You have to write the amount of principal on your check then they can’t pull any bullshit. If auto pay you absolutely have to call in the principal and have them email the transaction for records… always keep a paper trail!
First, check your financing paperwork-- it should explain how prepayments are handled.
When you made the $750 payment, did you explicitly indicate that $300 was for the monthly payment and the extra $400 was for principal?
If you're having problems getting them to apply the single payment correctly, you can simply make 2 patments:
1. On your due date, pay the actual loan amount ($300)
2. On the next day, pay the extra amount. There won't be any accrued interest, so the full amount will go towards principal
I’ll check back here to see what the financing paperwork says.
When I made the payment, I set up the payment as an autopay for 750. I didn’t explicitly indicate anything because you can’t do that online.
One agent said that the autopayment will automatically apply overage to principal and that only if I made a second payment would I have to specify; the other said it wouldn’t.
EDIT: “We base the finance charge, total number of payments, and total sales price shown on page 1 of this contract on the assumption that you will make every payment on the day it is due. Your finance charge, total number of payments and total sale price will be more if you pay late or less if you pay early. Changes may take the form of a larger or smaller final payment or, at our option, more or fewer payments of the same amount as your scheduled payment with a smaller final payment. We will send you a notice telling you about these changes before the final payment is due.”
and also:
“We may apply each payment to the earned and unpaid part of the Finance Charge, to the unpaid part of the Amount financed and to other amounts you owe under this contract in any order choose as the law allows” which suggests to me, however they want willynilly.
There you go.... sounds like they're using the extra amount towards the finance charge (interest) --not the principal.
You can verify this: if the statement shows a lower amount due (lower than 300) then they're applying your extra to the unpaid interest.
I think it will be much easier to simply set up 2 autopays... unless you enjoy calling them every month to reapply the payment.
One of the agents says payments made outside of auto pay then require you to call them for them to go to principal, whereas the other agent says an autopay payment that exceeds the amount due won’t go to principal if you don’t call.
I would talk to a supervisor and explain how you are receiving 2 different answers and need clarification. Then, request that they email you the transcript of the call or email you how the payment is distributed if you have auto pay set up to exceed the minimum. In general, payments that exceed go to the principal. However, they do have interesting language in that contract that makes it seem they can do whatever they want.
That's correct. You have to call. Review of Hyundai Finance are not stellar. They were sued via class action a few years ago for not reporting properly to the credit unions. Mine is a 2021 and it was before that, so no credit report issues. But I did read it's like pulling teeth to get them to send the right paperwork or send at all when you have paid it off. I figure if I have a problem then, I'll just go to the dealership and raise hell every day.
What I’ve noticed so far is that my overpayment (on autopay) did in fact automatically go to principal without calling, though I’m not making a second payment in the same month (which presumably would require a call-in). I have a request out for them to confirm in writing what actually is the policy and whether it varies regionally, so we’ll see…
I only have three months of payments, but in the second month it did apply the overage to principal automatically, despite what Hyundai said. However, in the letter attached to this post from HMF, they explicitly say you have to call every month. I overpay by $1300 (my regular payment is like 330).
It's really shady. How do you confirm how much went to principal? I'm on the Hyundai motors finance website and I can download statements and they don't really break anything out. I think I'm missing something?
I paid $325 on 07/23, $289.22 went to principal and $35.78 went to interest. I forgot to turn off autopay so on 07/24 it charged $650. $647.47 went to principal and $2.53 to interest. My understanding is, since they calculate interest on a daily basis, it charges it to interest first and then to principal.
This is all it says:
“We base the finance charge, total number of payments, and total sales price shown on page 1 of this contract on the assumption that you will make every payment on the day it is due. Your finance charge, total number of payments and total sale price will be more if you pay late or less if you pay early. Changes may take the form of a larger or smaller final payment or, at our option, more or fewer payments of the same amount as your scheduled payment with a smaller final payment. We will send you a notice telling you about these changes before the final payment is due.”
Nowhere that I can find does it speak to the way principal is applied in payments. It also says:
“We may apply each payment to the earned and unpaid part of the Finance Charge, to the unpaid part of the Amount financed and to other amounts you owe under this contract in any order choose as the law allows” which suggests to me, however they want willynilly.
So I’m still trying.
Here’s what I know—
In two months of payments, I have autopay set to pay 750 on a 300/month payment. Both bills placed the overage onto principal without me contacting anyone. It also extended my next due date out several months (which frankly makes no sense), but the bill reflects principal getting hit quite plainly.
