Yamaha Boat Loans Sold From Synchrony to Yamaha Motor Finance

[DavisAR195]

I purchased my boat back in 2017 at the boat show to get the promo 2.99% for the first 5 years and 5.99% for the remaining 10 years. Knowing I would keep the boat 5 years or less, I jumped at the deal. The boat was financed through Synchrony Bank which I just made a payment on 1/7/2020. I called in today to get my principal balance as I'm preparing to sell my boat. After waiting for 30 minutes to reach a real person at Synchrony Bank, I was told my loan was sold to Yamaha Motor Finance Corporation USA and they provided me with a phone number. I called Yamaha Motor Finance and they cannot find any of my information and the transfer is still in process. I was wondering if others were aware?

EDITED BY JULIAN (ADMINISTRATOR)-SO PEOPLE COULD SEE (At the top of this thread) YAMAHA'S UPDATE AND WEBSITE TO ADDRESS ISSUES WITH THIS TRANSITION:​

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I was just provided this URL for people to use that are in the process of switching over to Yamaha financing:​

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We Care​

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Looks like they've heard there are issues and won't be charging any late fees or impacting any credit scores....​

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Hopefully this helps....​

 

[Betik]

Loans get sold left and right. The new creditor ( Yamaha) will have to go out the terms that Synchrony gave. Just a bit hassle until it you get it sorted out.
Furthermore synchrony will have to forward your payment for a couple of months

 

[DavisAR195]

I completely understand that banks sell loans all the time, more or less wanted to give other Yamaha owners a heads up. It just sucks that I can’t get a payoff while loan is in limbo between financial institutions.

 

[mark_m]

Suggest using a 30-45 day thumb rule before the new lender could offer you a payoff quote.

 

[Beachbummer]

Worst case if the dealer is willing to pay ball you can overpay slightly and you will eventually receive a refund.

 

[mark_m]

Worst case if the dealer is willing to pay ball you can overpay slightly and you will eventually receive a refund.

But you will tie up your cash. I did a new car loan refi and luckily the existing lender had already stopped accepting servicing (payments) on the account and it was electronically refunded back. It just takes time for the lenders to get from their origination to servicing platforms. Mix the state and title / lien and that’s generally the lag.

Time to money is fairy fast it’s the subsequent title paperwork and difference state rules about acceptance of electronic titles that’s driving the lag.

 

[2kwik4u]

I also financed through Synchrony. It's quite literally the only bill I CAN'T pay online. Giant pain in the arse honestly. I have multiple other debts through synchrony (yea I'm not great at finance) and they are much easier to manage.

Guess I'm making a call this afternoon to see if I'm still paying the right company.

 

[MidnightRider]

I purchased my boat back in 2017 at the boat show to get the promo 2.99% for the first 5 years and 5.99% for the remaining 10 years. Knowing I would keep the boat 5 years or less, I jumped at the deal. The boat was financed through Synchrony Bank which I just made a payment on 1/7/2020. I called in today to get my principal balance as I'm preparing to sell my boat. After waiting for 30 minutes to reach a real person at Synchrony Bank, I was told my loan was sold to Yamaha Motor Finance Corporation USA and they provided me with a phone number. I called Yamaha Motor Finance and they cannot find any of my information and the transfer is still in process. I was wondering if others were aware?

Curious if you have ever verified the interest you are being charged. I only say that because a number years ago when I was looking at buying a boat and looking at that type of Yamaha financing deal. I was also considering it because I was not planning on keeping the boat more that 5 years. At some point I read some fine print that seemed to reveal that it wasn't a straight forward switch of interest on year 5 but rather they averaged the two rates across the life of the loan to give you the same apr "discount" across the life of the loan as the promo indicated, but you actually were paying the same interest rate (somewhere between 2.99 and 5.99) for the whole loan term. Because I'm not a finance guru or anything I asked the dealer finance guy about it and he confirmed that the rate of the loan would be realized as [somewhere between the 2.99 and 5.99 can't remember what it was] for the whole loan term, no switching as the promo seemed to state on its face. I didn't look anymore into it after that and went a different direction in financing but was always curious if this really was the case as it seemed so underhanded as a marketing deception.

