Trouble understanding my loan etc?

[dree812004]

Hi
I have a credit union loan which was fine when I was single worked full time and hadn't much to worry about but now its a recession I only work part time and I am a single mother to a 2 year old. Basically I am struggling to keep up with repayments and need to understand the loan better in order to come up with better solutions to it can someone come back to me on the below information you might be able to better advise me:

Main Page of loan on web is
Outstanding Balance: 7576.85
Interest Due: 77.22
Repayment amount: 194.00
Monthly

Transactions latest 3 lines for an idea:
03/01/13 Standing Order Repayment Credit 232.61 Interest 87.39 Payment 320.00 Balance 8363.44
04/02/13 Standing Order Repayment Credit 232.01 Interest 87.99 Payment 320.00 Balance 8131.40
21/02/13 Loan Repayment Credit 554.55 Interest 45.45 Payment 600.00 Balance 7576.85

I am trying to understand if I am ahead of myself? Exactly how much I should be paying back a month if it needs to be 320.00 each month. And if anyone knows that if I was to get a loan from my parents quiet unlikely but if I could get 5K and I have 2K savings in there would I be able to pay off in bulk and not get in trouble in regards to Interest???

 

[Crugers]

Hi dree812004
Sorry to hear you are struggling - hopefully my reply will help you get to grips with your loan issues...

Exactly how much I should be paying back a month if it needs to be 320.00 each month

When you took out the loan you would have signed two copies of a Credit Agreement and you would have been given one copy.
The credit agreement would have all the details of what you agreed to pay and how often.
If you can't find your copy then the CU should be able to tell you or even give you a photocopy of the relevent page from their copy of the credit agreement.

I am trying to understand if I am ahead of myself

It appears, from this and the other threads, that you took out a loan of 18k with interest rate of 12% over 7 years with a fixed monthly repayment (interest and principal) of €320.00.

If your loan balance in Feb 2013 is €7576.85 you "should" be +/- 56 months into the loan. That works out that you took the loan out in June 2008.
A rough calculation is:

If you took the loan out in May 2008 or before - then you appear to be in arrears!
If you took out the loan during July 2008 or later - then you appear to be ahead of yourself.

not get in trouble in regards to Interest

The way CU loans work is that each time you make a payment they calculate the interest due on the outstanding balance since you last paid. From the transactions you have listed it appears that your interest is up to date (well up to date at 21/02/13). A fairly accurate guess is that as of todays date you owe another €75.77 in interest.
So if you went in to the CU today and handed them €7652.62 (€75.77 interest and €7576.85 principal) then you would have a zero loan balance and you wouldn't owe any more interest - ever!
The CU don't mind if you repay a loan early - these days they would be over the moon to have a loan repaid early!!! There is no penalty for early repayment of a CU loan!
HTH