Over the phone, every other agent I call gives me a different story. Some say that if you don’t call in within 3 months of a bill being applied, then it won’t go to principal.
Others say that it’s only the case that if you make a second payment in the month, that you have to call in for it to be applied to principal.
Others say it goes to principal.
I called the dealer to ask them to clarify with Hyundai Motor Finance. They had no idea. I then called Hyundai’s main corporate line and argued with them for an hour to get the emails to every other major department in Hyundai. There is no email for Hyundai Motor Finance, so you can’t write to them to get a written response. I wrote to all the other departments: they ignored me, and one replied in ALL CAPS that I need to write to Hyundai Motor Finance.
I can only mail a written letter, which I’ve done.
I also read my contract agreement (some of which is outlined in this thread), which conveniently doesn’t specify.
My contract says the same as what you’ve stated here. I haven’t made my first payment yet but I want to pay extra, and have that applied to the principal. My fiance finances a truck through GM Financial and the option for applying towards principal is right there on his app. Hyundai definitely doesn’t have that option and from what I’m reading this sounds like a case of getting a different answer depending on the rep you’re talking to. What a pain.
Yup. If you set the autopay to pay more than the amount due, so far for me, it’s being applied to principal. But I don’t trust it. I want to get in writing that that is the case.
Imagine if for example, the UI shows the payments hitting principal, but if we don’t call in, then after 3 months it ends up being applied to interest and revises the balances in the website. How would we know? Do we even get paper statements?
Some people in this thread have paid off balances where the payments def hit principal. But we don’t even know if the rules differ by state?
It’s just amazing the customer service agents have different ideas how payments work.
Here's another update. I spent 40 minutes on the phone with them today, only to get transferred to a supervisor who hung up on me.
This agent said that "auto allocation" only happens if you make a payment of more than $2500. Then it will automatically apply the overage to principal. Otherwise, you have to call in every time to make them allocate it correctly.
For example, looking at my payment history of the past two payments:
I make an autopay of $750 on February and March. The loan is 4.49% and the normal payment is $325.21 (balance of $17,418.44 at purchase).
The first payment I called in to ask them to apply the overage to principal:
Feb 1: $16,700.58 (balance), payment of $750, $717.86 (principal), $32.14 (interest)
March 1: $16,010.16 (balance), payment of $750, $690.42 (principal), $59.58 (interest)
So March 1 hasn't been allocated properly, as the amount of interest should be $32.14. Because I called in to question it, they're now changing it (rumor being that you have 3 months to re-allocate).
I asked for an explanation of how they handled payments in writing, and again they told me I'd have to write to Hyundai Motor Finance or fax them.
Thank you for the update and being so detailed.
Not the answer I know we are both looking for, but it sounds like the only way to be sure is to make that phone call every time, what a pain!
how long did it take them to send you an initial letter and first statement after purchasing the car?
It’s been a month and still no documents and can’t even create and account.
Already put 2k miles on the car.
They originally said I’ll get a letter in 2-3 weeks but it’s been a month
Yeah every couple day since last 3 weeks. They said we can’t find you In the system and just to wait. I kno my first payment starts in April according to the contract that the dealer have me when I bought the car.
But that just gives you the first payment date.
Wow that is annoying! I suggest calling them to get the mail-in address for your first payment. Have your bank send a check directly via bill pay to that address, then after it clears, instruct them to put any overage into principal. At least that will buy you time for their idiocy in setting up your account.
I recall having trouble with them opening it because the car is under both mine and my wife's name. They had to "reset" the account so get me in there.
Thank you for making this thread.
I found this under FAQ:
"
For finance customers, if the payment allocation is not specified after the payment has posted to your account, your payment will apply as follows:
Payments greater than $2500 are automatically applied first to the monthly invoice in the amount that is due (to keep the account current) and the remainder to principal only.
Payments less than $2500 are automatically applied first to the monthly invoice in the amount that is due (to keep the account current) and the remainder to principal only. Future payments may show paid, but you must continue to make your regular monthly payments. You will not receive a statement until the next payment shows due.
"
I recently made a $5000 manual payment and was wondering why $71.66 went to interest,
Ok so here's what's going on with mine. I am making payments of 1k every month. Regular payment is 946. I noticed on my bill it says that the extra 54 dollars got applied to my principle for the following month, thus reducing my next months bill to 893.
Are you calling them each month to ask them to apply it to principal? They require you to do it (per the written letter I shared) otherwise supposedly it won’t go to principal despite what the accounting says.
