Loan Maturity Date question

[Anonymous]

Hello! I've been reading lots of info to try to find an answer to my question, but some of the info is very technical, and I'm not a friend of maths haha

So I got an auto loan in Dec. 2015 for a 2014 Nissan Altima. Lender is Westlake Financial Services. I did not have score at all, I came to the US on March 2015 and obtained my first CC on Nov. 2015.

Loan was at 20.99% on 60 months, $16500 financed on a $450 monthly pay.

I've requested over time two payments skip (financial hardship), so they move the maturity date from Dec. 2020 to Feb. 2021. I also requered a change of the due date from the 17th to the 25th.

With all this info, should I suppose that when the loan maturity date came I will not owe anything more? I have never missed a payment. About 5 payments were made between two to five days late, but never missed.

I've been reading that the loan works by paying interest first and then the principal, so should I expect my payments from now until the end to be applied mainly to the principal? My payoff is around $10k, and having 24 months at $450 montly it should be $10800.

Sorry the long post, any help is appreciated!

[Glen_M]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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I've been reading that the loan works by paying interest first and then the principal, so should I expect my payments from now until the end to be applied mainly to the principal?

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Most loans would allow for interest to be continually calculated, so you will be making payments against interest the entire time, especially at 20.99%APR.  It is actually being calculated at a monthly or daily rate most likely, with the compound equivalent being the annual rate they quoted you (0.0522% daily interest puts you around 20.9% annual).  

With 3 years of payment history compared to the zero you had at the time of purchase, I would be surprised if you couldn't refinance that with a much better rate now.  Even with a small fee, cutting that interest rate in half would probably be worth it.