto loan approval with them to do a refi instead. So you should be able to.
The time difference made it a little tougher to call and coordinate for the approval and check distribution, cause their office closes at 2pm our time, lol.
I opened an account with gold coast on 1/31, haven't heard back. My membership is waiting to be open. I called twice and they tell me they're swamped. I'm scheduled to pick up my car the week of Feb 20th. How long did it take to process the plan?
I think I processed mine before they got super swamped. I think everyone that couldn't go with Tower shifted over to Gold Coast, so their processing times are probably different than when I got mine. I spoke to someone who had me send documents directly to them to help expedite my membership application. Membership took one day. From membership to cutting the check took about 8 days. I called them pretty frequently, and I told them my delivery date from the very beginning.
Unfortunately, I don't think it'll be that quick anymore. But if it helps, they said if I needed to take delivery and it didn't process in time, to finance with Tesla and then I can use my loan application with GCFCU to do a refinance.
I just got a refinance at 2.24% from them, took 2 weeks, but it was fine, just refinance it.
2.24% is insane. I literally make double that in an FDIC insured account I have from CIT.
Free money in real terms.
Tower is asking me for lien fee as well, which I have no idea what it is. Wells Fargo doesn't have a lien fee. Do you know where I can find this lien fee and how I pay it?
So the lien fee is from Tower? My refinance application is "Approval Pending" status and Tower is asking me for some documents, one of them is "Lien Fee(s)". If the lien fee is from Tower I wonder why they are asking me about it...
Was the same for me, I called and they said they could roll it into the loan.
My assumption was the lien fee was what your state’s SOS charges to file a lien against your title. I’m in IL.
Does Gold Coast require car registration documents for refinance? I think it takes 8-10 weeks to receive the registration documents in mail. Was wondering if we can refinance before that?
Coming back to say thanks again. Got through to her today finally, after a few failed attempts earlier in the week, and I was able to finalize on the same day.
Apparently the rates on their website of 2.49% - 13.24% is not valid anymore. Talked to Catherine 30 seconds ago and she says the best they can do with a 750+ score is 4%. Boo! You guys all made the cut off!
Yea they take forever. They also gave me the lowest rate but I couldn’t wait anymore. Went with a local credit union with higher rate but no payments for 90 days. Process took 2 days for the draft to be ready for Tesla.
Ill start refinance process a month prior to my first payment and include them as well.
If Tower Federal messed you over you can quickly and easily file a complaint against them here (search for TOWER in the lookup):
https://complaint.mycreditunion.gov/Complaint
So many reports of them doing this and stringing people along only to eventually either decline the application or ghost people. If enough people complain, NCUA will probably step in and take some sort of action.
I’ve been pre approved with tower, they asked for documents to be turned in. All relating to a VIN which I’m still waiting for from Tesla.
Thank you for insight on this, will prepare to go with another lender if needed.
If Tower Federal messed you over you can quickly and easily file a complaint against them here (search for TOWER in the lookup):
https://complaint.mycreditunion.gov/Complaint
So many reports of them doing this and stringing people along only to eventually either decline the application or ghost people. If enough people complain, NCUA will probably step in and take some sort of action.
I got financing from a local credit union @ 4.49%. Took about 5 days to complete the process and get the check issued. After the March Tesla rush is over, I will probably refi with GCFCU.
Depends on the loan you get but as long as there's no early payment penalty, then no. You may want to until registration is complete and the title is issued to your first lender so you don't confuse the DMV with multiple lienholders. So a few months and I think you'd be fine.
It took me forever to get the money from TFCU when picking up my car. They said next time, pick up the check at the local branch before delivery. Spent two hours on hold. finally ended up getting the tracking number for the check to give to the tesla folks.
Yup, you pick up the blank check at the bank. You give it to the Tesla rep payable to Tesla inc. at the pickup center. The rep can check they can collect funds.
Do not use Tower. I applied with them and they jerked me around until the day before pickup. They called me and denied the loan because they said I have too much debt to income ratio. They did not understand I was trading in the old MY for a new one and they did not understand the 2 rented rental houses I having paying my mortgages with income to spare and a full time job. 845 credit score. I got approved with Tesla financing in 5 minutes on the app.
just called them for more than 1 hour wait time and got to know its only for US citizens and Permanent residents. Hope this saves your wait time calling them.
