Auto Loan Payoff Calculator

Auto Loan Payoff Calculator to calculate early payoff for your auto loan. Car Loan Early Payoff Calculator with amortization schedule will calculate how much interest you can save by paying off early. You can choose to make extra payments per month or the desired payoff time to calculate the payoff and see a new amortization schedule for your car loan.

How does interest on a car loan work?

Interest is what a borrower pays when they finance the purchase of a car and depending on the interest rate and the loan terms, a borrower may need to pay thousands of dollars on interest payments in addition to the principal payments. To understand how much a borrower pays on interest, let's take a look at an example. Let's assume a borrower applies for a car loan of $30,000 with a 5% interest rate and a 5-year term. Car Loan Amount: $30,000 Interest Rate: 5% Loan Term: 5 year Using our car loan calculator, we calculated that the monthly payment for this car loan is $566,14, and the borrower will pay about $3,968.22 in interest payments after 5 years on top of the $30,000 loan amount. This makes the total cost of the car loan to be $33,968.22. Interest Payments: $3,968.22 Total Payments: $33,968.22 As we can see from the above calculation, the interest payment is about 13% of the loan amount. This is based on a modest interest rate of 5%. If the interest rate were higher, and the borrower chooses a term that is longer than 5 years, he will end up paying much more on interest payments.

How to pay off a car loan faster?

There are many good reasons to pay off a car loan faster, the main ones being that it would save a borrower lots of money on interest payments and the borrower would be debt-free earlier. Following are a few ways to pay off a car loan faster.

• Biweekly payment - by making biweekly payments instead of the default monthly payment, you are essentially making 13 payments per year instead of 12 payments. 1 extra payment may not seem like a lot, but it does help pay off a car loan faster.
• Extra payment - you can make an extra payment once in a while or make recurring extra payments towards principal. If you get a year-end bonus from your job, making a lump sum extra payment towards your car loan helps reduce your interest payments.
• Increase monthly payment - an extra payment of $100 each month will greatly reduce the total costs of your car loan and pay off the loan many months earlier.
• Bigger down payment - the larger the size of your down payment, the less money that you would need to borrow. Save more money before buying a new car and you will end up saving more money on interest.
• Refinance car loan - if the interest rate goes down dramatically after you purchased your car, consider refinancing your car loan with a lower interest rate.
• Reduce loan terms - if you can reduce your car loan terms from 5 years to 3 years, or 7 years to 5 years, it will also save you interest. However, your monthly payment will increase when you reduce the term, so only choose this option when you know you can afford the larger payments each month.
• Buy a cheaper car - one last option you have is to buy a more affordable car. That way, you won't have to take out a large loan to finance the purchase and hence reduce the costs of your car loan.

Before making extra payments or paying off your car loan, please talk to your lender first. Make sure that there are no prepayment penalties or conditions that prevent you from paying off earlier. Also, let them know that the extra payments are for reducing principal, otherwise, they may treat them as early interest payments for the next bill.

Should I pay off my car loan early?

You should do so if you can afford to pay off your car loan early. However, there are situations when it may not be a good idea to pay off your car loan early. Following are the pros and cons of paying off a car loan early.

Advantages of paying off a car loan early

• Save interest payments - after you pay off your car loan, you no longer pay interest on the loan. Depending on the size of your loan, the interest rate, and the loan terms, paying off earlier could save you thousands of dollars.
• Lower LTV - if you are thinking of buying a house and getting a mortgage, then paying off the auto loan would reduce your overall debt and lower your LTV which is a factor that the bank considers when processing your mortgage. Sometimes, it could be a make or break for your mortgage application.
• Peace of mind - be debt-free and have peace of mind when you don't have to worry about the monthly payments or late payment fees.

Disadvantages of paying off a car loan early

• Debt with higher interest - if you have debt like a credit card, which has a much higher interest rate, you may not want to pay off your car loan before you pay off your credit card balance. Instead, pay off your credit card first because it would save you more money on interest than paying off the auto loan.
• Other opportunities - if you have other business or investment opportunities that can potentially make you more money than the interest payments that you are making on the car loan, you may want to delay paying off the auto loan.
• Overall budget - if paying off early means that you need to make lifestyle changes, and would prevent you from doing the things that you enjoy, then it might not be a good idea to pay off the car loan. However, if you can cut spending and save more money each month without too much struggle, then paying off the auto loan makes sense.
• Prepayment penalties - if there are prepayment penalties for paying off early, you should calculate the actual interest savings minus the prepayment penalties to see if it is still worthwhile for early payoff.
• Low interest - if your car loan has low interest, and you are trying to build your credit history, then having an open loan balance can help with your credit score. However, if the interest rate is high and you can afford to pay it off, then it is much better to just pay it off and be debt-free.

The Bottom Line

Whether to pay off your auto loan is a personal choice, evaluate all the benefits and the disadvantages of paying off a car loan early, and make a choice that best fits your situation. If you don't want to pay off the whole balance, but still want to pay off earlier, you can try paying a little extra each month and see if you can really afford it.