The light sport aircraft market was hyped up with so much promise, but still struggles to deliver real payoff. It’s not that the aircraft aren’t selling—they are, as much as anything is selling. But market has been primarily one of cash, not credit. While credit is tight in all economic sectors today, LSAs have some specific issues that make them a tougher sell to the bean counters at the bank.
Credit is Available
The credit picture hasn’t changed much since we last looked at this issue about a year and half ago. Financing is available for LSAs and experimentals right up through jets so long as the borrower has the right stats. Those are generally credit scores north of 700 and debt-to-income (DTI) ratios in the low 40s, including the aircraft loan. Lenders tell us that if there’s been any movement on what a bank wants to see, it’s that the weight of a good DTI has more play than it did two years ago and the credit score is a bit less important.