Solar Loan Payment Increased? Understanding Your Financing Terms

Why has my solar loan payment increased?

If your solar loan payment increased around the 18th or 19th month, the likeliest cause is a re-amortization written into the loan: many solar-specific loans keep early payments low on the assumption that you will prepay a large share of the principal, often about 30 percent, roughly the size of the old federal tax credit, and recalculate the payment if you don’t. With a lease or a power purchase agreement (PPA), a yearly increase usually comes from an escalator clause, and a smaller jump after you stopped autopay may mean a rate discount ended. Your documents show which one you have.

None of these is automatically a problem with the sale. An increase becomes a dispute when it differs from what you were told and what you signed.

What is a solar loan re-amortization?

A re-amortization is a recalculation of your monthly payment, on a date set in the loan, based on how much principal is still owed. GoodLeap’s FAQ describes the common structure: lower payments for the first 18 months, then “the loan re-amortizes, and your monthly payment adjusts based on how much has been paid down.” The same page says “Some solar loan structures were designed to align with the timing of the federal tax credit.”

The CFPB found this design widespread. Its August 2024 research report says it is “commonplace for solar-specific loans to re-amortize at a higher monthly payment amount at the 19th month” unless the borrower makes a substantial prepayment, and that the prepayment needed is “frequently” 30 percent of the principal, the size of the federal credit at the time. A 2024 CFPB consumer advisory describes the same jolt and warns that even a borrower who pays on time “could be surprised by a higher payment after 18 months.”

Older loans used 26 percent, the credit’s earlier rate: Sunlight Financial’s consumer FAQ describes a borrower who “voluntarily pays 26% of the loan amount by the 18th month” to keep her payment level. Not every borrower knew the prepayment was expected. One told the CFPB they were never informed “that if I didn’t make additional payments I would also have a greatly increased payment.”

What have regulators alleged about payment resets?

These are allegations, not findings.

Ohio’s attorney general sued G3 Solar in Franklin County (announced January 12, 2026), alleging the company connected consumers with lenders offering 20 to 30 year loans “that led to increased payments after 18 months” unless the consumer made a so-called “voluntary” payment of about 30 percent.

Tennessee and Kentucky sued Solar Titan USA (Ideal Horizon Benefits LLC), a Knoxville seller, and its lender, Solar Mosaic, in 2023 (E.D. Tenn. No. 3:23-cv-00046). Their complaint alleges every Mosaic loan financing a Solar Titan sale “includes a spike in the consumer’s monthly payment after 18 months” without prepayments of 26 to 30 percent. Mosaic settled by consent judgment on September 16, 2026 without admitting liability; the claims against Solar Titan are pending under a receiver. The complaint reproduces the loan language: the agreement says the loan “will automatically re-amortize on the Re-amortization Date stated on the Summary Page,” and the new payment is due in the 19th month.

Why can’t the tax credit cover the reset anymore?

For new installations, the credit is gone. The IRS says the residential clean energy credit “is not available for any property placed in service after December 31, 2025,” and its August 2025 FAQ says the date that counts is when installation was completed. A system finished in 2026 earns its owner no federal residential credit to put toward the prepayment. Even before that, the credit only helped people who could use it: the CFPB found that “only higher-income consumers will typically have the requisite federal tax liability to receive the full tax credit.”

GoodLeap’s FAQ notes that borrowers “can still make additional payments during the first 18 months to reduce your balance” without the credit, which helps only if you have the cash. If a salesperson told you the credit would cover it, or never mentioned it, read solar tax credit misrepresentation.

Why does a solar lease or PPA payment go up every year?

Most often because the contract has an escalator. The CFPB says that with leases, “in many cases the payments increase each year by a predetermined amount,” and that PPA escalators “range from 1 to 5 percent,” citing the EPA. California’s Public Utilities Commission says escalators are “typically in the range of a 1 percent to 3 percent increase” and tells buyers: “Be cautious of entering into a contract with an escalator higher than that.” Treasury’s lease guide warns: “Your contract might allow your monthly payment to increase over time.”

The effect compounds. Our arithmetic, for a hypothetical $150 starting monthly payment over a 20-year term:

Escalator	Year 1 payment	Year 10 payment	Year 20 payment	Total over 20 years
1 percent	$150	$164	$181	$39,634
3 percent	$150	$196	$263	$48,367
5 percent	$150	$233	$379	$59,519

On a PPA, the escalator raises the price per kilowatt-hour, so the bill also moves with how much power the system produces. Getting out of a solar PPA covers per-kWh pricing in more detail.

Can losing an autopay discount raise your payment?