 

[2kwik4u]

Curious if you have ever verified the interest you are being charged. I only say that because a number years ago when I was looking at buying a boat and looking at that type of Yamaha financing deal. I was also considering it because I was not planning on keeping the boat more that 5 years. At some point I read some fine print that seemed to reveal that it wasn't a straight forward switch of interest on year 5 but rather they averaged the two rates across the life of the loan to give you the same apr "discount" across the life of the loan as the promo indicated, but you actually were paying the same interest rate (somewhere between 2.99 and 5.99) for the whole loan term. Because I'm not a finance guru or anything I asked the dealer finance guy about it and he confirmed that the rate of the loan would be realized as [somewhere between the 2.99 and 5.99 can't remember what it was] for the whole loan term, no switching as the promo seemed to state on its face. I didn't look anymore into it after that and went a different direction in financing but was always curious if this really was the case as it seemed so underhanded as a marketing deception.

I didn't do the low introductory APR. Apparently a 785 credit score wasn't high enough to qualify for that offer. SO I got a straight 5.99% I think. I'll check the paperwork when I get home tonight. I get a statement every month from them since they don't do online anything.

 

[ifly4fun]

I didn't do the low introductory APR. Apparently a 785 credit score wasn't high enough to qualify for that offer. SO I got a straight 5.99% I think. I'll check the paperwork when I get home tonight. I get a statement every month from them since they don't do online anything.

Ouch - I got lower then that with an unsecured loan through lightstream. Granted they don't push out to 15yrs like some, but if you don't need that term you might want to check them out. With that credit score you'd have no issue getting the best rate and they fund in <24hrs.

 

[DavisAR195]

Curious if you have ever verified the interest you are being charged. I only say that because a number years ago when I was looking at buying a boat and looking at that type of Yamaha financing deal. I was also considering it because I was not planning on keeping the boat more that 5 years. At some point I read some fine print that seemed to reveal that it wasn't a straight forward switch of interest on year 5 but rather they averaged the two rates across the life of the loan to give you the same apr "discount" across the life of the loan as the promo indicated, but you actually were paying the same interest rate (somewhere between 2.99 and 5.99) for the whole loan term. Because I'm not a finance guru or anything I asked the dealer finance guy about it and he confirmed that the rate of the loan would be realized as [somewhere between the 2.99 and 5.99 can't remember what it was] for the whole loan term, no switching as the promo seemed to state on its face. I didn't look anymore into it after that and went a different direction in financing but was always curious if this really was the case as it seemed so underhanded as a marketing deception.

Yeah I read the fine print, at year 5 the payment amount changed based on the jump in interest rate.

 

[Mainah]

Yamaha Motor Finance Launches New Full Spectrum Installment Program

New Consumer Financing Tool Available to all Yamaha Dealers...

www.globenewswire.com

Based on my knowledge in the finance industry it is likely that any Yamaha loans Synchrony started at some point in 2015 to current were actually as a loan servicer or as a banking partner to Yamaha as an affinity for YMFUS. It is also possible they will take over the entire previous portfolio. These arrangements are typical and span a number of years at which point the portfolio owner (Yamaha) can select a new servicer or service/underwrite themselves. YMFUS has been building up to this point of all in house for years.

Banks do portfolio transitions frequently and there can be minor hiccups. It is perfectly normal for the transition period to take multiple months. Yamaha being new to the in house servicing business may lead to more hiccups than normal. That said fixed loan terms are just that fixed and can’t be changed just because the loan is sold/transitioned.

For anyone with loans with synchrony/yamaha I would keep your eyes on the mail.

 

[biglar155]

Thanks for the heads up. I'll watch the mail for it.

I believe when I took out my loan in 2010 it was through "GE Moneybank Powersports." That switched to "Synrchrony" a few years later. Now we're on to "Yamaha Motor Finance" huh?

