8 Tips To Pay Your Car Loan On Time
By: Raymond James
About the Author:
Ray is a sought-after thought leader and an expert in financial and money management. He has been published and featured in over 50 leading sites and aims to contribute articles to help novice financial planners. One of his goals is to impart his knowledge in finance to educate and help ordinary people create and achieve their financial goals
Sometimes, it can be difficult to pay your car loan on time. However, doing so is an essential part of keeping your credit score favorable for future endeavors. The following are eight tips you can use to ensure that you pay your car loan on time:
1. Schedule Reminders
If you want to stay on top of your car loan, you can schedule reminders. Smartphones have some amazing reminder apps. You can even set alarms on some of them that will go off on the day your loan repayment is due. Some applications will let you set alarms for days before an important date as well. Use whichever method works best for you.
2. Pay It in Small Payments
Another tip you can use is to pay your loan in small increments each week when you get paid. For example, you can pay 25 percent of your monthly amount every week you receive a paycheck. That way, the payment will be less burdensome to you, and you’ll stay ahead of it.
3. Sign up for Automatic Payments
Autopay is a wonderful feature that can help you pay your car loan on time each time. Many lenders offer automatic repayment withdrawals to their clients. Some of them even offer incentives or discounts for clients who use the feature. The automatic payment feature takes the payments from your bank account or debit card automatically. You can rid yourself of the burden of reminders by setting up a card or account with automatic payments. Just make sure the money is in your account every month.
4. Double up Your Payments
Adding extra funds to your payments can help you keep up with your loan. Furthermore, it can help you pay your loan sooner than you expect. It will be ideal if you can double up on your payments. If you can’t do that, you can still boost the payments by adding the amount the lender usually charges for interest.
5. Use a Visual Calendar
You might want to consider using a visual calendar to keep track of your car payments. For example, you can buy an old-school paper calendar and hang it on your refrigerator so that you’ll have to look at it every day. You can then write the date you need to pay your auto loan on the calendar in neon letters. That will help you keep up with your payment dates.
6. Pay a Week in Advance
Paying your loan early can help to ensure that you don’t miss any payments. The best practice is to make your payment at least seven days in advance. That way, you ensure that your payment has enough time to process to your account.
7. Refinance Your Loan
Refinancing with Melbourne car loans is an excellent idea as well. You might be able to get a much lower interest rate when you refinance. That will help you add the extra payments to your account to boost your score and pay your loan off faster. Be sure to check your credit score first. Alternatively, you could do a prequalification. You’ll know right away if you can get a lender to refinance the loan.
8. Have Someone Else Remind You
Another tip for paying your car loan on time is to get another person involved with it. You could notify your friend, spouse or family member about your car payments and ask them to help remind you of when your payments are due. It’s just one more way to ensure that you get through this process on top. Don’t be afraid to reach out to someone you trust and ask that person to assist you with this sensitive process. It might be a smart move that keeps you above the water.
Stay on Target With Your Car Loan
You can use any or all of the tips mentioned above to stay on target with your automobile loan. You’ll probably think of some additional strategies while you’re at it.