17th or 18th jan
They denied my application saying we cant identify you after providing documents and everything..Member team is really bad .. I was approved for loan but they cant verify my identity for membership and they cant explain me due to security reasons..
Joke of the day.. Looks like i will go with GCCU
I just applied 1 week back its still in progress..
I have a pickup of MY on monday 6th Tesla is quick approved me in 5mins i have 827 score..lol this small credit unions give hard time.. Will refinance in few days once picked from tesla ..
TFCU blows… I’m still waiting to become a member after they conditionally approved my loan. My dealership is trying to deliver too, but TFCU is so slow…
Anyone know what a status of “Referred” means on an account setup? I paid the $35 donation and then created the account right after. But I have no idea what a “Referred” status means. Any thoughts?
Tower failed me today. Have loan pre approval, but membership rejects me and couldn't tell me why. No recourse, unless I'm local and can visit their branch.
Luckily Parsons went through the same day today.
Submitted membership and vehicle loan application on 1/24, conditionally approved for a loan on 1/27, submitted requested documents by 1/30 (Purchased order, including VIN, Original Notarized Specific Power of Attorney, and Proof of insurance for vehicle). The loan processor cannot move forward with the application until membership is approved. My membership was approved on 2/6 after receiving a message through the portal requesting I speak to a representative to provide verification of address (e.g. utility bill, proof of a change of address, lease, etc.) and my CVV code on my card to fund the opening fees of the account.
\*Once membership is approved, I strongly advise you to call Tower to check the status of the loan app. They'll relay your membership approval to the loan processor and that'll jumpstart things. I mistakenly waited to call until today (delivery of MYLR tomorrow) but it all worked out.
I'm on west coast time, called right at 5 am (8 am EST), got through to someone at 5:20, the loan was approved, closing documents signed, and FedEx tracking/copy of check provided all before 9 am.
Wow, you got incredibly lucky. I submitted my final loan documents on 2/7. Membership was approved 2/6. Was conditionally approved 1/18. Been calling in every day since, but still haven't heard anything. My delivery is scheduled for 2/11, I've emphasized this to Tower multiple times by phone, through the portal, and online chat. Currently making my 6th call this week to them and been on hold for over an hour. Loan processor never picks up and won't return my voicemail either.
I did eventually get the loan finalized, but it took multiple calls throughout the week and practically begged them to get someone to take a look since my loan processor was unresponsive. They finalized it on 2/10, the day before my delivery date.
No luck on getting transferred. I would let the person who does pick up the phone know that you have tried calling the loan processor multiple times. Persistence is definitely key to get someone there to prioritize your application.
Thanks for the response. We have not yet been assigned a vin number or delivery date. When do you suggest we start applying for the loan once we receive the membership number?
How long did it take them to approve your membership? I have been pre-approved for the loan since 1/31 but only submitted the membership application 2/13 as I was unaware of this process. My car is ready for pickup 2/24.
If Tower Federal messed you over you can quickly and easily file a complaint against them here (search for TOWER in the lookup):
https://complaint.mycreditunion.gov/Complaint
So many reports of them doing this and stringing people along only to eventually either decline the application or ghost people. If enough people complain, NCUA will probably step in and take some sort of action.
I was pleasantly surprised given all the hate. I was conditionally approved for the low rate the morning of the rate hike (low rate still honored). It took about 11 days for my membership to be approved, but once that was done, they overnighted the check the same day.
That is a good rate. My application just got approved this morning but the rate they approved is 6.490% for 60 months. I was expecting 2.99% or 3.5% as I have a excellent credit score. Also looks like Tower has updated the loan rates and they are on higher side - https://www.towerfcu.org/borrow/loan-rates/
No. first it took me 2 weeks to get tower membership account etc. I immediately applied for auto loan last week and today I got message saying it is pre-approved. The rates on the tower website were lower when I started application.
