Having bad credit sucks because very few creditors offer reasonably priced auto loans. Some go ahead and create unfair payment terms in order to reap profits from late payment charges. If you need a bad credit auto loan, the first step is to estimate your monthly payments by using an online Car Loan Calculator then apply for a loan at https://carloans1.net/. Information is power and without it, you may fall prey to unfair interest rates.
[loancalculator]
9 Advantages of using a Car Loan Calculator
Table of Contents
1. Highly credible source of information
Websites that provide free online Auto Loan Calculators derive their data from the DMV, CFPB, and licensed creditors. The CFPB protects customers from unethical lending practices by monitoring interest rates for both good and bad credit. In addition, it provides guidelines for licensed creditors to maintain transparency at all levels.
Relying on a Car Loan Calculator prevents you from being deceived by sly car salesmen. Novice car buyers often end up with costly bad credit auto loan deals or inferior quality motor vehicles due to one reason. Failing to do proper research on bad credit auto loan rates.
Read about Car Salesmen Tricks to Avoid
2. Real-time updates
Interest rates tend to change after a couple of years. In order to adjust to the current economic climate, creditors also adjust their interest rates without delay. The CFPB quickly gathers information about new interest rates from licensed creditors countrywide and makes it available on public domains.
Real-time data helps you to do correct financial planning, especially if you’re self-employed. You’ll know how much you’ll need to save up as a cash deposit in order to get the monthly payment you’re comfortable with. It’s also easier to compare different bad credit auto loan deals from a variety of creditors.
Tips:
- Car Loans for Low Income Earners and Bad Credit
- Rent To Own Cars and Car Leasing
- Negative Equity Car Loan
3. Mobile-friendly
Nowadays, at least 50 percent of internet users access the web through their smartphones or tablets. Information Technology experts agree that this is becoming a permanent consumer habit because smartphones are more affordable than computers. However, the biggest advantage smartphones have over computers is portability.
You don’t need to use a computer in order to use an online bad credit Car Loan Calculator. You can compare various auto loan deals while queuing at Starbucks. If you find a deal you like, all you need to do is bookmark the webpage.
4. Easy to use
Do you struggle with interest rates and loan calculations?
Even most people with college degrees go blank when presented with such mathematical problems. This challenge makes a car buyer vulnerable to dishonest car sales representatives. The good news is that you really don’t need to master loan repayment formulae.
Our calculator has a simple table-structure with clearly labeled cells. Here, you can get your monthly installments and total interest charges within a minute. There’s a cell labeled Loan Amount, where you type in the car’s value. Filling in your auto loan details takes less than a minute.
Read: Common Fears When Dealing With Auto Loan Lenders
5. Comes in handy when doing trade-ins
You may come across a car sales clerk willing to offer you a bad credit car loan and allow you to trade in your current motor vehicle. However, if the deal sounds too good, you need to confirm this is true.
An online Car Loan Calculator has a cell where you can type in the value of the car you want to trade -in. It takes just a few seconds to generate your monthly installments and total interest charges. Therefore, making it easy to analyze a salesman deal on the spot.
Tips:
- The Truth about Exotic and Classic Car Financing: 144 Month Auto Loans
- Car Dealer in House Financing
6. Safe online platform
According to research done by VeriSign Inc in 2017, a whopping 2.3 million new domains got registered from January-March 2016.
Unfortunately, there’s no reliable body that vets people or companies registering new domains. So, this makes it easy for hackers and identity thieves to steal personal information by creating dubious sites offering bad credit auto loans.
Complete Auto Loans offers you a verified calculator to protect you from cyber criminals. You don’t need to create a user account in order to access this bad credit Car Loan Calculator. After using it to obtain monthly payment information, your data disappears. No third parties can access your loan information queries.
7. The most reliable tool in comparing auto loan repayment periods
Bad credit auto loan installments are expensive. You can reduce the amount you pay per installment using two ways. First, pay a large cash deposit upfront. This reduces your principle and you pay a lower monthly installment than buying a car without putting money down. You can pay a lower monthly installment by requesting for long repayment periods.
Tip: Car Title Loans Explained
Car salesmen know that most buyers want to pay the lowest monthly installment in order to save money. They persuade car buyers to select the longest repayment period available. However, while the customer gets a lower monthly installment, they pay much higher interest charges.
Tip: What’s a Rebuilt Title? Should You Buy or Avoid These Used Cars?
An online Car Loan Calculator enables you to determine your monthly installments and total interest charges incurred conveniently. You need this tool to analyze offers made by car salesmen because car dealerships make more profits when you choose long repayment periods.
8. Enables you to compare bad credit auto loans offered by several creditors
Websites that have online car loan calculators also provide users with information on bad credit auto loan deals offered by various creditors. You need this information to locate creditors living in or close to your city. Listing bad credit auto loan lenders also gives you opportunities to find out more about creditors by checking them up on customer review websites.
9. Transparent interest rate charges
Perhaps you’ve heard that creditors determine your auto loan interest rates by assessing your credit score. But, do you really know the impact of each score on interest rates? Well, not really, because most creditors don’t disclose their formulae for determining a borrower’s interest rate and repayment period.
