Dirty Secrets Of Solar Financing (Solar Loan)

Solar Surge will teach you all about being energy independent and how to set up your home to run off-the-grid during an emergency. We empower families to take control of their energy generation and storage so that they will never be left in the dark without electricity.

In this video, Joe talks with Julian Todd-Borden, an energy consultant for Powur. The two dive into key things homeowners should consider when financing solar panels, and some of the "dirty" secrets the industry is hiding.

-- Check Out Our Guest, Julian Borden --

-- Follow The Solar Surge Podcast --

-- CONNECT WITH US --

[davidorcutt]

It’s so good to see a leader in the market show what is really going on with purchasing and what customers most likely don’t know.
Good on you!

[TheEelnoraa]

The buy down rate, I have a first hand experience, with EnergyPal. They offer those 0.9% soft 20 year. But when I see the monthly payment, it immediately didn’t make sense. Turn ms out they charge $10k in point on top of value is the solar project, which is only $15k. So principle on the load is $25k, 0.9%. Now they never mention, just got caught by an data scientist. When I confronted them in this, they then admitted points are charged. Without pointing, interest rate is 8%. This was 2021 where fed rate is still near zero, mortgage rate was 2.5%

[ddyoder]

Great video and indeed depends on situation, needs, and market interest rates

I live in California. Avg monthly electric bill was $200-$300/month and I was able to finance a solar system in Jan 2022 that has a $200 monthly payment - stressing this was LESS than my monthly bill pre-Solar - so …

1 - my monthly costs have gone down vs pre Solar
2 - I just got a federal tax credit check in my 2022 return for over $7k (remember I put zero down in 2022)
3 - my system is intentionally oversized, secured NEM 2.0 and I’m adding a tankless water heater and/or EV and I’ll still have a negative monthly bill with my electric utility provider
4 - The $25k-$30k cash cost of my solar system i instead put into XLE (energy ETF) which did quite well
5 - I’m not wealthy in California terms so having $25k solar system cost cash PLUS the $7, 500 tax refund gives me some liquidity of capital to either invest, use as emergency fund, or use for other home projects

YMMV

[krystalhosmer]

I did an educational presentation today for the investigation arm of our state contractor Board. After the meeting, I asked the Chief Investigator what is showing up most frequently in customer complaints about solar. #1 Systems that are sized too small. Ask the questions about future changes to power use and the age of high use appliances like AC systems and pool pumps. Get the full utility use history. Stop selling systems that are too small to make your price look better. #2 Seniors getting railroaded into high dealer fee loans AND mislead about how the tax credit will apply to them. Selling solar to seniors who are living on non taxable income is completely unethical. Our State Contractor Board is considering seeking legislation to REQUIRE that these dealer fees be disclosed to the customer. We’ve offered to assist in creating customer education content about how the tax credit works in various scenarios so that buyers better understand that you MUST have income tax liability to benefit from the credit and that they may experience the credit having some carryover. They are also enforcing that ALL salespeople have to be W-2 employees of the electrical license holder. No more 1099 reps or brokers selling lies and then dumping it on the installer. Regulation will come if our industry does not start to police itself. All you fellow solar reps need to start working ethically or the industry will feel the hammer.

[taylormills]

Just a quick note. The solar finance companies have found a way to capitalize on the ITC.
They get their client a larger ITC amount while gathering a lot of the financing revenue right up front.
I offered Sungage for a while but after a year we never closed a financed deal. I’m glad our customers have opted for cash payment. Better for them. More PV with less money bleeding out to other entities.

[mati]

Julian is great, I watched his videos when I was looking into solar. I have a system and I'm happy with the whole thing. $19.4 the system, produces 9.7 Mwh/6Kw system and paying $113/1.99%/0 down for 12 years.

[renaeugenefilms]

I’ve sold 100 ppa’s this year alone and not one loan ppl seem to lean towards the buy out vs the itc

[l.rod]

Very good information with loan SOP; Standard Operational Practices but I believe another factor to consider is the ROI; Return on Investment. If it takes longer than eight years to pay off your loan then you may want to consider the purchase.

[toolate]

The best thing to do is leave it ALL alone or do it ALL yourself.

[bradleyapig]

I just got a $20, 000 HELOC loan for 15 year 8% and only $97 closing cost. Through my credit union.

[metnmagic]

Yes great information, prior to install ing our solar we ask for cash & price financing price, if the installer didn't provide the cash price we told them we weren't going to do business cuz we asked for cash price and financing price we actually did a cash price which when you look at the difference between financing and cash it was like $9, 000

[fifthgear]

Hey yeah I was confused, we want solar primarily for environmental reason. But solar financial companies are ruining the business. The cash price for my system was 35k, but for me to finance the system it was 50k at 4.9% interest... lets just say we felt cheated at that point

[scientificapproach]

What is Dividends current rate and dealer fee?

[random]

The major reason I did not go with the "corporate power company" solar panels is the fact that you are giving them "eminent domain" over your property. They can access your property - your ROOF - at any time, day or night. People may want to think about that before they "purchase" solar panels.

[maceomathis]

This salesman came to my house and told me my system would be a 130k. If I financed, my payments would be 901 a month, and this is before add ons. Crazy!

[Well_Earned_Siesta]

“No closing costs” reminds me of home buyers who think “we don’t have to pay any of the agent fees, that comes out of the seller.” Really? Lol! Remind me again of who the one person is that’s writing a check in this equation? You, the buyer, are literally paying for everyone’s fees… you’re paying for the selling agent and broker fees, agent and broker fees for your buying agent, and literally every other fee. It all comes from the check that the buyer writes.

[schwartz]

Just finalized my Solar today and I’m feeling like a got screwed 38k for a 12.78kw longi/enphase system no battery backup, 10 year loan at 7.99% in md

[JohnArcycle]

Oh my gosh! I had no idea. Wow! What a rip off. The sellers are cheating us every way they can and telling us they are only here to help and they’re doing you a favor.

[s.lionelmcauley]

big three(Sunrun, Sunnova, Sunpower doing 70% lease these days. The client can not take advantage of the IRA credits but the big three can. 30% IRA is the interest rate buy down equivalent, times a factor of 3x. Good luck talking about this, seek out better data IMO.

[walldemarserbia]

Yes that is the truth but for some family like here in Puerto Rico a lot of family their income are limited 😪and there is a company here that its financing their project to the family but its not there financial system its SUN VA and as far as I know there not a financial system there are selling those NOTES to some other financial institution in the STATES, even though that company where rescue in OBAMA presidential. Some maybe a lot of people here don't know that.