Tuesday, July 29, 2008
BANK OF AMERICA PULLS OUT OF CREDIT LINE BUSINESS FOR RV DEALERS
By Greg Gerber
FORT ATKINSON, Wisc. -- RV Industry News has learned that Bank of America pulled the financial rug out from under more than 800 RV dealers across the country last weekend.
Dealers received e-mail notification announcing that Bank of America was deactivating their retail finance line of credit effective immediately due to "insufficient volume of business."
"I apologize for the abrupt notice. Time constraints have made it difficult to contact all dealers impacted by this action," one Bank of America retail representative wrote to a dealer July 26th. "I would like to have contacted each of you by phone but as implementation of these deactivations began Friday afternoon it became imperative to get word out as quickly and efficiently as possible.
"Of particular concern are those dealers that utilize our Empower program. I cannot guaranty that Empower deals received for funding beyond 7/25/08, will be funded," the retail rep had noted.
The dealer alerting of the development reported that he had sent a loan contract to Bank of America a few hours before receiving word that the bank was withdrawing the dealership's line of credit. "I still don't know if it will be funded," the dealer wrote.RV Industry News
The news came as a blow to smaller RV dealers struggling not only to get business into the door, but to find retail financing for customers who do want to by RVs.
"I guess smaller dealers are not important to Bank of America," said one dealer in the Northwestern region of the country. "What is sad is that it seems to me that with GE Retail pulling out of the RV industry and then, of course, Thor Credit Corporation going away, there would be some opportunity for Bank of America. But, I guess they don't see it that way.
The same dealer also noted that he received word from U.S. Bank today that it was increasing its retail lending rates to the dealership. "Just what this industry needs at this point, less lenders and higher rate," he said.
FORT ATKINSON, Wisc. -- RV Industry News has learned that Bank of America pulled the financial rug out from under more than 800 RV dealers across the country last weekend.
Dealers received e-mail notification announcing that Bank of America was deactivating their retail finance line of credit effective immediately due to "insufficient volume of business."
"I apologize for the abrupt notice. Time constraints have made it difficult to contact all dealers impacted by this action," one Bank of America retail representative wrote to a dealer July 26th. "I would like to have contacted each of you by phone but as implementation of these deactivations began Friday afternoon it became imperative to get word out as quickly and efficiently as possible.
"Of particular concern are those dealers that utilize our Empower program. I cannot guaranty that Empower deals received for funding beyond 7/25/08, will be funded," the retail rep had noted.
The dealer alerting of the development reported that he had sent a loan contract to Bank of America a few hours before receiving word that the bank was withdrawing the dealership's line of credit. "I still don't know if it will be funded," the dealer wrote.RV Industry News
The news came as a blow to smaller RV dealers struggling not only to get business into the door, but to find retail financing for customers who do want to by RVs.
"I guess smaller dealers are not important to Bank of America," said one dealer in the Northwestern region of the country. "What is sad is that it seems to me that with GE Retail pulling out of the RV industry and then, of course, Thor Credit Corporation going away, there would be some opportunity for Bank of America. But, I guess they don't see it that way.
The same dealer also noted that he received word from U.S. Bank today that it was increasing its retail lending rates to the dealership. "Just what this industry needs at this point, less lenders and higher rate," he said.