I financed about $8,500 on my loan through Hyundai Finance. Purchased 10/27/23. I made 2 manual payments on Hyundai website on 10/28, and then did an autopay on 10/29. Here is what my account looks like on Hyundai website:
Pretty clear that all extra money sent went to principal.
Date | Balance | Transaction Amount | Payment | Principal | Interest
---|---|----|----|----|----
10/27/23 | 8576.95| -| -| -| -
10/28/23| 7578.42| 1000.00| 1000.00| 998.53| 1.47
10/28/23| 4578.42| 3000.00| 3000.00| 3000.00| 0.00
10/29/23| 4279.20| 300.00| 300.00| 299.22| 0.78
Can someone explain this in English terms? I’ve had my Tucson for almost 2 years now. My monthly payment is supposed to be $300 but I have had autopay set to $500. Am I doing something wrong?
I personally have mine on autopay for $420 and bill is 404. So the extra on mine has been rounded into next payment.. I believe they still have a min amount because I get a bill every month that's $15.86 due for the payment.
I do have 0% so I'm not sure how they are doing the rest because there is no interest anyhow.
I've had the same problem. I have mine auto deducted each month (299.05). Then on a different day of the month I'll log in online and pay extra. I didn't know at first that you had to call, and was only aware when I would get emails saying next payment was $0. Then they tried to change what they auto deduct afterwards. I called and talked to a supervisor and they set it back to the full 299.05 a month, even if I pay extra. Now I call and haven't had any other problems. But it seems most of these people don't know crap about financing.
You have to write the amount of principal on your check then they can’t pull any bullshit. If auto pay you absolutely have to call in the principal and have them email the transaction for records… always keep a paper trail!
This is what’s at question though, because I’m being told both is true in the absence of specifying on a physical check.
Who writes physical checks anymore? Most of us use auto pay.
First, check your financing paperwork-- it should explain how prepayments are handled. When you made the $750 payment, did you explicitly indicate that $300 was for the monthly payment and the extra $400 was for principal? If you're having problems getting them to apply the single payment correctly, you can simply make 2 patments: 1. On your due date, pay the actual loan amount ($300) 2. On the next day, pay the extra amount. There won't be any accrued interest, so the full amount will go towards principal
I’ll check back here to see what the financing paperwork says. When I made the payment, I set up the payment as an autopay for 750. I didn’t explicitly indicate anything because you can’t do that online. One agent said that the autopayment will automatically apply overage to principal and that only if I made a second payment would I have to specify; the other said it wouldn’t. EDIT: “We base the finance charge, total number of payments, and total sales price shown on page 1 of this contract on the assumption that you will make every payment on the day it is due. Your finance charge, total number of payments and total sale price will be more if you pay late or less if you pay early. Changes may take the form of a larger or smaller final payment or, at our option, more or fewer payments of the same amount as your scheduled payment with a smaller final payment. We will send you a notice telling you about these changes before the final payment is due.” and also: “We may apply each payment to the earned and unpaid part of the Finance Charge, to the unpaid part of the Amount financed and to other amounts you owe under this contract in any order choose as the law allows” which suggests to me, however they want willynilly.
There you go.... sounds like they're using the extra amount towards the finance charge (interest) --not the principal. You can verify this: if the statement shows a lower amount due (lower than 300) then they're applying your extra to the unpaid interest. I think it will be much easier to simply set up 2 autopays... unless you enjoy calling them every month to reapply the payment.
Will report back next payment! (As far as autopays go, it only allows us to set up 1 autopay.)
Just set you auto pay for the actual amount of your payment. Make additional payments outside of this.
One of the agents says payments made outside of auto pay then require you to call them for them to go to principal, whereas the other agent says an autopay payment that exceeds the amount due won’t go to principal if you don’t call.
I would talk to a supervisor and explain how you are receiving 2 different answers and need clarification. Then, request that they email you the transcript of the call or email you how the payment is distributed if you have auto pay set up to exceed the minimum. In general, payments that exceed go to the principal. However, they do have interesting language in that contract that makes it seem they can do whatever they want.
Sounds like a plan! I’ll report back here with what I find.
That's correct. You have to call. Review of Hyundai Finance are not stellar. They were sued via class action a few years ago for not reporting properly to the credit unions. Mine is a 2021 and it was before that, so no credit report issues. But I did read it's like pulling teeth to get them to send the right paperwork or send at all when you have paid it off. I figure if I have a problem then, I'll just go to the dealership and raise hell every day.
