Affordable loan repayment
Find the best car loan payments
Want to know more about the cost of repaying a car loan and what options you have?
Payments and your budget
No matter how manageable the loan repayment amount may seem, if you don't have control over your budget, it can be more than you can afford!
Understand your budget
If you haven't budgeted in a while - or never have - it's worth taking a few minutes to figure out exactly how much of your income you can use to pay off your loan.
There are some great online budget planners out there that will do most of the work for you.
Put your car in context
If you know you can afford to pay off your car loan, also take a moment to think…
What other financial goals (or commitments) do you have?
When do you want to reach them?
For example, if you are planning a big vacation next year, paying for airfare and spending money can take up some of your income that you need to plan for now.
These questions may affect the payments you want to make.
What can you afford
Once you know how much you want to set aside for car loan repayments from each payment, you can work backwards:
Use the car loan repayment calculator to find out what you can borrow
Find a car that fits your budget
Funding Options Affecting Your Payouts
The main variables of your auto financing that affect the repayment amount are:
The amount you borrow
The most effective way to reduce your payments may be to cut your car expenses so that you borrow less or post more collateral.
Credit term
Spreading your payouts over a longer period reduces each repayment amount (but may increase your overall funding cost!).
Interest and fees
Interest is built into your payouts. The more your loan costs you in interest, the more you will have to repay, either through larger individual payments or a longer payback period.
Alternative car loan options
Renting a car can reduce the regular repayments you make by deferring a large one-time payment at the end of the lease.
Read "Considering Renting a Car" for more information.
