If you are in the market for a new or used car but can’t afford to buy it outright, you are certainly not alone. Most car buyers need to finance their purchase through a loan and, because of that, there is no shortage of car loan providers. Whether you decide to loan through a bank, building society, credit union, dealership, or e-lender, you first need to know how much you can afford to pay each month. Once you have worked that out, you can start to think about interest rates. Unfortunately, unless you are borrowing money from a very generous friend or your mum, you will be charged interest on top of your loan amount – that’s the principle way lenders make their money. The interest rate that you are charged depends greatly on your credit rating, current interest rates, the lender you borrow through and the down payment you make, but knowing the maximum interest rate you can afford will help you know whether or not you can accept a loan. This is exactly when a car loan interest calculator can be invaluable. Makingcentsaddup.com

Firstly, you need to calculate how much you can realistically afford to pay each month. Think about all the other bills and payments you need to budget for, as well as the extra cost of owning and maintaining a car – insurance, fuel, registration fees, maintenance. It all adds up. When you have a ballpark figure for what you would be willing to pay, you can use a car loan interest calculator to work out the maximum interest rate you can afford, as well as the interest rate you ideally want. Log on to the Internet and either find a car loan interest calculator by visiting a specific lender’s site or comparison site (both of which will give you an idea of the kind of interest rate you might expect, and this will give you a starting figure to enter into the calculator), or you can simply type ‘car loan interest calculator’ into a search engine and a list of sites that offer such a calculator will present itself.

Once you have found a car loan interest calculator, enter in the figure you wish to borrow (ensuring you remember to deduct any amount that you intend to use as a down payment), the length of the term and the interest rate you decide to start with. If the monthly repayments the car loan interest calculator shows is more than you can afford, enter a lower rate until you come to a figure that is right for you. Of course, you have to be realistic. If you end up with an interest rate so low that you will never be offered it, you need to rethink. Either you increase the down payment, increase the term of the loan (you will pay more in interest in the long term but your monthly payments will be more manageable and you can always pay more off at a later date), wait until you have saved up more money, or perhaps look at buying a cheaper car.

A car loan interest calculator can help you suss out what you can and can’t afford, and just what interest rate is right for you. There are many car loan interest calculators online so log on to the Internet now and you will be that much closer to driving your new car.