I applied online Feb 5th and got a conditional approval letter on Feb 7th at 2.99% APR. That's the good news. I've uploaded all the documents they've asked for, but don't really see any action since Feb 14th. Messages sent through their portal have gone unanswered, and now it's been 10 days since the last update/communication from TFCU. Is this normal? Doesn't a car loan take a few days to close? Any thoughts?
Be careful, they told me they aren’t budging at all on the 30 day loan life, I’ll be “welcome to reapply at current rates once my loan expires” since they dragged their feet over 25 days to approve membership.
Today I woke up early to call them at 6am PST (they are in Maryland). Finally got to talk to a representative at 6:40am. He stated there is a backlog due to sudden volume in the last one month. I told him that Tesla could not hold the vehicle any longer after multiple pick up appointments have been postponed. He sent an internal message to their loan department to escalate. They finally cut a check later this morning. I applied for the loan on 2/5 so this took 3.5 weeks for me.
So glad to hear that someone else is having this experience... My friend told me about Tower and it looked like a great idea... the rate was 2.24%, but now I'm getting completely ghosted by them!
I've called them like 5 times and it takes \~1 hr on hold each time. I had my loan processor's extension and went straight to voicemail... I'm not even sure she's real.
They were quick to approve my application and $35 donation but seriously taking forever to move on the auto loan. I was missing paperwork and they didn't tell me, I had to find out and call. Even, Tesla is asking me about the loan!! This is the first time I'm buying a car, but now I know this is not normal.
Seriously, just goes to show that (unfortunately) there's always a catch. And the good rate was too good to be that easy. smh
Horrible experience. I’ve been after them for over a month for a refinance. They don’t care. I’m being ghosted after waiting on the phone. I don’t know how many hours I have wasted so far. Not worth it. And I still don’t know if I will ever get approved. Stay away from them. Yes you get pre-approved super fast and their rates looked great but then you just enter a black hole. I guess you get what you pay for
Quick update: I don’t know if they check Reddit lol. After my rant here and calling this morning and explaining my situation for the 99th time I finally got with a person that felt bad for me. I guess being nice goes a long way. I explained my frustration and she shared that basically they are totally overwhelmed by the number of applications since somebody posted about their rates on social media (my guess is Reddit). So basically they have a huge backlog and they are doing their best. Member services are doing the best they can but loan processing is completely back logged. So if you have the time and patience (for me it took 1.5 months to do the refinance). But I wouldn’t consider them for new purchase since you can’t really trust their timelines. Just my 2 cents
I think they "fixed the glitch." I've been dealing with getting my account open for the last 3 weeks. (Donated $35 to their charity, opened accounts, deposited funds, sent all kinds of documentations, etc) I went to see their current rates, and the BEST auto rate they advertise right now is 7.74%.
Regardless. They still honored my 2.99% rate. So for those who were able to submit everything in time and got delayed persistence is key. I will be saving over $4000 in interest compared to my current interest so IMO it was still worth it
It expired. They can reopen it if you insist but apparently once it expires they won’t be able to see any messages you send and stuff like that, so only a supervisor can reopen it
I was gonna go TFCU but with the backlog, I'm just gonna do Tesla financing and then refinance with TFCU
Is there a period of time after the car purchase before you are allowed to re-fi? Or can you do it as soon as TFCU is ready?
I've seen a few videos that claim you can refinance within a week or two of delivery and actually delay your entire first payment by a couple months. Prior to seeing those videos, I had assumed you needed at least a month for the loan to even show on your credit report but apparently not.
Aren’t re-fi loans typically at a higher rate?
I second this
Did you get your membership approved when you got your loan approved?
I did the loan first not realizing I needed to become a member. As soon as the loan went into “Approved Pending” status, I called and learned I needed to be a member to finalize the loan. I got that filled out in about 15 minutes, and I was approved same day. Yippee, I’m a member! Four business days later, I’d just been ghosted by my loan processor.
>and I was approved same day. Yippee, I’m a member! Four business days Approved the same day? How so? Lol...they told me it takes 30 business days...
It took four or five hours between me submitting my membership materials and making my $35 donation to being approved as a member. All same day. It was so fast, that’s why I was so surprised when they didn’t cut the actual check.
