@MattH wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I am glad you know whats right. You are on the right track. I know it sounds like a long time but you could always try to pay more than your minimum payment and get it paid off earlier. I think you would be surprised how much money you would save if you pay an extra $100-$200 a month on the loan. That is if you have it available. All that extra will go toward principle and reduce your interest. I am sure you know how this works since you work with mortgages but if not check into it if you have some extra funds you could apply to it or if there is an area you could reduce spending and put some toward it. It may help you in the long run and will make you feel better as you get it paid down faster and get out of the loan. Then sell the car for what you can and move on. Good Luck to you and hope you can stay on the right track.
Yes, I agree strongly, Original Poster's best option is probably to look hard for other places to cut spending and/or increase income and put the extra cash towards making additional principal payments on that loan. OP should check whether there is a prepayment penalty, however, as that may affect the decision. I've never had an installment loan of any type with a prepayment penalty, and I gather for "prime" loans prepayment penalties are quite uncommon but the farther a loan is from prime the more likely it is to have a prepayment penalty.
+1
I completely agree I forgot to mention to make sure to look and find out if there is a prepayment penalty as that could offset the savings in interest.
However even if there is a prepayment penalty that may offset the interest and make the loan cost the same either way it may still be worth paying off early just to get rid of the loan and payment.
But definately look into the prepayment penalty before paying extra or off early.
