jezuzgirl asked:
Our monthly payment is 549.10 (yes ouch). As I’m looking on the statement, it shows the following, which I don’t understand: Principal Balance is 15,921.93,
Principal Payment is 327.72,
Interest Payment is 221.38,
ending principal balance of 15,594.21.
The interest rate is 14.5%.
Our monthly payment is 549.10 (yes ouch). As I’m looking on the statement, it shows the following, which I don’t understand: Principal Balance is 15,921.93,
Principal Payment is 327.72,
Interest Payment is 221.38,
ending principal balance of 15,594.21.
The interest rate is 14.5%.
There is a “Late and other charges” of 125.13. (husband will have to call to see what that’s for)
This was supposed to be a five year contract. We have made a total of 40 payments… but the maturity date isn’t until 1/21/12. (The truck was purchased in Oct of 05) !?!?! Thats 7 years.. Yes we have missed a few payments, 3 i think but we are caught up now as they have adjusted the account. Can someone make sense of this for me, My name is not on the account or I would just call them and have them explain it to me, and then wouldn’t trust that they knew what they were talking about. Thanks for any help you can give, and please if you can help and I have left anything out feel free to email me.
Have a happy weekend! 
Bryan
Stephanie
Has your husband refinanced the car? If you bought the car in 2005, I cannot imagine why the loan wouldn’t be completely paid until 2012. The only way I can think of is if the loan was refinanced – OR it really is a 7 year loan. Check your paperwork from when you bought the car. It should say on there whether it is 60 months or 72 months.
The reason why your entire payment does not go toward the principal (the amount originally financed) is because the Interest is paid first and the rest goes toward the principcal. As time goes on, the $$ amount for the interest will decrease until it’s down to $0, and the entire payment will go toward the principal.
Do you have a payment coupon booklet? Or just billing statements from the loan company or bank? If you have a coupon booklet, check the last coupon & see what the due date is. If it’s really a 5 year loan and not a 7 year loan, the last due date should be in Oct or Nov of 2010.
Your husband will have to ask other questions directly to the loan company or bank. It might be in your best interest for both of you to physically go to the location to ask the questions – unless of course it’s too far.
Hope this helps somewhat…
Comment by Paul L — December 10, 2009 @ 11:47 pm
Steve
if your loan was for longer than 5 years, your coupon book will only contain 5 years of coupons. thus you may think that you have a 5 year loan when in reality your loan is for longer than that. you need to check out the original payment plan to find out what the real loan was for. you’ll be getting another coupon book in a few months to finish out your payments.
also, you may want to try to refinance as your interest rate is worse than many credit card rates right now. however you may not be able to as your credit will have been damaged for missed payments or late payments and because you are probably still upside down in the loan as a result of your high interest rate.
Comment by hello — December 12, 2009 @ 8:22 am
Brandon
Okay, I’ll try, but admittedly part of this is guess work.
When you missed some payments, that changed the loan, and there is probably some provision in what you signed that they are allowed to do that because, by missing a payment of two you defaulted on the loan.
The interest rate you are paying is terrible. Unless you started this loan with very bad credit, it shouldn’t be that high, and I can’t imagine why you agreed to it.
The principal and interest do add up to $549.10, and the new balance is correct. The late fee may just be a receipt from a prior month of being late with the payment.
Call, and find out, make sure you are definitely caught up at this point or they will keep doing fines for late payments. While you are talking to them, find out what the current payoff would be, and how long that figure is good for, then go talk to your bank about refinancing the loan at a better interest rate.
Good luck with it.
Comment by oklatom — December 13, 2009 @ 1:34 am