Maybe it is just me..

[jaslken]

I financed a car in March 2004 for $8,595 at an interest rate of 24% (I know... stupid). I needed a car immediately and I needed credit as well, so I took the first thing smokin'. Now after payments up until June/July 2006... they say I owe $5,788. How can it be? I did some math figures and I got around $3k a little over. Can anyone explain this to me?

[miss206baby]

I financed a car in March 2004 for $8,595 at an interest rate of 24% (I know... stupid). I needed a car immediately and I needed credit as well, so I took the first thing smokin'. Now after payments up until June/July 2006... they say I owe $5,788. How can it be? I did some math figures and I got around $3k a little over. Can anyone explain this to me?

 

How much did you pay each and every month?

[Glacier]

How long was the loan for? Do you know if it is a simple interest loan? (These can be found in your contract.)

 

When you make payments on a car, the majority of the payments for the first few years go towards interest not principle.

 

IF you financed for 5 years at 24% and ONLY financed the $8595, then the figures they presented appear correct.

[MarvBear]

Does the original poster have a copy of the retail installment sales contract?

[jaslken]

Sorry I was not online last nite...

 

I will try to answer each question here...

 

 

I do have the original agreement somewhere at home. I am a pack rat and SAVE every piece of paper I have ever touched. It is a matter of finding it. But I will check whenI get home tonight.

 

I paid $249/month every month.

 

It was a 5 year loan not sure if it was simple interest or not. Will find out tonight.

 

Can you show me how the interest and principal is paid every month and how it will show my balance left over? Is there a formula?

[MarvBear]

once you find your contract, I believe there are a number of ammortization automotive calculators over at bankrate dot com.

[cljohnr]

The numbers are correct for a standard 5 year loan at 24%. You won't be down to $3k owed until Feb 2008. Initially, more than 2/3 of each payment you made was interest.

[AZwldcats]

 Amortization Schedule
Loan Date: 3/1/2004
Principal: $8,595.00
# of Payments: 60
Interest Rate: 24.00%
Payment: $247.26
Schedule of Payments
Please allow for slight rounding differences.
Pmt #	Date	Principal	Interest	Balance
1	4/1/2004	75.36	171.90	8,519.63
2	5/1/2004	76.86	170.39	8,442.77
3	6/1/2004	78.40	168.85	8,364.36
4	7/1/2004	79.97	167.28	8,284.39
5	8/1/2004	81.57	165.68	8,202.82
6	9/1/2004	83.20	164.05	8,119.61
7	10/1/2004	84.86	162.39	8,034.74
8	11/1/2004	86.56	160.69	7,948.18
9	12/1/2004	88.29	158.96	7,859.88
10	1/1/2005	90.06	157.19	7,769.82
11	2/1/2005	91.86	155.39	7,677.95
12	3/1/2005	93.70	153.55	7,584.25
13	4/1/2005	95.57	151.68	7,488.68
14	5/1/2005	97.48	149.77	7,391.19
15	6/1/2005	99.43	147.82	7,291.75
16	7/1/2005	101.42	145.83	7,190.33
17	8/1/2005	103.45	143.80	7,086.87
18	9/1/2005	105.52	141.73	6,981.35
19	10/1/2005	107.63	139.62	6,873.72
20	11/1/2005	109.78	137.47	6,763.93
21	12/1/2005	111.98	135.27	6,651.95
22	1/1/2006	114.22	133.03	6,537.73
23	2/1/2006	116.50	130.75	6,421.22
24	3/1/2006	118.83	128.42	6,302.38
25	4/1/2006	121.21	126.04	6,181.17
26	5/1/2006	123.63	123.62	6,057.53
27	6/1/2006	126.10	121.15	5,931.42
28	7/1/2006	128.63	118.62	5,802.79
29	8/1/2006	131.20	116.05	5,671.59
30	9/1/2006	133.82	113.43	5,537.76
31	10/1/2006	136.50	110.75	5,401.25
32	11/1/2006	139.23	108.02	5,262.02
33	12/1/2006	142.02	105.24	5,120.00
34	1/1/2007	144.86	102.40	4,975.14
35	2/1/2007	147.75	99.50	4,827.38
36	3/1/2007	150.71	96.54	4,676.66
37	4/1/2007	153.72	93.53	4,522.94
38	5/1/2007	156.80	90.45	4,366.14
39	6/1/2007	159.93	87.32	4,206.20
40	7/1/2007	163.13	84.12	4,043.06
41	8/1/2007	166.39	80.86	3,876.66
42	9/1/2007	169.72	77.53	3,706.93
43	10/1/2007	173.12	74.13	3,533.81
44	11/1/2007	176.58	70.67	3,357.23
45	12/1/2007	180.11	67.14	3,177.11
46	1/1/2008	183.71	63.54	2,993.39
47	2/1/2008	187.39	59.86	2,806.00
48	3/1/2008	191.14	56.12	2,614.86
49	4/1/2008	194.96	52.29	2,419.90
50	5/1/2008	198.86	48.39	2,221.03
51	6/1/2008	202.83	44.42	2,018.20
52	7/1/2008	206.89	40.36	1,811.30
53	8/1/2008	211.03	36.22	1,600.26
54	9/1/2008	215.25	32.00	1,385.01
55	10/1/2008	219.56	27.70	1,165.45
56	11/1/2008	223.95	23.30	941.50
57	12/1/2008	228.43	18.83	713.07
58	1/1/2009	232.99	14.26	480.07
59	2/1/2009	237.65	9.60	242.41
60	3/1/2009	242.41	4.84	0.00
Totals		8,594.99	6,240.63

[lakbum]

Man, that's a lot of interest!

 

Those kind of payments are almost like my student loans...where most of its going to the interest right now.