How We Determine Your Finance Offer
This information can help you understand how creditors decide on your financing rate and terms. These decisions are based on four main factors:
- Vehicle selection: cost, age, and mileage
- Application information: employment, residence, and income information
- Credit history: information contained in your credit file
- Down payment: total of cash and trade equity
Keep in mind
The cost of your chosen vehicle and the amount you can afford to put down can have a large effect on the financing offer you receive. These two factors alone may increase your likelihood of approval, improve your offer, and reduce your monthly payment.
Factors affecting your monthly payment
In order of impact, here are the three major factors that influence your monthly payment:
- Amount financed
- Term or length of contract
- Annual Percentage Rate (APR)
Monthly payment scenarios
In the table below, you can see how changes to the amount financed, length of contract, or APR can influence your monthly payment.
| Amount financed | Term in months | APR | Monthly payment | Comments | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $17,500 | 60 | 10.00% | $372 | Base example | |
| $15,750 | 60 | 10.00% | $335 | Lowering the amount financed by 10% = 10% payment decrease | |
| $17,500 | 66 | 10.00% | $346 | A 10% longer term = 7% payment decrease | |
| $17,500 | 60 | 9.00% | $363 | A 10% lower APR = 3% payment decrease |