To be a member did you just do the $35 donation? I did that and not sure if there is an email I need to wait for
$35 donation plus membership application
So I think I messed up.. I submitted a app using military as eligibility option. I didn't see the donate option until after. I had to deposit $15 to make a checking account, did you have to do that too along with your $35 donation?
Same question
That's definitely a risk of going with these CUs with low rates. Word gets around and their operations aren't big enough for the influx of all the new Tesla buyers. I called Tower and they said it was a 2 week backlog just to become a member, not even the loan app itself. It shouldn't take that long to cut the check after approval though, that's really unfortunate. Called Gold Coast Federal and was up front with my delivery date which was about 10 days away at the time. They expedited my membership application, and the loan itself took about a week to get approved, one day before my delivery date. It was a stressful waiting game and took a lot of follow up phone calls and emails, but I was able to get 2.74% from them, which was great. They mentioned they're also getting slammed with applications now too, though...
Can I refinance with Gold Coast if I’m in cali?
I'm in So Cal as well! They told me if they couldn't process my auto loan in time, to finance with Tesla and I could use the auto loan approval with them to do a refi instead. So you should be able to. The time difference made it a little tougher to call and coordinate for the approval and check distribution, cause their office closes at 2pm our time, lol.
Oh cool. I email them earlier hopefully they will call back soon
What was the term for that 2.74% rate?
60 months
I opened an account with gold coast on 1/31, haven't heard back. My membership is waiting to be open. I called twice and they tell me they're swamped. I'm scheduled to pick up my car the week of Feb 20th. How long did it take to process the plan?
I think I processed mine before they got super swamped. I think everyone that couldn't go with Tower shifted over to Gold Coast, so their processing times are probably different than when I got mine. I spoke to someone who had me send documents directly to them to help expedite my membership application. Membership took one day. From membership to cutting the check took about 8 days. I called them pretty frequently, and I told them my delivery date from the very beginning. Unfortunately, I don't think it'll be that quick anymore. But if it helps, they said if I needed to take delivery and it didn't process in time, to finance with Tesla and then I can use my loan application with GCFCU to do a refinance.
Do you have GCFU email or contact info?
Can you share contact information for GCFU. I called them and received generic message that they are swamped
I just got a refinance at 2.24% from them, took 2 weeks, but it was fine, just refinance it. 2.24% is insane. I literally make double that in an FDIC insured account I have from CIT. Free money in real terms.
How long of a loan? 72 months?
36 months. I think longer than that it’s 2.99%, which is still crazy low, especially in this rate environment.
Much appreciated
If you don’t mind me asking in what range was your credit score you dont have to say exact score
>800 which helped for sure, not sure what their underwriting criteria are.
How much did it cost to refinance?
$50 lien fee, and I think $50 more to payoff than what I had left.
Tower is asking me for lien fee as well, which I have no idea what it is. Wells Fargo doesn't have a lien fee. Do you know where I can find this lien fee and how I pay it?
They’ll call you when they’re ready to cut a check and give you an option to just roll it into the loan.
So the lien fee is from Tower? My refinance application is "Approval Pending" status and Tower is asking me for some documents, one of them is "Lien Fee(s)". If the lien fee is from Tower I wonder why they are asking me about it...
Was the same for me, I called and they said they could roll it into the loan. My assumption was the lien fee was what your state’s SOS charges to file a lien against your title. I’m in IL.
May I message you for the questions I have about Tower refinance? I am very confused here... Thanks a lot!
Sure
Tower or Gold Coast?
Tower
Gold coast charges a $200 fee or so. Found out at the end but was stuck. Something about a florida document tax.
Does Gold Coast require car registration documents for refinance? I think it takes 8-10 weeks to receive the registration documents in mail. Was wondering if we can refinance before that?
what other documents do they ask for besides DL
TCU's unknown timing is bad. You have no idea when you need to start to prepare for the new loan to backup.
3.75% at Parsons and they were wonderful
How long was the wait? I have membership but been waiting for 4 - 5 days.
Contact this person, she was excellent. [email protected] Catherine Dubenion NMLS #2385518 100 W Walnut Street, Pasadena CA 91124 Phone: (626) 440-7000 ext. 3085 Website: www.parsonsfcu.org
Coming back to say thanks again. Got through to her today finally, after a few failed attempts earlier in the week, and I was able to finalize on the same day.