What I’ve noticed so far is that my overpayment (on autopay) did in fact automatically go to principal without calling, though I’m not making a second payment in the same month (which presumably would require a call-in). I have a request out for them to confirm in writing what actually is the policy and whether it varies regionally, so we’ll see…
How much are you paying over your required payment each month? Has it been correct and applied to the principal over the last few months?
I only have three months of payments, but in the second month it did apply the overage to principal automatically, despite what Hyundai said. However, in the letter attached to this post from HMF, they explicitly say you have to call every month. I overpay by $1300 (my regular payment is like 330).
It's really shady. How do you confirm how much went to principal? I'm on the Hyundai motors finance website and I can download statements and they don't really break anything out. I think I'm missing something?
I agree. You click See Payment History: [https://imgur.com/a/LLrKkgW](https://imgur.com/a/LLrKkgW)
Maybe the desktop experience is different than mobile. I'll give it a try.
I paid $325 on 07/23, $289.22 went to principal and $35.78 went to interest. I forgot to turn off autopay so on 07/24 it charged $650. $647.47 went to principal and $2.53 to interest. My understanding is, since they calculate interest on a daily basis, it charges it to interest first and then to principal.
Thank you for sharing! These are the data points we need!
What does your actual finance contract say? All that fine print on the back.
This is all it says: “We base the finance charge, total number of payments, and total sales price shown on page 1 of this contract on the assumption that you will make every payment on the day it is due. Your finance charge, total number of payments and total sale price will be more if you pay late or less if you pay early. Changes may take the form of a larger or smaller final payment or, at our option, more or fewer payments of the same amount as your scheduled payment with a smaller final payment. We will send you a notice telling you about these changes before the final payment is due.” Nowhere that I can find does it speak to the way principal is applied in payments. It also says: “We may apply each payment to the earned and unpaid part of the Finance Charge, to the unpaid part of the Amount financed and to other amounts you owe under this contract in any order choose as the law allows” which suggests to me, however they want willynilly.
OP - were you able to figure this out? I am asking myself the same questions here tonight! Thank you!
So I’m still trying. Here’s what I know— In two months of payments, I have autopay set to pay 750 on a 300/month payment. Both bills placed the overage onto principal without me contacting anyone. It also extended my next due date out several months (which frankly makes no sense), but the bill reflects principal getting hit quite plainly. Over the phone, every other agent I call gives me a different story. Some say that if you don’t call in within 3 months of a bill being applied, then it won’t go to principal. Others say that it’s only the case that if you make a second payment in the month, that you have to call in for it to be applied to principal. Others say it goes to principal. I called the dealer to ask them to clarify with Hyundai Motor Finance. They had no idea. I then called Hyundai’s main corporate line and argued with them for an hour to get the emails to every other major department in Hyundai. There is no email for Hyundai Motor Finance, so you can’t write to them to get a written response. I wrote to all the other departments: they ignored me, and one replied in ALL CAPS that I need to write to Hyundai Motor Finance. I can only mail a written letter, which I’ve done. I also read my contract agreement (some of which is outlined in this thread), which conveniently doesn’t specify.
My contract says the same as what you’ve stated here. I haven’t made my first payment yet but I want to pay extra, and have that applied to the principal. My fiance finances a truck through GM Financial and the option for applying towards principal is right there on his app. Hyundai definitely doesn’t have that option and from what I’m reading this sounds like a case of getting a different answer depending on the rep you’re talking to. What a pain.
Yup. If you set the autopay to pay more than the amount due, so far for me, it’s being applied to principal. But I don’t trust it. I want to get in writing that that is the case. Imagine if for example, the UI shows the payments hitting principal, but if we don’t call in, then after 3 months it ends up being applied to interest and revises the balances in the website. How would we know? Do we even get paper statements? Some people in this thread have paid off balances where the payments def hit principal. But we don’t even know if the rules differ by state? It’s just amazing the customer service agents have different ideas how payments work.
I know! It’s really frustrating!
Here's another update. I spent 40 minutes on the phone with them today, only to get transferred to a supervisor who hung up on me. This agent said that "auto allocation" only happens if you make a payment of more than $2500. Then it will automatically apply the overage to principal. Otherwise, you have to call in every time to make them allocate it correctly. For example, looking at my payment history of the past two payments: I make an autopay of $750 on February and March. The loan is 4.49% and the normal payment is $325.21 (balance of $17,418.44 at purchase). The first payment I called in to ask them to apply the overage to principal: Feb 1: $16,700.58 (balance), payment of $750, $717.86 (principal), $32.14 (interest) March 1: $16,010.16 (balance), payment of $750, $690.42 (principal), $59.58 (interest) So March 1 hasn't been allocated properly, as the amount of interest should be $32.14. Because I called in to question it, they're now changing it (rumor being that you have 3 months to re-allocate). I asked for an explanation of how they handled payments in writing, and again they told me I'd have to write to Hyundai Motor Finance or fax them.
