Solar loans make ownership accessible, and they're also where most of the industry's pricing games live. Four things to check before signing anything.
1. The dealer fee hiding in your system price
The biggest one. Many solar lenders charge installers a dealer fee of 15–30% to offer low advertised rates, and installers fold it into the system price. That "3.99%" loan on a $28,000 system may really be a $22,000 system with $6,000 of prepaid interest — you can't refinance your way out of a fee that's already in the principal. The defense is one question: "What is your cash price for this exact system?" Compare the spread against the financing; that spread is the loan's true cost, whatever the sticker rate says.
2. Compare against boring money
Solar-specific lenders compete with instruments that carry no dealer fees: home-equity loans and HELOCs (usually the cheapest secured option), credit-union personal loans, and cash-out refinancing when rate conditions make sense. A slightly higher headline rate with zero embedded fee routinely beats a "low" solar loan. Model the honest totals in the financing comparator.
3. Legacy tax-credit clauses (and their 2026 trap)
Many solar loans were structured with a balloon reamortization at month 16–18, assuming you'd apply a 30% federal credit to the principal. With the homeowner credit dead for post-2025 installs, that structure is obsolete — but some paperwork hasn't caught up. If a 2026 loan still contains a "voluntary paydown" reamortization clause, your payment jumps at the reset date because there's no credit to pay down with. Read for it explicitly.
4. Liens, transfers, and the fine print
Most solar loans file a UCC-1 fixture filing against the system. It's normal, but it surfaces at sale or refinance time and must be subordinated or released — ask the lender for their process and fees now, not at closing. Also check: prepayment penalties (walk away if any), whether the loan transfers on home sale or must be paid off, and who holds the system warranty if the installer folds. None of these kill a good deal; all of them price a bad one.
Solar is one piece of a bigger household-finance picture. For decisions that touch your taxes, retirement timeline, or home equity, it can be worth talking to a financial advisor through a directory like AdvisorWorld — alongside primary sources such as DOE, DSIRE, and the IRS.