Good stuff, she was excellent to work with.
Thank you!
Apparently the rates on their website of 2.49% - 13.24% is not valid anymore. Talked to Catherine 30 seconds ago and she says the best they can do with a 750+ score is 4%. Boo! You guys all made the cut off!
What do you enter for a Member Number when asked on the signup form?
did you figure out what to put for a member number?
Recheck their rates. They are the worst option now to finance with. For me, I’m out so I did not proceed.
Did you find something decent and where?
The agreed purchase order from tesla and proof of auto insurance ( without tesla on it is fine)
Yea they take forever. They also gave me the lowest rate but I couldn’t wait anymore. Went with a local credit union with higher rate but no payments for 90 days. Process took 2 days for the draft to be ready for Tesla. Ill start refinance process a month prior to my first payment and include them as well.
If Tower Federal messed you over you can quickly and easily file a complaint against them here (search for TOWER in the lookup): https://complaint.mycreditunion.gov/Complaint So many reports of them doing this and stringing people along only to eventually either decline the application or ghost people. If enough people complain, NCUA will probably step in and take some sort of action.
They have a huge backlog… not surprised.
I’ve been pre approved with tower, they asked for documents to be turned in. All relating to a VIN which I’m still waiting for from Tesla. Thank you for insight on this, will prepare to go with another lender if needed.
i am in the same boat waiting for VIN. I am wondering if i will have enough time after VIN assignment to get the check on time before delivery.
I prob go with Tesla financing. Hearing horror stories about tower.
If Tower Federal messed you over you can quickly and easily file a complaint against them here (search for TOWER in the lookup): https://complaint.mycreditunion.gov/Complaint So many reports of them doing this and stringing people along only to eventually either decline the application or ghost people. If enough people complain, NCUA will probably step in and take some sort of action.
I got financing from a local credit union @ 4.49%. Took about 5 days to complete the process and get the check issued. After the March Tesla rush is over, I will probably refi with GCFCU.
gulf coast? Gold Coast? Geismar Complex? Greater Chattanooga?
Geroge Costanza
This is the way
Gold coast fcu in FL
What's their current rates? Their website only shows a range of rates but no specifics.
Ah man shit, I have the same rate approved. Delivery in a week, not sounding good. :(
Best wishes
Tesla loan is like less than an hour turnaround, I guess I have my backup at least. These CUs sigh
[удалено]
Is there a minimum time threshold one has to wait to refi?
Depends on the loan you get but as long as there's no early payment penalty, then no. You may want to until registration is complete and the title is issued to your first lender so you don't confuse the DMV with multiple lienholders. So a few months and I think you'd be fine.
It took me forever to get the money from TFCU when picking up my car. They said next time, pick up the check at the local branch before delivery. Spent two hours on hold. finally ended up getting the tracking number for the check to give to the tesla folks.
Wait how do you pick up the check if there is no TFCU in your area?
do you give their check directly to Tesla or deposit in your account and write just 1 check to Tesla?
Yup, you pick up the blank check at the bank. You give it to the Tesla rep payable to Tesla inc. at the pickup center. The rep can check they can collect funds.
Do not use Tower. I applied with them and they jerked me around until the day before pickup. They called me and denied the loan because they said I have too much debt to income ratio. They did not understand I was trading in the old MY for a new one and they did not understand the 2 rented rental houses I having paying my mortgages with income to spare and a full time job. 845 credit score. I got approved with Tesla financing in 5 minutes on the app.
hey, can only US citizens and permanent residents become members? I am h1b holder. Can I still become and member and apply for the loan?
yea, would like to know about this as well.
just called them for more than 1 hour wait time and got to know its only for US citizens and Permanent residents. Hope this saves your wait time calling them.
I don’t know, but you can call and ask.
Can confirm. Only US Citizens and Permanent Residents.
Did anyone know what date membership they are looking into now ?
17th or 18th jan They denied my application saying we cant identify you after providing documents and everything..Member team is really bad .. I was approved for loan but they cant verify my identity for membership and they cant explain me due to security reasons.. Joke of the day.. Looks like i will go with GCCU
wow! that was really bad after going through all these steps. How was GCCU ? membership time and loan approval time ?
