Can't Afford Your Solar Loan Payments? Understand Your Options

What should you do first if you can’t afford solar payments?

If you can’t afford solar payments, contact the company that sends your monthly statement before the due date, explain the hardship, and ask in writing what it can offer. A missed payment sets off late fees, credit reporting and the default terms in your contract, and those are harder to undo than a request made while the account is current. Then work out why the payment stopped fitting, because a tight few months, a payment that jumped at the reset and a loan that never matched the sales pitch lead to different routes.

This page covers short-term relief and staying current; to end the loan altogether, see how to get out of a solar loan.

Who do you call: the lender, the servicer or the installer?

Start with the servicer. A loan servicer is the company that collects your payments and manages your account, and it can be a different business from the lender that funded the loan and from the installer that sold you the system. Mosaic’s loan servicing operations, for example, moved to Solar Servicing LLC, a Forbright Bank subsidiary, on September 22, 2025. The servicer’s name and phone number are on your statement or in your online account.

Call, then put the same request in writing, keep a copy, and note who you spoke to and when. Ask:

• what hardship or deferral options exist for your account, and what each costs in interest and fees;
• whether using one will be reported to the credit bureaus;
• whether the due date can move to line up with your pay;
• what will happen on the date you would otherwise miss.

GoodLeap’s FAQ tells borrowers facing financial hardship to email or call customer service, adding, “By reaching out early, our team can review your situation.” It also lets borrowers move the due date to any day from the 1st to the 28th, once every two years.

What hardship options do solar companies publish?

Few spell anything out. These are the published options we found as of October 2026.

Up to nine months of payments covered while you wait for permission to operate (Dividend). Dividend, a division of Fifth Third Bank, tells borrowers that if they are enrolled in its Installer Bill Coverage program, the installer “will cover up to 9 months of payments, or until PTO” (permission to operate) is reached within that period. If your system still isn’t running, ask your lender whether any program like this applies to your loan, and see our page on solar panels that were never activated.

Switching off autopay can make each payment bigger. Sunlight Financial says a borrower who doesn’t pay by automated payment has an APR 0.50 percent higher, “resulting in a higher monthly payment.” GoodLeap warns that disabling autopay “may remove Autopay discounts or add non-Autopay fees.” Palmetto says customers enrolled in autopay receive a $15 monthly discount that “no longer applies if autopay is turned off.” Get any relief in writing before you rely on it.

Did your payment jump around month 18 or 19?

If the payment became unaffordable after about a year and a half, check whether your loan re-amortized. The CFPB found it “commonplace for solar-specific loans to re-amortize at a higher monthly payment amount at the 19th month of the loan term” unless the borrower makes a substantial prepayment, frequently 30 percent of the principal, sized to the expected federal tax credit. A 2024 CFPB consumer advisory warned that “Even a customer who makes all their loan payments on time could be surprised by a higher payment after 18 months.” GoodLeap’s FAQ describes the same structure and shows each account’s “target balance and target balance date” in the account details.

For a system installed in 2026 there is no federal credit to put toward that prepayment. The IRS says the residential clean energy credit is “not available for any property placed in service after December 31, 2025.” If your payment has already gone up, our page on solar loan payment increases shows where to find the clause.

How does the solar payment compare with your old electric bill?

Compare your average monthly electric bill from the year before solar with your current electric bill plus your solar payment. The FTC reminds solar owners that even with fewer kilowatt-hours to buy, “you’ll still pay the utility’s fixed charges.” Treasury’s lease guide gives a test for any savings promise: “the combined total of your new electricity bill plus your monthly lease payment should be lower than your current electricity bill.” The same arithmetic works for a loan payment. And the CFPB is blunt that “there is no guarantee that a solar loan will pay for itself.”

What the comparison tells you:

• If the system works and the combined total sits close to your old bill, this is mainly a budget problem, and the longer-term routes below are where to look.
• If the system is off, producing far less than the proposal projected, or the combined total runs well above your old bill after a salesperson promised savings, you may have a dispute as well as a budget problem. See why your electric bill is still high after solar and what to do if a solar salesperson misstated your savings. A disappointing bill isn’t proof that anyone lied; a written promise that your bills contradict is a stronger place to start.

Michigan’s attorney general alleges, in its pending 2026 case against Climax Solar and the lenders that financed its systems, that homeowners with unfinished or non-working systems “remained responsible for both their utility bills and long-term solar loans.” That is an allegation, not a finding.

