Tips for Utilizing Skip Payments

Check out our tips for utilizing skip payments below to decide if skipping your payment is right for you:

Free Up Cashflow

The biggest reason to utilize a skip payment is to free up your cashflow during major life events. Are you anxious about an upcoming month of weddings and baby showers? Skipping your next auto loan payment may be the best choice to help free up some extra cash for all of those gifts. With Hanukkah, Christmas, and even more gift-giving holidays on the horizon, perhaps it’s best to utilize your skip payment during the holiday season.  

Surviving Unemployment

For some, the best time to utilize skip payments is during a stint of unemployment. Nest egg savings can be helpful for these types of hardships, but it isn’t always enough. And while emergency loans can help bridge the gap, sometimes all you need is a $200 break from your latest loan payment to help get you through.

Focus on High-Interest Debt

Another reason to utilize Skip-A-Pay is to focus on your high-interest debt first. When debt starts to rack up, it’s often focused on credit cards and other revolving loans, which tend to have a higher interest rate than your average closed-term loan. If you’re focused on paying down your high-interest debts, it might be a good idea to skip your low-interest loans, freeing up that extra cash to help pay down your high-balance credit cards.

Dry Spells

If you’re a business owner or have a side-hustle like selling crafts on Etsy, you know that income doesn’t always stay level throughout the year. Perhaps your business booms in the summer but suffers a lull around the cold months, or you had to shut down for a few weeks because of a positive COVID-19 test. Skip-A-Pay can be a helpful tool to help you get through dry spells when you know things will pick back up again soon.

Plan Early

In order to properly skip a loan payment at Community Financial, requests must be processed and approved at least five business days prior to the payment you are requesting to skip. For some other institutions, you are required to provide at least a month’s notice in order to skip a payment. Wherever you bank, remember that early planning is the key to properly utilizing a skip payment program.

There are plenty of reasons to use a skip payment program and Community Financial is here to help you navigate the process with as little hassle as possible. For more information about our Skip-A-Pay program and how to find out if your loan qualifies, check out our website at cfcu.org/SkipAPay or contact our Member Contact Center at (877) 937-2328.

 Your Turn: When do you find it’s most helpful to utilize a skip payment? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!

*Please note that interest will continue to accrue on the loan during the period in which a payment has been skipped, which will increase the total finance charge paid. As a result, your final scheduled loan payment will be higher.