Car budget calculators. These tools can be a helpful asset for digging into one’s finances and supporting financial health. Especially when used before you purchase your next vehicle. The car budget calculators, or auto finance calculators, in the Learning Center at Santander Consumer USA’s website can help you understand just how much car you can buy.
Types of Auto Finance Calculators
In the Learning Center, you will find three finance calculators:
- Affordability. This calculator will help you determine how much you could finance, based on your desired monthly payment, term, annual percentage rate (APR) and down payment.
- Early payoff. Adding to your monthly payment can shorten your financing term and save money. See how in the Santander Consumer USA payoff calculator.
- Monthly payment. Here’s how much your monthly payment would be based on the vehicle purchase price, financing term and down payment.
Why You Should Use an Auto Finance Calculator
An auto finance calculator, or car budget calculator, can help keep your finances organized and give a good snapshot of how not to go over your monthly budget. When you map out where all your money is going – housing, food, clothing, gas, entertainment, etc. – it’s easier to determine how much car you can afford to fit into your finances. Additionally, understanding such things as loan terms, budget management and doing comparisons of loan options, also can help you avoid added financial stress.
How to Calculate Auto Loan Interest and Payments
We’ve put together a few examples to show you how plugging numbers into the auto finance calculators can be quite helpful in figuring out a budget.
Based on the Santander Consumer USA affordability calculator, for a desired monthly payment of $500, with a down payment of $1,000, you could finance about $22,300 – the remainder for a $23,300 vehicle – over 48 months at a 6% APR.
The monthly payment calculator confirms that a vehicle costing $23,300 with a $1,000 down payment and financing $22,300 would result in about a $500 monthly payment.
For more information about the difference between interest rate and APR, see this article.
The numbers you use may differ from those we have in the above example, but the three auto finance calculators should help you stay financially healthy after getting your car.
It’s a worthwhile calculation.
These statements are informational suggestions only and should not be construed as legal, accounting or professional advice, nor are they intended as a substitute for legal or professional guidance.
Santander Consumer USA is not a credit counseling service and makes no representation about the responsible use or restoration of consumer credit.
The referenced calculators are meant for educational and illustrative purposes only. The calculators estimate amounts solely based on the information you provide. We do not guarantee the availability of the illustrated terms or your eligibility for any product referenced. The estimated amounts generated from the calculators do not constitute a finance offer.