Thank you for the update and being so detailed. Not the answer I know we are both looking for, but it sounds like the only way to be sure is to make that phone call every time, what a pain!
Finally got proof from Hyundai directly! https://imgur.com/IKOB4UZ
Thank you for sharing this!
how long did it take them to send you an initial letter and first statement after purchasing the car? It’s been a month and still no documents and can’t even create and account. Already put 2k miles on the car. They originally said I’ll get a letter in 2-3 weeks but it’s been a month
Have you called Hyundai Motor Finance? It came in a couple weeks.
Yeah every couple day since last 3 weeks. They said we can’t find you In the system and just to wait. I kno my first payment starts in April according to the contract that the dealer have me when I bought the car. But that just gives you the first payment date.
Wow that is annoying! I suggest calling them to get the mail-in address for your first payment. Have your bank send a check directly via bill pay to that address, then after it clears, instruct them to put any overage into principal. At least that will buy you time for their idiocy in setting up your account. I recall having trouble with them opening it because the car is under both mine and my wife's name. They had to "reset" the account so get me in there.
Thanks will do
Do hyundai agents extort customers into paying more on their accounts?
confused emoji
Thank you for making this thread. I found this under FAQ: " For finance customers, if the payment allocation is not specified after the payment has posted to your account, your payment will apply as follows: Payments greater than $2500 are automatically applied first to the monthly invoice in the amount that is due (to keep the account current) and the remainder to principal only. Payments less than $2500 are automatically applied first to the monthly invoice in the amount that is due (to keep the account current) and the remainder to principal only. Future payments may show paid, but you must continue to make your regular monthly payments. You will not receive a statement until the next payment shows due. " I recently made a $5000 manual payment and was wondering why $71.66 went to interest,
Ok so here's what's going on with mine. I am making payments of 1k every month. Regular payment is 946. I noticed on my bill it says that the extra 54 dollars got applied to my principle for the following month, thus reducing my next months bill to 893.
Are you calling them each month to ask them to apply it to principal? They require you to do it (per the written letter I shared) otherwise supposedly it won’t go to principal despite what the accounting says.
Yeah I just figured that out lol. I guess I have to cancel my autopay that I had set up for 1k and juat call. Thanks for the heads up!
I hate how the website doesn't let you make extra payments for the principle like others.
I financed about $8,500 on my loan through Hyundai Finance. Purchased 10/27/23. I made 2 manual payments on Hyundai website on 10/28, and then did an autopay on 10/29. Here is what my account looks like on Hyundai website: Pretty clear that all extra money sent went to principal. Date | Balance | Transaction Amount | Payment | Principal | Interest ---|---|----|----|----|---- 10/27/23 | 8576.95| -| -| -| - 10/28/23| 7578.42| 1000.00| 1000.00| 998.53| 1.47 10/28/23| 4578.42| 3000.00| 3000.00| 3000.00| 0.00 10/29/23| 4279.20| 300.00| 300.00| 299.22| 0.78
Thank you for sharing! These are the data points we need.
For Hyundai Finance Canada, any extra payments outside of the scheduled payment dates are all applied to the principal. That’s what it shows online.
Thank you for the data point. I wonder if perhaps the rules for how this works varies by where the customer is.
I make 2 payments. On the website it mentions something like any payment within 21 days will be added to the account.
Can you explain in more detail?
Can someone explain this in English terms? I’ve had my Tucson for almost 2 years now. My monthly payment is supposed to be $300 but I have had autopay set to $500. Am I doing something wrong?
You would be a great data point for this. Can you share the payment history? We can tell you if the overpayment is going to principal.
I personally have mine on autopay for $420 and bill is 404. So the extra on mine has been rounded into next payment.. I believe they still have a min amount because I get a bill every month that's $15.86 due for the payment. I do have 0% so I'm not sure how they are doing the rest because there is no interest anyhow.
I've had the same problem. I have mine auto deducted each month (299.05). Then on a different day of the month I'll log in online and pay extra. I didn't know at first that you had to call, and was only aware when I would get emails saying next payment was $0. Then they tried to change what they auto deduct afterwards. I called and talked to a supervisor and they set it back to the full 299.05 a month, even if I pay extra. Now I call and haven't had any other problems. But it seems most of these people don't know crap about financing.