The thing that irked me when they switched to "Synchrony" was they played some kind of game with the bill that makes it difficult to reconcile your balance against Quicken. Quicken expects the statement to reflect the moment of payment. Synchrony sends the statement on a fixed day each month and includes the interest up to that day. So if your check got there on the 1st and the statement goes out on the 4th, they deduct the principle and interest, but then they show 4 days of interest - so your balance doesn't jive with the Quicken register by a couple bucks. I even called about it when it first happened because I wasn't very happy but of course "That's just the way we do it" was my answer.

Maybe they'll fix that at least. I can only hope. Better yet, maybe we can actually make on-line payments like it's 2005 instead of sending them in by Pony Express like it's 1860? (Auto-Pay like it's 2010 is probably too much to hope for.)

Not to get side-tracked, but if you want something incredibly stupid, try a Discover Bank savings account: The first two statements of the quarter are normal monthly statements but the last statement is a Quarterly statement. So transactions you've already reconciled in Quicken show up again on the Quarterly. I've gone to just "glancing" at the monthly statements and entering the interest. Then I wait until a Quarterly statement to actually reconcile it. Complete pain.

 

[Neutron]

I also financed through Synchrony. It's quite literally the only bill I CAN'T pay online. Giant pain in the arse honestly. I have multiple other debts through synchrony (yea I'm not great at finance) and they are much easier to manage.

Guess I'm making a call this afternoon to see if I'm still paying the right company.

I pay my Yamaha synchrony bill through my bill pay section at BOA online. No hassle to me.

 

[2kwik4u]

I pay my Yamaha synchrony bill through my bill pay section at BOA online. No hassle to me.

I've started doing this as well. It's less hassle, but still more than it should be IMO. Biggest hurdle was "moving" the due date forward by 5-7 business days to make sure the check got there on time. Again, not a huge ordeal, but it's just another thing on the list of crap to keep track of.

 

[Adubbs76]

I received an email today from Yamaha saying may account was past due. Since I had no accounts through them I thought it was a scam. I checked my bank and my payment wen through on the 5th just like every month. I called Yamaha though to see if it was a scam and was informed they bought my account from Syncrony and I did not pay this month and they wanted me to pay with a credit card. I again told them I paid on the 5th and he wanted me to email them proof it came out of my account. I decided to call Syncrony and they confirmed that the account was sold without notice on the 10th and transferred on the 11th of January. They said they have been getting a number of calls like mine and even though they provided the proper information to Yamaha they are telling a lot of people they are past due when in fact they are paid. I called back Yamaha 50 min later was told again I needed to send proof I paid my bill for January. Incredibly frustrating sine I pay with their auto draft so you think they would have a record. Now I really don't know what to do I tried signing up for the Yamaha web portal but it wont recognize my account. Im going to blow my stack if this hits my credit.

 

[dzeppos]

I haven't seen anything yet on my end - but my loan is with Syncrony too -(which by the way is the simplest/obsolete bank - no online platform).
I actually hope my loan is taking over by Yamaha. I'll keep a look out on my end too.

 

[Adubbs76]

Watch out they are trying to tell me I owe $30 more per month than I actually owe.

 

[Neutron]

Watch out they are trying to tell me I owe $30 more per month than I actually owe.

I just got my letter from Yamaha Financial telling me about the change in affect from 1/14th. A little late since my payment is already in process. What a "F" show! A little prior notice would have been nice.
I finally got logged into their site. Took a bit because they have the account number wrong.
Statement says im late and behind. And my minimum payment is off by 54 bucks. Now i am on hold with these idiots as i type this.
What a mess.
After i got to check with Synchrony cause they took my December payment but it isnt showing on the balance.

 

[Adubbs76]

I called synchrony again this afternoon to see if they could send me my last invoice since Yami is telling me my payment is $30 more than it should be. The guy told me they no longer have any information on the old loans and transferred it all to Yamaha. I thought that was crazy. I also called Yamaha customer service. It looks like the company doing the billing is a third party.