Yes, on some loans. Sunlight Financial’s published policy says a borrower who opts into automated payments gets “a 0.50% discount on their APR,” and one who pays another way gets an APR that is “0.50% higher, resulting in a higher monthly payment.” GoodLeap’s FAQ warns that “Disabling Autopay may remove Autopay discounts or add non-Autopay fees to your payment.” If your payment rose after a bank change or a failed draft, ask the servicer whether the discount ended and how to restore it.

A rising interest rate is a less likely cause. The CFPB says the most common solar financing is “fixed-term, usually fixed-rate installment loans,” so ask the servicer to confirm in writing whether your rate is fixed.

How do you find the clause in your documents?

The Truth in Lending disclosure. Federal Regulation Z requires the lender to disclose “the number, amounts, and timing of payments scheduled to repay the obligation.” On a reset loan, look for two payment amounts: a set number of payments at one figure, then the remaining payments at another. Check the total of payments too.

The loan agreement. Search for “re-amortization,” “voluntary prepayment,” “payment adjustment” and a reset date on any summary page. Note what the agreement says happens to the payment if you prepay more or less than the target.

The payment election or autopay form. It shows whether your rate assumed automatic payments.

The lease or PPA payment schedule. Find the escalator percentage, the date increases take effect, and any table of future payments. The FTC tells buyers to check “whether payments will increase, when they might go up, and by how much.”

The proposal. Compare the monthly figure the salesperson showed you with the schedule you signed. Treasury lists “short periods of relatively low payments that mask the higher bills you could owe” among the signs of a solar scam. A proposal that showed only the lower payment is evidence; keep it with any ads, texts and emails from the sale. How to read a solar loan agreement walks through each section.

What should you ask the servicer in writing?

Confirm who services the loan first. Mosaic’s loan servicing, for example, moved to Solar Servicing LLC, a Forbright Bank subsidiary, on September 22, 2025, though Solar Servicing says some loans Mosaic had sold to investors went to other servicers. Then ask, in writing, for:

1. the reset date and the method the lender used to set the new payment;
2. how much principal you would need to pay now to lower the payment, and whether a prepayment after the reset changes it;
3. your current payoff amount and any prepayment charge;
4. whether your rate includes an autopay discount and whether it is active;
5. copies of the signed agreement, the Truth in Lending disclosure and your payment history;
6. for a lease or PPA, the escalator rate, the next increase date and the current buyout price under the contract.

Keep a copy of the letter and the answer, and compare it with what you were promised.

What order should you work in?

1. Inside a cancellation window? If you signed recently, cancel in writing by the method the contract and the law require, and send a copy to the lender the same day. The FTC’s Cooling-Off Rule generally covers a solar sale made at your home, through midnight of the third business day after the sale, with Saturdays counted. State windows vary and can be longer; check the state-by-state table and the cancellation deadline tool.

2. Identify your contract and every company. Confirm whether you have a loan, lease, PPA or PACE financing, and who the installer, lender, servicer and warranty provider are. They may be four different companies.

3. Ask in writing, and complain for free. Send the servicer the questions above. The CFPB’s complaint page starts with “Have you tried reaching out to the company?” and takes solar loan complaints, filed as personal installment loans. For a lease or PPA, which its menu doesn’t list, Treasury, the CFPB and the FTC jointly point consumers to “CFPB, FTC, or their relevant state consumer protection office.” Add your state attorney general and contractor licensing board; filing a complaint against a solar company shows where each goes.

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, get a free case review.

If the servicer or installer won’t fix it and your papers show a gap, such as a payment schedule the proposal never mentioned, a prepayment target pegged to a credit you couldn’t claim, or an escalator described as a fixed payment, a firm that offers a free case review can tell you whether the gap supports a claim. A legitimate attorney-backed firm:

• reads your proposal, loan or lease and payment history before quoting any fee, and says so when a written request or complaint is still worth trying first;
• tells you which attorney, licensed in your state, will handle the file, and you can check that lawyer with the state bar;
• gives you the fee, and what happens to it if the lender says no, in writing before you pay anything;
• never tells you to stop paying your loan, lease or PPA;
• makes no promise about the result and claims no link to your installer or lender.

5. Other routes. Paying down principal or refinancing can lower what the reset costs; see solar loan payoff and refinance or compare a consolidation loan. On a lease or PPA, the contract’s buyout or a transfer when you sell may apply; see solar lease buyout. If the new payment is simply more than you can carry, can’t afford solar payments covers what to ask the servicer before you miss one.

Should you stop paying?

Not without advice. A missed payment brings whatever late fees and default terms your contract sets and can show up on your credit report, and on a loan secured by the panels the UCC lets a secured party take possession of the collateral after default. What happens if you stop paying explains each consequence. Talk to an attorney licensed in your state before you change any payment.

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. How your payment can change turns on the exact terms of your loan, lease or PPA and your state’s law, so put those documents in front of an attorney licensed in your state before you send a notice, sign a release, or change any payment.