An auto loan calculator is a useful tool that helps a borrower estimate the monthly payments and total cost of an auto loan. It’s a great way to make a budget for buying a car. Auto loan calculators are available online. What’s great about them is their interface. The seamless interface only needs the car price, downpayment, rate of interest, and lending duration. That’s all. The output will show you the estimated monthly payment.
Auto Loan Calculator Benefits
The biggest benefit of an auto loan calculator is the borrower can easily compare different offers from different lenders. Not all lenders offer the same interest rate and loan terms. They might take into account several factors like any history of car accidents. It is nearly impossible to compare these offers manually. An auto loan calculator makes it easy. And that’s not the only benefit. Most online auto loan calculators offer a simulation window which shows how an increase in the down payment can lower your monthly payment.
Some auto loan calculators come with extra features. One such feature is called amortization schedule visualization. This feature tracks every payment the borrower makes on their loan, with each payment divided into two parts: the amount that reduces the principal amount, and the amount that covers the interest charged on the outstanding loan balance. This table shows how these amounts change over time as the borrower pays down the loan.
Top Auto Loan Calculators
Even though auto loan calculators are dime a dozen – simply a Google search away, not all of them are top quality ones. The ones that are of top quality, are used by tens of thousands of people everyday.
Nerdwallet Auto Loan Calculator – It is an extremely customizable calculator featuring a broad range of input choices such as down payment, trade-in value, sales tax, and many more. It also has visual graphs and amortization schedules for a better understanding.
Bankrate Auto Loan Calculator – Bankrate’s auto loan calculator is pretty robust. It comes with a plethora of features and they are all quite useful. Compared to Nerdwallet, Bankrate’s auto loan calculator has a more simplistic interface. The calculator lets borrowers make adjustments based on taxes, trade-ins and fees. I can hardly think of a feature that this calculator doesn’t have.
Bank of America Auto Loan Calculator – This auto loan calculator is one of the top ones. It offers all the standard calculation features. Alongside, it lets borrowers determine the estimated trade-in value. Bank of America has several loan schemes for customers of different earning capacities. Using third-party services to gauge pre-qualification for such loan options may be difficult as it requires so many variables. But because this calculator is Bank of America’s own, it shows pre-qualification with ease. All in all, the BoA auto loan calculator is a great tool. Auto loan borrowers can use it for convenience.
Credit Karma Calculator – Credit Karma’s calculator is useful if you want to gauge the impact of an auto loan on your credit score. A consistent track record of on-time payments demonstrates your reliability as a borrower and boosts your credit score. Credit Karma’s calculator can guide you into doing it. The calculator can show you how credit utilization ratio can negatively impact your credit score and how you can avoid it. Most importantly, different lenders offer different loan terms, which is why a borrower needs a calculator that shows estimated changes to credit score based on those loan terms. Credit Karma’s calculator is basically all-things-credit-score, and you can gain valuable insights from it.
Edmunds Auto Loan Calculator – Of all auto loan calculators out there, this one is many people’s personal favorite for being extremely straightforward, and having a simplistic interface. The basic components of an auto loan include the price of the vehicle, loan terms and rate of interest. Edmunds Auto Loan Calculator has input fields for each of them. Based on these inputs the calculator will instantly show your monthly payment.
The only downside to this calculator is that its overly simplistic architecture lacks some features that some borrowers might find useful. The impact on credit score is one such feature. Amortization schedule is another one. As said above, some borrowers might want to know how each monthly payment is contributing to the principal amount. Basically, Edmunds calculator is for those who want a quick on-the-go estimate.
Final Words
The auto loan calculators listed here in this article are the top ones. It’s not like you have to choose only one of them. You can use all of them and different insights; getting such insights and heads-ups can help you make an informed decision and select a lender who gives you the best deal.