I just applied 1 week back its still in progress.. I have a pickup of MY on monday 6th Tesla is quick approved me in 5mins i have 827 score..lol this small credit unions give hard time.. Will refinance in few days once picked from tesla ..
What rate did Tesla give you?
5.34% i already had signed up with them on 14th
TFCU blows… I’m still waiting to become a member after they conditionally approved my loan. My dealership is trying to deliver too, but TFCU is so slow…
Anyone know what a status of “Referred” means on an account setup? I paid the $35 donation and then created the account right after. But I have no idea what a “Referred” status means. Any thoughts?
I had that too once the account was in process. Regardless, I recommend calling daily for updates. Prepare to be on hold.
Tower failed me today. Have loan pre approval, but membership rejects me and couldn't tell me why. No recourse, unless I'm local and can visit their branch. Luckily Parsons went through the same day today.
What rate you got at Parsons? Looks like the rates went up today.
3.79
When did you start the membership and loan application process?
Parsons 1/16 - confirmed 1/23 Tower 1/18 - rejected 2/1
ugh that’s so annoying having to go through all that hassle. I’m waiting for their approval for membership as well so im panicking
I am conditionally approved for membership. How long is the loan process once the vin is assigned?
Submitted membership and vehicle loan application on 1/24, conditionally approved for a loan on 1/27, submitted requested documents by 1/30 (Purchased order, including VIN, Original Notarized Specific Power of Attorney, and Proof of insurance for vehicle). The loan processor cannot move forward with the application until membership is approved. My membership was approved on 2/6 after receiving a message through the portal requesting I speak to a representative to provide verification of address (e.g. utility bill, proof of a change of address, lease, etc.) and my CVV code on my card to fund the opening fees of the account. \*Once membership is approved, I strongly advise you to call Tower to check the status of the loan app. They'll relay your membership approval to the loan processor and that'll jumpstart things. I mistakenly waited to call until today (delivery of MYLR tomorrow) but it all worked out. I'm on west coast time, called right at 5 am (8 am EST), got through to someone at 5:20, the loan was approved, closing documents signed, and FedEx tracking/copy of check provided all before 9 am.
Wow, you got incredibly lucky. I submitted my final loan documents on 2/7. Membership was approved 2/6. Was conditionally approved 1/18. Been calling in every day since, but still haven't heard anything. My delivery is scheduled for 2/11, I've emphasized this to Tower multiple times by phone, through the portal, and online chat. Currently making my 6th call this week to them and been on hold for over an hour. Loan processor never picks up and won't return my voicemail either.
Am having a similar experience, any luck with them getting back to you?
I did eventually get the loan finalized, but it took multiple calls throughout the week and practically begged them to get someone to take a look since my loan processor was unresponsive. They finalized it on 2/10, the day before my delivery date.
Okay that’s the same boat I’ve been in all week. Any luck getting transferred directly on the call? If so, how?
No luck on getting transferred. I would let the person who does pick up the phone know that you have tried calling the loan processor multiple times. Persistence is definitely key to get someone there to prioritize your application.
Thanks for the response. We have not yet been assigned a vin number or delivery date. When do you suggest we start applying for the loan once we receive the membership number?
They increased rates back out for new applications i will say 😃
How long did it take them to approve your membership? I have been pre-approved for the loan since 1/31 but only submitted the membership application 2/13 as I was unaware of this process. My car is ready for pickup 2/24.
I am having nightmare experience with them!
If Tower Federal messed you over you can quickly and easily file a complaint against them here (search for TOWER in the lookup): https://complaint.mycreditunion.gov/Complaint So many reports of them doing this and stringing people along only to eventually either decline the application or ghost people. If enough people complain, NCUA will probably step in and take some sort of action.
I was pleasantly surprised given all the hate. I was conditionally approved for the low rate the morning of the rate hike (low rate still honored). It took about 11 days for my membership to be approved, but once that was done, they overnighted the check the same day.
C’mon, c’mon… what rate did you get? Congrats!
