How do I get out of a solar loan?
Short answer
Start with the loan itself: there is no general right to walk away from a signed solar loan, so the real routes are the ones your paperwork allows — paying it off, transferring it when you sell, refinancing it, or raising specific problems documented in your paperwork. Each route lives in a different section of your loan: the payoff terms, the transfer rules, and the default and dispute clauses. Read those first; they decide what is actually open to you.
The four routes people actually use
Pay it off. You request a written payoff letter from the servicer — the company you send payments to — with a good-through date, and you pay that figure. Check the loan for a prepayment fee: the loan says whether one applies, and it is the only source that counts.
Transfer it when you sell. Some loans allow the buyer to take over the loan, with the lender’s approval and a credit check on the buyer. Others do not allow transfer at all, which makes payoff at closing the path. Your loan’s assignment or transfer section answers this.
Refinance it. A refinance replaces the solar loan with a new one. It does not reduce what you owe by itself; what matters is the total remaining cost of the new loan against the total remaining cost of the old one, side by side.
Raise a documented problem. If what you were sold does not match what you signed — production promises, prices, terms — that gap can matter. A federal rule called the FTC Holder Rule can, in general terms, let a buyer raise against the loan holder claims they could have raised against the seller, with recovery capped at the amounts paid under the contract. Whether it fits your loan is a legal question.
Where your loan papers answer each route
The payoff terms and any prepayment fee are in the loan’s payment sections. The transfer rules are in the assignment section. The consequences of falling behind are in the default section. And the federal disclosure page — the one with the APR and the amount financed — shows what the loan really costs, including any dealer fee folded into the principal (the amount borrowed). The federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reported in August 2024 that such dealer fees typically run 10 to 30 percent of the cash price and can exceed 50 percent — comparing the disclosure page against the cash price on your proposal is often the most informative five minutes in the whole file.
The cancellation windows that close fast
Two windows matter early. For a sale made at your home, the FTC Cooling-Off Rule generally gives you 3 business days to cancel, using the cancellation form the seller was required to give you. Separately, a federal rescission right exists for certain loans secured by your principal home — it can run longer when required notices or disclosures were not given. Both are fact-specific and deadline-driven. Once they pass, the contract’s own terms rule, which is why reading them early — even if you end up doing nothing — protects you.
What not to do
Do not simply stop paying and hope the problem resolves itself — what happens if you stop paying a solar loan is a separate, consequential question. Do not pay anyone who promises your contract will vanish; no one can promise that honestly. And do not sign anything new — a refinance, a settlement, a modification — before you have read the default and payoff sections of what you already signed.
Documents to gather
- The full signed loan agreement, with every addendum
- The federal disclosure page (APR, amount financed, total of payments)
- The sales proposal and any savings or production estimate you were shown
- Your last three loan statements (servicer name, account number, payoff contact)
- Utility bills from before and after the system was installed
- Any letters, emails, or texts from the installer, the seller, or the servicer
- A written payoff letter, once you have requested one
Questions to ask a licensed attorney
We are not a law firm, and this page is general information, not legal advice. These are the questions your paperwork raises that a licensed attorney in your state can answer for your situation:
- Does the FTC Holder Rule apply to my loan, and what would I have to show?
- Did the sale of my system meet my state’s home-solicitation and disclosure rules?
- What are my options if the system never produced what the proposal promised?
Questions people also ask
Can I cancel a solar loan after I signed?
Only inside short windows or on specific documented grounds. The FTC Cooling-Off Rule generally gives 3 business days for a sale made at your home, and a federal rescission right covers certain loans secured by your home. After that, the contract terms and the facts in your paperwork decide — which is why the first step is reading what you signed, and why that question is one for an attorney in your state.
Can I refinance a solar loan?
Often, yes — a refinance replaces the solar loan with a new one, sometimes at a lower rate or combined with other debt. It does not reduce what you owe by itself, and the new loan’s total cost is the number to compare against the old loan’s remaining cost. Your current payoff figure, from a written payoff letter, is the starting number for any honest comparison.
Does the solar company going bankrupt cancel my loan?
No. The loan is usually held by a lender or finance company separate from the installer, and it survives the installer’s bankruptcy. Payments continue to the servicer named on your statements. Our guide on solar company bankruptcies explains how to confirm who services your loan now.
How much does it cost to pay off a solar loan early?
The payoff is the remaining balance plus interest counted to the good-through date, plus any prepayment fee your loan actually charges — many charge none, but the loan itself is the only source that counts. Ask the servicer for the figure in writing rather than estimating from your balance, because the two numbers are rarely the same.
How the workbooks help
Your Actions turns the routes above into a step-by-step checklist built from your own loan — payoff first or transfer first, in the order your paperwork allows — and The In-Depth Version sets out every finding in your papers in full, including the disclosure-page comparison, so you can hand it to anyone you choose to consult.
One package, $3,500 — both books always included. Each book is delivered by email within 3–5 business days of purchase; delivery occurs after the 3-day cancellation window closes.
Read a sample workbook (PDF) More homeowner questions