Last modified on September 23rd, 2021 at 3:16 am

Everything You Need to Know About Solar Financing Rates and Loans

If you’re looking for an easy way to cut back on your power bill each month and reduce your carbon footprint, solar panels have you covered. There’s only one problem with having them installed. It was expensive. 

A lot of homeowners don’t have the cash they need to finance panels sitting in their bank account. For these people, their only choice will be to take out a solar loan. 

Before you sign on any dotted lines, it’s important that you familiarize yourself with solar financing rates. You don’t want to deal with any big surprises later. Check out this loan guide to learn more. 

What Are Solar Loans? 

Before we talk about rates, let’s go over what solar loans are. It’s funding available to homeowners that will allow them to purchase their Blue Raven Solar panels without dipping into their own savings. 

Getting one of these loans will allow you to pay for your panels over a set period of time. Once you make the last loan payment, you own the panels. 

To qualify for this type of financing, you’re going to need a credit score of at least 580-600. 

What to Look For in a Loan? 

The main thing you want to look for in a solar energy loan is the interest rate. This is the money that the lender charges you to borrow the cash. To get the best rates, you’re going to need to have a decent credit score. 

The next thing you should do is scan over the repayment details. You want to make sure that you’re going to be able to make your payments each month. 

You also need to consider term length. If it’s too long, the amount of money you’re going to pay in interest won’t be worth it. 

Other perks that are nice to have are unemployment protection, discounted interest rates if you use autopay, and an easy-to-use interface. 

Other Types of Financing

There are other types of financing that you can use besides a solar loan. There are government programs available to homeowners to assist them with paying for green energy appliances. Solar panels fit that bill. 

As time goes on, your home builds something known as equity. You can cash this in to finance your panels. Keep in mind that you’ll be putting your home up for collateral.

The interest rate will be pretty reasonable. The drawback is that if you fail to make your payments, the bank can repossess your house. 

If you don’t want to take out a loan at all, that’s understandable. You can always lease your panels. 

You won’t have to put any money down, but you’ll never technically own your panels. This means you won’t be able to take advantage of government solar incentives. 

Comparing Solar Financing Rates 

Solar panels are great for reducing your carbon footprint and power bill. The only issue is affording them. If you can’t pull from your own funds, you’ll have to take out a loan. 

The good news is that there are some great solar financing rates out there if you know where to look. We hope that this guide has given you a jumpstart on weighing your options. For more ways to make use of alternative energy around your home, visit our blog.