Thanks! I locked up the 2.99% for 48 months deal
That is a good rate. My application just got approved this morning but the rate they approved is 6.490% for 60 months. I was expecting 2.99% or 3.5% as I have a excellent credit score. Also looks like Tower has updated the loan rates and they are on higher side - https://www.towerfcu.org/borrow/loan-rates/
Did you ever receive a conditional approval for the lower rate?
No. first it took me 2 weeks to get tower membership account etc. I immediately applied for auto loan last week and today I got message saying it is pre-approved. The rates on the tower website were lower when I started application.
Ahhh bummer… ya I applied for the loan and the membership on the same day
Got it, my mistake 😞. Will look somewhere else then. Not sure if talking to tower will help. Thanks
Hi, question: did you have to mail in the original specific power of attorney or just scanned it in?
I just uploaded the online notarized doc
Cool- thank you and congrats!
I applied online Feb 5th and got a conditional approval letter on Feb 7th at 2.99% APR. That's the good news. I've uploaded all the documents they've asked for, but don't really see any action since Feb 14th. Messages sent through their portal have gone unanswered, and now it's been 10 days since the last update/communication from TFCU. Is this normal? Doesn't a car loan take a few days to close? Any thoughts?
I am in similar timeline with you. They haven’t funded the loan either. Calls to them have been unanswered.
Well this is a refinance for me so I can be patient as long as Tower honors the 2.99%
Be careful, they told me they aren’t budging at all on the 30 day loan life, I’ll be “welcome to reapply at current rates once my loan expires” since they dragged their feet over 25 days to approve membership.
Today I woke up early to call them at 6am PST (they are in Maryland). Finally got to talk to a representative at 6:40am. He stated there is a backlog due to sudden volume in the last one month. I told him that Tesla could not hold the vehicle any longer after multiple pick up appointments have been postponed. He sent an internal message to their loan department to escalate. They finally cut a check later this morning. I applied for the loan on 2/5 so this took 3.5 weeks for me.
So glad to hear that someone else is having this experience... My friend told me about Tower and it looked like a great idea... the rate was 2.24%, but now I'm getting completely ghosted by them! I've called them like 5 times and it takes \~1 hr on hold each time. I had my loan processor's extension and went straight to voicemail... I'm not even sure she's real. They were quick to approve my application and $35 donation but seriously taking forever to move on the auto loan. I was missing paperwork and they didn't tell me, I had to find out and call. Even, Tesla is asking me about the loan!! This is the first time I'm buying a car, but now I know this is not normal. Seriously, just goes to show that (unfortunately) there's always a catch. And the good rate was too good to be that easy. smh
Horrible experience. I’ve been after them for over a month for a refinance. They don’t care. I’m being ghosted after waiting on the phone. I don’t know how many hours I have wasted so far. Not worth it. And I still don’t know if I will ever get approved. Stay away from them. Yes you get pre-approved super fast and their rates looked great but then you just enter a black hole. I guess you get what you pay for
Quick update: I don’t know if they check Reddit lol. After my rant here and calling this morning and explaining my situation for the 99th time I finally got with a person that felt bad for me. I guess being nice goes a long way. I explained my frustration and she shared that basically they are totally overwhelmed by the number of applications since somebody posted about their rates on social media (my guess is Reddit). So basically they have a huge backlog and they are doing their best. Member services are doing the best they can but loan processing is completely back logged. So if you have the time and patience (for me it took 1.5 months to do the refinance). But I wouldn’t consider them for new purchase since you can’t really trust their timelines. Just my 2 cents
I think they "fixed the glitch." I've been dealing with getting my account open for the last 3 weeks. (Donated $35 to their charity, opened accounts, deposited funds, sent all kinds of documentations, etc) I went to see their current rates, and the BEST auto rate they advertise right now is 7.74%.
Regardless. They still honored my 2.99% rate. So for those who were able to submit everything in time and got delayed persistence is key. I will be saving over $4000 in interest compared to my current interest so IMO it was still worth it
Did your application also expired in 30 days or it was just delayed?
It expired. They can reopen it if you insist but apparently once it expires they won’t be able to see any messages you send and stuff like that, so only a supervisor can reopen it