How much does a car loan cost?
Caution: borrowing money costs money
If you don’t want to – or can’t – pay for your new vehicle in full at the time of purchase, you can take out a repayment loan. This involves borrowing the cost of the vehicle from your bank in return for paying a fixed rate of interest. You then repay the amount borrowed, plus interest, in fixed monthly instalments. The amount of each monthly payment depends on the amount borrowed, the term of the loan and the interest rate.
When comparing loans, look at the APR (annual percentage rate) instead of just the headline interest rate. The APR takes interest into account, but also all arrangement fees and other costs related to the loan. As well as stating the APR, the lender must also mention the total amount that you will have to repay. This is the sum of all the monthly repayments.
Most banks, including BNP Paribas Fortis, provide a calculator to give you an idea of how much a car loan will cost. To give a practical example: if you take out a €20,000 loan to buy a new car with low CO2 emissions, to be repaid over 60 months, your monthly repayments will be €346.10 each. The APR is 1.50% and the total amount to be repaid is €20,766 (calculation made on 2 July 2021).
About Ask Your Bank
At BNP Paribas Fortis, we want to help you gain a greater understanding of money matters, which is why we asked more than 1,000 Belgians what their main money-related questions and concerns are. With the Ask Your Bank series, we aim to make your life easier by addressing those matters in a fully transparent way: another example of Positive Banking.
Car loan
Type of credit: loan repayable by instalments. The provisions regarding consumer finance in Chapter 1, Title 4, Book VII of Belgium’s Code of Economic Law apply. Subject to your application being accepted by AlphaCredit SA, lender, boulevard Saint-Lazare 4-10/3, B-1210 Brussels, RPM Brussels, TVA BE0445.781.316. Agent: BNP Paribas Fortis SA, rue Montagne du Parc 3, B-1000 Brussels – RPM Brussels – TVA BE0403.199.702.)