What happens if you miss a solar loan payment?

Your loan agreement decides most of it, so read its late charge and default sections. In broad terms:

• Late fees apply under the terms of your agreement.
• Credit reporting. The CFPB says credit reporting companies “can generally report negative information about your credit account payment history for up to seven years.” Future mortgage lenders can see it: Fannie Mae tells lenders they may be able to identify solar financing by evaluating the borrower’s credit report for solar-related debt.
• Default and the lender’s remedies. On a loan secured by the panels, the CFPB notes, the lender “has the right to repossess the panels in cases of nonpayment.” Collection calls, a collection agency or a lawsuit can follow.
• PACE. If your solar was financed through PACE, the payment is part of your property tax bill. The CFPB warns that, as with a traditional property tax lien, “you may lose your home if you don’t make the payments.”

Our page on what happens if you stop paying your solar loan walks through each consequence, and solar loan collections covers your rights once a collector is involved. Don’t stop paying, or let a payment lapse on purpose, without first getting professional advice.

Is the payment a sign of a bigger problem with the sale?

Sometimes the payment was never affordable, and that can be part of what went wrong. Treasury lists “No meaningful effort to find out whether you can really afford the loan or financing you are offered” among the warning signs of a solar scam. The CFPB’s 2024 solar report says hidden dealer fees “typically range from between 10 to 30 percent of the cash price but can exceed 50 percent,” which raises both the balance and the payment. If your loan principal is well above the cash price you were quoted, read our page on solar loan dealer fees.

Keep the account current if you can, and work through it in this order. Our guide to getting out of a solar contract covers each step in more depth.

1. Inside a cancellation window? If you signed recently, cancel in writing now, by the method your contract and the law require, and send a copy to the lender the same day. Windows vary by state and can run longer than three days; check the state-by-state table and the cancellation deadline tool. Cancellation is never automatic. It depends on your contract type, the dates, your state and the facts.

2. Identify your contract and every company. Your documents show whether you have a loan, a lease, a power purchase agreement or PACE, and who the installer, lender, servicer and warranty provider are. Those can be four different companies with different obligations.

3. Ask in writing, and complain for free. The FTC’s advice is to start with the seller: “If you have a problem with a system you bought, try to resolve it with the company first.” If you’re not satisfied, the FTC says to report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to your state attorney general. The CFPB’s complaint page asks, “Have you tried reaching out to the company?” and takes solar loan complaints as personal installment loans. Add your state contractor licensing board for the installer. Treasury’s advisory also lists nonprofit legal services among the places that can help. Our page on filing a complaint against a solar company lists where each complaint goes. Keep the ads, texts, proposals and financing disclosures from the sale; they are the evidence any later claim rests on.

Disclosure: Candid Yak works with Titan Advocacy Group, a solar consumer advocacy firm, and may be paid when readers hire it.

4. If they refuse, and your documents show a gap between what you were promised and what you signed, get a free case review from an attorney-backed firm. A firm worth hiring reads your loan agreement, proposal and statements before it quotes anything, and tells you if a free route is still open. It names the attorney who will handle your file, licensed in your state and listed with the state bar. It puts its fee in writing before you pay, including what happens to the fee if the lender says no. It never tells you to stop paying your loan, lease or PPA, never guarantees a result and never claims a connection to your installer or lender. More on how solar cancellation companies work.

5. Other routes, if the payment is simply too high for good:

• Refinance or pay down. A new loan can pay off the solar loan. It changes the rate and the term, though it can’t shrink a balance a dealer fee inflated. The numbers are on our payoff and refinance page.
• Sell the house. The CFPB says a homeowner who sells before the solar loan is paid typically pays it off before the sale, or the buyer assumes it if the lender permits. See selling a house with a solar loan.
• Buy out or transfer a lease or PPA. Your agreement sets the price and the conditions; see how a solar lease buyout is priced.

Disclosure: Candid Yak works with Titan Advocacy Group, a solar consumer advocacy firm, and may be paid when readers hire it. This page’s author, Kira Fairbank, is a manager at Vacation Ownership Consultants, a timeshare exit firm.

This is general information, not legal advice. Hardship options, late charges and default terms come from your own loan or lease agreement and your state’s law, so put those documents in front of an attorney licensed in your state before you sign a deferral, send a notice or change any payment.