Estimate your monthly payment for a swimming pool loan
Financing is one way to fund a new swimming pool. When investing in an outdoor addition like a pool, hundreds of thousands of homeowners have successfully used lenders to pay for their projects.
The key reason for the popularity of borrowing funds: While a beautiful backyard resort will enhance a home and provide years of healthy family fun and entertainment, it does indeed require a sizeable investment of thousands of dollars.
To evaluate various budget scenarios for financing your new pool, use this free pool loan calculator.*
*This pool loan calculator is a free estimating tool only; it does not pre-qualify you for any loan programs nor does it guarantee that you will qualify for any pool financing programs or credit terms. This pool calculator performs simple computations, but it does not provide investment, legal, tax, or accounting advice.
How a pool loan calculator helps evaluate budget and financing options
While financing a pool is common across America, the process and various programs may be new for many individuals shopping for a pool. From credit cards to home-equity loans, there are several forms of credit to understand and evaluate as possible choices for buying a pool.
In fact, Consumer Reports suggests that understanding your financing options for a project is a key part of the decision-making process—just like making selections for materials and design elements.
Much like a house or car payment—one way to determine how much to put toward a swimming pool is to consider the monthly payment. In other words, evaluate how much of your household budget you can reasonably afford each month.
With the basic financial information you enter, this handy loan calculator makes it easy to run the numbers— projecting how much a monthly pool loan payment will be.
Begin with a general idea of what an inground, concrete (gunite/shotcrete) pool costs in your local area, and enter the amount you are considering for the project.
Then, try out different loan scenarios. You can change the pool price/loan amount, the number of payments, the interest rate, or a combination of all three. For example, start with a loan amount of $59,749 for a 20-year loan (240 months) at an interest rate of 8.99%, and your monthly payment would be $537.19
Pool financing assistance
Understanding various pool loans and securing the best one for you—based on your credit history and other variables—can require some research and effort.
You can tackle this on your own. Various possible sources for a pool loan are available to seek. Another route is to get help. It’s simple enough by contacting swimming pool builders in your area. Call and ask if they offer financing-related services and support in securing a pool loan (oac).
Depending on the state where you live, the national Blue Haven financing specialist can help locate a lender and facilitate the loan-approval process with the financial institution. You can contact your local Blue Haven team, or, get started by applying online here for a free credit review.
Buying a new home? Special tactics for saving money on your pool loan
Does the new home you’re buying come without the pool you want? If you are buying a home and plan to build a pool, seize the opportunity to land a better financing deal by integrating a pool loan with your home loan.
Depending on your mortgage lender and the financing options available, you may be able to bundle a pool loan with your new mortgage. Doesn’t that sound better than applying for another loan—typically with another lender?
Consolidating your loans may save you money. Typically, one combined monthly payment will be lower than a separate mortgage payment and a home-improvement loan payment. (Plus, you may save the time and hassle of having to seek out and apply for two separate loans.)
For example, say you are getting a $400,000 mortgage to buy a home. A 30-year term at 6.5% interest will mean a monthly payment of $2528.27. Now, if you can wrap the $59,749 pool into your mortgage, the total monthly amount will be $2,905.93. That means your pool payment will run only $377.66 per month.
Certain factors impact whether lenders will allow home-and-pool loan packaging. But for the benefits that consolidation provides, it’s worthwhile to inquire to see if it’s possible. Here are some ways that bundling your pool loan with your mortgage can pay off.
Better interest rates
Mortgage interest rates almost always run less than those for home improvement financing.
Therefore, merging your pool cost into your mortgage will almost always provide a lower rate on the pool portion of the loan. Over the length of the loan, you will enjoy savings on the interest.
Lower monthly payments
What’s also nice about this combined arrangement is the size of your monthly payment. It will be smaller.
Here’s why: If you obtain a home improvement loan for a pool, the term will likely be 15 to 20 years (depending on your credit score). However, the length of a typical mortgage is 30 years.
So, by integrating your pool loan into your mortgage, the pool costs are spread over three decades—versus the typical 15 to 20 years. The result is a more affordable monthly payment.
Reduce loan application fees
When joining the financing for a home and a pool, you can save some money during the loan application process as well: You will have only one set of fees for appraisals, points, fees, recording fees, and other associated costs.
Mortgage interest deduction—without itemizing your tax return
Do you want to take the standard deduction on your tax return—versus doing an itemized return? If so, one more benefit may come from this consolidated loan scenario.
Under certain conditions, the interest on a home-improvement loan is tax deductible just like mortgage interest. However, obtaining a deduction for interest on a home-improvement loan requires an extra step: Itemizing the loan’s interest on your annual return.
However, if your pool financing is already included with your mortgage, you can skip this additional task. Be sure to consult with your tax professional before doing so.
This streamlining benefit can also help should you ever refinance your mortgage to take advantage of lower rates in the future: With the pool loan part of your mortgage, you can automatically enjoy lower rates from a mortgage re-fi. That perk is not available with standard home improvement loans.
Blue Haven Pools Financing Program
Blue Haven offices provide access to an exclusive national network of lenders. Each lender provides pool loans (on approved credit) in all or nearly all U.S. states, and depending on your credit score, most offer:
- Terms up to 15 years
- Household income programs
- Loan approvals that are good for 180 to 270 days
- Second-home programs available, and non-owner-occupied properties taken into consideration
—At least one Blue Haven lender program provides options for:
- Signature loans up to $100,000 and even higher
- FICO scores as low as 650 (based on overall credit and other lending criteria)
- Terms up to 20 years
Boosting your credit score
If you are considering a pool in the future—say a year or two in the future—but are concerned that a low credit score may it more challenging to obtain a pool loan, consider strategies that may help you boost your FICO score.
Some are simple. For example, creditsesame.com suggests requesting a free annual credit report, checking it for errors, and then requesting corrections if needed. “Don’t let misreported information be the cause of poor credit when it’s relatively easy to fix,” cautions creditsesame experts.
To obtain your credit report at no cost, visit annualcreditreport.com. Per federal law, it is the only site that provides a free copy of your credit report once a year from each credit reporting company: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.
Another relatively simple tactic is to sign up for secured credit. For a few hundred dollars, according to a post on improving credit scores on credit.com, you can apply for a secured credit card. The author explains how making regular payments will demonstrate that you can be a dependable borrower.