Is my car loan company screwing me over?

[Anonymous]

I have a loan through xxxxxxx Bank. I have looked at my car loan and have noticed that my loan is only down by $2,500. I have been paying on this loan since May of 2010. The company website says that my loan won't mature until April of 2017. My loan was originally $19,500 and I have been making $480 a month payments. I have been late a total of 13 times, but have always paid the next month and a few 90 day Kate's due to being in between jobs. I have taken out 2 deferments but that's it. After calculating I have paid about $22,000 so far. The messed up thing is that I have paid $20,000 on interest and only $2,500 on principle! I don't know what to do! I will call them in the morning because I believe that they mixed up my principle and interest side of my loan. I should only have a few payments left on it. My interest rate is 24.99%. I know that I have messed up a few payments, and have received fees of around $1,400 but really?? This can't be right. Please don't comment on how I should be paying on time. I understand this.

[Anonymous]

Is this common? Sorry for the spelling

[Anonymous]

a simple amortization table will help you figure this out. This sounds about right, at 25% your payments of 480 are roughly 400 interest and 80 principle for your first payment. Your break even point (where half goes to interest and half to principle is about 5 years in from my simple calculations). When you deferred your payments you continued to add about 350-400 to your loan in interest, on top of late fees.  I wish you the best but more then likely the bank is right.

[Anonymous]

So to clarify, $20,000 on interest and $2,500 on principle sounds right? So on a loan of $19,500 I should still owe $17,500? I forgot to add that. I have been paying on my loan for almost 5 years and still owe $17,500? I still think it's wrong.

[Anonymous]

For some reason the interest I have been paying hasn't done anything for my loan. After five years and only $2,500 taken off what I still owe them. That just sounds crazy.

[Anonymous]

Sorry. I forgot to say thank you for your comment. After reading what I wrote I can see that it looks right. $17,500 is what I still owe after 5 years, and after paying $22,500 on the total it's just insane that I still owe so much.

[Anonymous]

it is crazy because the interst rate is crazy high- no judging just saying. Not sure where you live but that is close to the maximum legally allowed.  if you google loan payment calculator bankrate has good one complete with amortization table.  Deferring payments added to your loan the interest that was due to the principal (350-400) each month you deferred, plus late fees, you are now paying interest on those late fees as well.  Looking at an amotization table shows that after one year of on time payments, you only paid the interest down approx 1,100 in the first year...good luck again. You should explore the possiblity of refancing that loan.  

[Anonymous]

Thanks again for commenting. It just seems like the bank messed up. Obviously $20,000 on just interest alone on a $19,500 loan is ridiculous. I will call my financial institution tomorrow and see what's going on. I'm just saying I'm not going to pay $22,500 + another $480 a month for the remainder of the loan maturity (24 months.) totaling $34,000. I mean after the first year according to the financial institutions record of payment history I paid $1,000 towards my priciple and that's all. Then every few months or so I have paid on my principle but totaling out to only $2,500 go to my priciple over the course of 5 years??

[Kirmie2010]

Yes its legal and normal and its horrible.  I couldnt ever see taking a car loan unless it was under 5% interest.

That kind of interest rate is why I couldnt take any car loans I was approved for.  You end up paying slightly less in just interest than the car itself.  You also pay almost all interest the first year of your loan.  (I would of ended up paying 200 dollars or so towards the car  first year and about 1500 in interest.)

I was going for a 12k loan, with rates LESS than what you have I would of ended up paying 9200 in interest on a 12,000 dollar car loan when it was paid off.  So overall id pay 21,200 on a 12k car.

I feel bad for ya, good luck.

[cartwrna]

It does seem correct. I financed a Charger RT for $30,000 @ 18% interest. When the loan was all said and done had I stayed with that rate I would have paid $55,000. If you look at your original loan papers from dealership in the contract it will say the "finance charge" which is the amount of interest you pay. On 25% it would be about the same as price of car if not more.