1. Build a budget
When it comes to paying off your car loan, a little bit of budgeting can go a long way. You can get a detailed snapshot of your financial situation and work out where you can cut back on expenses or change your spending habits. These adjustments make it easier to manage the repayments on your car loan and pay it off a bit faster by getting a handle on other areas of your life.
The best part is that making a budget doesn’t need to involve a spreadsheet with lots of complex formulas. Our budget planning calculator is easy to use – simply pop in some essential financial information, like your expenses and income, and the tool will create your tailored budget within seconds.
2. Set up automatic and frequent payments
Nowadays, staying on top of your repayments is incredibly simple. You can set up automatic direct debits for your car loan to ensure your monthly repayment goes through on time. No more worrying about missed payments or having your loan extended.
Another thing you might consider is changing your repayment frequency – for example, from monthly to fortnightly, or fortnightly to weekly. This can help you pay off your loan quicker and in smaller portions.
As the interest on your loan is calculated daily, switching to fortnightly or weekly payments means you’ll pay off your loan faster as you’ll pay less interest on the amount you borrowed. You can use our car loan calculator to quickly see how much you can pay off each week, fortnight or month.
3. Use any extra cash to make bonus repayments
There might be times when you receive additional cash – be it from a bonus at work, a generous tax refund or even as a Christmas gift. No matter where the extra money came from, you might want to consider putting it towards your car loan.
Our car loans allow you to make as many unlimited repayments as you like. You also have easy access to these funds and can redraw them for free if you need to pay for an unexpected expense.
4. Refinance your car loan
Refinancing your car loan can put you in a better position to pay it off sooner. This is because you’re applying for a new car loan at a lower, personalised rate and are using those new funds to pay off your existing car loan.
Before deciding to refinance, it’s important that you know the upfront costs involved when making the switch, such as payout and loan registration fees. While these costs can be off-putting for a lot of car owners, the long-term benefit of having a lower interest rate and paying off your loan sooner can be worth it. You can always chat to your new lender to understand and prepare for the costs involved.