Solar loan dealer fees: what they are and how to find yours

A dealer fee is money the lender keeps out of your solar loan, and the installer covers it by raising the price you finance. You never see a line called "fee". You see a larger amount financed and a low interest rate. To find it, ask for the cash price in writing and subtract it from the amount financed. What is left is the fee.

In Nevada you do not have to guess at the cash price. If you are financing a purchase, the contract already has to state it.

How the fee hides

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau studied solar lending in its August 2024 Issue Spotlight. It found that many solar specific lenders charge fees that raise the loan principal above the cash price, and that these fees typically range from 10 to 30 percent of the cash price but can exceed 50 percent. The industry calls them by several names, including program fees, lending fees, finance fees and dealer fees.

The CFPB's own example: a system that would cost $30,000 in cash, with a $9,000 fee. The loan documents show a principal of $39,000 plus interest. The lender pays the installer $30,000 and keeps $9,000. The report adds that lenders typically do not include these fees in the total cost of credit they present to you, and that salespeople often do not explain the difference between the cash price and the loan principal.

That is how a loan can carry a very low stated rate. The CFPB found stated APRs on solar specific loans typically run from 1 to 7 percent, and that those APRs often leave out the fees that raise the principal. The rate is honest about the $39,000. It says nothing about the $9,000.

Homeowners who write about it online describe the same moment: years into a 25 year loan, they look at the payoff balance and it still reads like the price of a new system. Part of that is the fee sitting in the balance, collecting interest.

Ask for the cash price, and where Nevada puts it

Ask one question before any other: "What does this exact system cost if I pay without your lender?" Same panels, same inverter, same install date.

Nevada has written that number into the contract. NRS 598.9814 subsection 21 says that if you are financing the purchase, or have given the company financial information to get approved, the purchase agreement must state the cash price of the system and the financed price of the system. Two numbers, on the same agreement. The gap between them is what the financing costs before a single month of interest.

If a company says it has no cash price, or that the price is the same either way, ask for that in writing too. Some lenders do price everything into the rate instead of the principal; the CFPB notes a group of them, and that their disclosed rates look higher even when the total cost is lower. A higher rate on a lower balance can be the cheaper loan. The only way to know is to run both.

Compare two loans on the cash price

Here is an illustration with our own labelled assumptions, not anyone's quote. Both loans pay for the same $30,000 system, the CFPB's example price.

• Loan A, a solar specific loan: 1.99 percent for 25 years, with a 30 percent fee, so the amount financed is $39,000.
• Loan B, a loan with no fee: 6.99 percent for 25 years on the $30,000 cash price. The rate is our assumption for the comparison, inside the 1 to 7 percent range the CFPB reported for stated APRs.

Held for all 25 years, Loan A wins. The fee turns a 1.99 percent loan into roughly a 4.4 percent loan on what the system actually cost, which is still less than 6.99 percent.

Now the part the monthly payment hides. The CFPB reports that solar loans are typically repaid in 7 to 9 years because of prepayments, whatever the term. People sell, refinance or pay off. So run the same two loans to an earlier payoff:

That table is arithmetic on the assumptions above, month by month, with the payoff balance at the end of the year shown. Pay off in year five and the 1.99 percent loan costs you more than the 6.99 percent one. In year seven they are level. Only past that does the low rate come out ahead. The fee is charged once, up front, so the sooner you leave the loan the more of it you have paid for nothing.

Two lessons come out of that:

1. Compare on the cash price, not the payment. Put the cash price into any loan calculator with the quoted payment and term, and solve for the rate. That is the number to hold against any other loan.
2. Compare at the year you expect to leave. If you might sell in five years, the payoff balance matters more than the 25 year total. Selling a house with solar explains why a loan usually has to be paid off in escrow.

The 18 month payment jump, now without the credit behind it

The CFPB found it commonplace for solar loans to re-amortize to a higher payment at the 19th month unless you make a large prepayment first, frequently 30 percent of the principal, the size of the federal credit.

That credit no longer reaches a household purchase. Public Law 119-21, section 70506, ended section 25D for expenditures made after December 31 2025, and the IRS page for the Residential Clean Energy Credit says it is not available for property placed in service after that date. A loan built around a prepayment that assumed the credit is now built around money you will not receive from the IRS.

On Loan A's terms, a payment set as though 30 percent will be prepaid is about $115.58 a month. Miss the prepayment and it re-amortizes at month 19 to about $169.13 for the rest of the term. Our arithmetic, on our assumptions. If a loan document shows two payment amounts, ask which one you will be paying in month 19 and why. The federal tax credit in 2026 covers what remains of the credit. We are a licensed electrical contractor and not tax advisers, so take your own return to an independent tax professional.

What Nevada makes a solar loan say

Nevada added a set of rules for solar loans to chapter 598 in 2025. A loan made to finance a solar system is a "distributed generation system loan" under NRS 598.98046, and the company making it is a financier. Here is what the statutes give you, as we read them on the checked date.

The top of the first page. NRS 598.98211 requires the agreement to show, at the top of the first page in at least 16-point font, the term of the loan and what happens if you die before it is repaid. In at least 10-point font it must also give the lender's name, mailing address, email address and phone number, and a description of your options if you sell the house, including whether the loan can go to your buyer and how a payoff works.

No payments before the system is connected. The same section requires a provision that you pay the lender nothing, other than a deposit of no more than $1,000 or 10 percent of the aggregate contract price, whichever is less, until the utility gives the system permission to connect to the grid.

A recorded call about the fees. NRS 598.982144 requires the lender, in person, by phone or by video, to go through the loan's terms and conditions with you, including any fees the lender charges, confirm that you understand them, record the call before installation starts and keep the recording for 5 years. That call is the place to ask, on the record, whether the amount financed includes a fee charged to the installer, and how much.

No markup on third party fees. NRS 598.982147 stops a lender from charging you more than the actual cost of any fee a third party imposed on it, a credit check for example. It does not, as we read it, ban a dealer fee. That is why the cash price question matters.

A copy right away. NRS 598.982141 requires the lender to give you a copy of the agreement immediately after you sign.

Cancellation. NRS 598.982149 lets you cancel the loan without penalty by written notice or email to the lender by midnight of the third business day after signing, or the tenth if you are 60 or older. If the on site survey then changes the price or the equipment, you have three business days from receiving the results.

A licensed installer, or the loan is voidable. Under NRS 598.982143 the lender must make sure the installer is properly licensed and working within the monetary limit of its license. If it does not, the loan is voidable by you for 3 years after the system gets permission to operate. How to check a solar contractor in Nevada shows the lookup.

If the loan is sold. NRS 598.98218 says whoever takes over the loan takes it subject to your claims and defenses against the original lender, up to what is owed at the time. If your solar company went bankrupt covers what that means in practice.

Questions to put in writing

1. What is the cash price for this exact system, and what is the financed price?
2. Is any part of the amount financed a fee the lender charges you or the installer? How much?
3. What is the APR, and does it include that fee?
4. Does the payment change at any point, and does the schedule assume a prepayment?
5. What is the payoff balance at the end of year five and year seven?
6. What happens to the loan if I sell the house?

Any company willing to put the system on paper can put those six answers on paper. And whenever an agreement mentions NV Energy's prices, NRS 598.9819 requires it to say that actual utility rates may go up or down and actual savings may vary.

For the whole decision, borrowing against paying cash, see solar loan or cash in Las Vegas. For putting two full quotes side by side, see how to compare solar quotes, and for who owns what under each structure, prepaid PPA, lease, loan or cash.

We recheck this page quarterly. Last checked 2026-09-29. If a number here has moved, tell us and we will fix it the same week.