Car finance settlement - checklist

joshken

Hello MSE members,

I'm nearing the final settlement of my car loan (Personal Loan) which was taken 5 years ago. Does anyone know what would be the documents I would get from my finance company. Is there any checklist wherein I could confirm

1. I now don't owe anything to the finance company.
2. That the finance company has updated not only their records but also the records of the credit agencies that I have duely paid off the car loan.
3. That my credit ratings are not tampered or effected in anyway by the finance company. I did had a couple of missed payments in the last year of finance. But had sorted them with the finance company.

Please if someone could provide me some insights/advice or checklist, would be really grateful.

josh

Consumerist

If you missed payments then the finance company may, or may not, have recorded these on your credit file. You should ask the company which CRA they use and then get a copy of your file shortly after you have settled. The credit file should also indicate that the account is settled once it has been. It sometimes takes a while for the credit report to be updated, however.

If payments were missed, it's possible that charges have been added to your account. These charges will have to paid off in addition to the regular payments.

If you do not receive regular statements of your account then it would be sensible to write to the finance company to see what amount is oustanding and how they intend to collect it. You could also ask them to confirm when the account has been settled in full. Normally, a statement shouild be sent to you showing your payments and balance. If the balance is zero then, cearly, the account has been settled.