Car Payment Calculator has a table that shows what interest rate to expect at certain credit scores. You need this information to tell whether a car dealership wants to take advantage of your bad credit situation.
Does the Car Loan Calculator show all charges that constitute my monthly installment?
A calculator only displays interest charges associated with the loan. Here are five charges which don’t appear in auto loan calculators.
1. Car Insurance
Your creditor provides you with enough money to meet the retailer’s credit purchase terms. It’s your duty to purchase an auto insurance plan separately. While some car retailers do offer auto insurance plans, they expect you to sign a different contract.
As you visit several car lots in order to compare auto loan deals, look around for cheap car insurance quotes. Proper preparation will help you to save up enough money to pay off a few insurance monthly premiums in advance.
Read: Car Anti Theft Devices You Need In 2018
2. Accessories installed by the car retailer
Sometimes, car sales reps inflate the value of a car by installing car alarms, GPS trackers, and kill switches. A salesman approaches a buyer and persuades them that installing a car alarm enables a car owner to get cheap insurance quotes. Excited about this revelation, the customer allows the car retailer to install an alarm system.
This seems like a smart move but the car’s price increases by a huge margin. Since your original auto loan deal does not include installation of car accessories, the dealer expects a cash payment for your newly installed alarm system.
3. Loan application fees
Commercial banks and credit institutions pay extra charges to car retailers in order to facilitate credit purchasing. Your creditor transfers this charge to you in form of an application charge. You pay this fee in cash while submitting your auto loan application.
What’s the average auto loan application fee? It varies with car retailers but it can go as high as $500.
4. Car maintenance fees
How do you ensure your car performs at optimum efficiency? By taking it for frequent servicing. Car experts recommend full maintenance after six months or 10,000 miles. A well-maintained energy does not waste fuel and economizes battery consumption to ensure you get value for money.
Tip: Save Money! Keep Your Tire Tread Wear Patterns Even
Your auto loan does not include provisions for car maintenance fees. It’s up to you to find an affordable and reliable mechanic. If you can’t find one, your car dealership will recommend you to some trusted auto repair shops.
5. Balance transfer charges
Earlier on, we saw that interest rates change at least after every two years. Once in a while, borrowers catch a good break whenever interest rates fall nationwide. At this point, smart car buyers switch to car refinancing plans because they offer significantly better interest rates than auto loan financing.
Car loan refinancing is whereby a new creditor takes over your auto loan by paying off your outstanding balance. In order to facilitate this credit transfer, a car buyer pays balance transfer charges. Just like the four payments described above, you pay balance transfer charges in cash.
Three mistakes that will make you pay high auto loan installments
1. Insufficient market research
Both national and federal governments allow credit institutions to come up with unique auto loan plans. This freedom brings about huge price differences since each creditor prices their auto loans in relevance to target markets.
If you live in a high-income neighborhood, then all dealerships within your vicinity have expensive bad credit auto loans. Even if you negotiate for a lower buying price, the interest rate still remains expensive.
2. Failing to do a credit check in advance
Your credit score determines your auto loan’s interest rate. You need to stay updated on your current rating especially if you recently paid off a loan or credit card. Sometimes, creditors fail to report cleared debts in good time. This delay affects your credit score because unpaid debt affects your payment history.
Make sure you download your credit report and confirm your debt status. In case, there’s an issue, follow up with the relevant creditor.
3. Failing to negotiate the car’s buying price
Most people who make this mistake assume that they don’t need the guidance of an experienced car owner. A friend or relative who has a long history with cars already knows what tricks to watch out for when negotiating with car sales reps. The biggest trick being “special offer on all cars”.
Experienced car sales reps can distinguish novice buyers by observing their body language for just a few seconds. Don’t put yourself in a vulnerable spot by assuming that you know everything about purchasing cars.
Three smart tips that will get you cheaper auto loan monthly installments
1. Save up for a huge deposit
One way of directly reducing your auto loan is by paying a huge cash deposit when buying a car. Let’s assume you have a credit score of 601 and want a bad credit auto loan worth $20,000 at 4.5%. If you can pay up 40 % upfront and get a 36-month repayment duration, each monthly installment amounts to $356.
Let’s assume a car buyer with the same credit rate applies for a similar bad credit auto loan. Instead of paying 40%, he only pays a deposit worth 20%. The new car buyer will have to pay $475 each month.
2. Take time to improve your credit score
Before deciding to purchase a car, first, download your credit report and assess your financial standing. If you currently have a couple of long-term debts, then you need to wait until you pay them off. Doing this improves your payment history and you’ll notice an improvement in your credit score within 90 days.
3. Go to your preferred car retailer
Car dealerships run different customer loyalty programs because retaining customers ensures continuous cash flow. If your favorite car retailer offers bad credit car loans, you’ll probably get it at a lower interest rate due to good history.
Make the Auto Loan Calculator Your Best Friend
A calculator will help you to do adequate market research by comparing auto loan deals from various lenders. It’s also easy to calculate changes in overall interest charges whenever you want to switch to a longer repayment period.
Feel free to use our online Car Loan Calculator today. Complete Auto Loans also helps buyers find reasonable bad credit car loans.