Articles & guides

Solar finance explainers, decoded.

Long-form guides on solar loans, leases, tax credits, and the financing decisions homeowners actually face. No ad copy. No sales funnels.

Solar financing decisions are deceptively complex. The APR you see in the brochure isn’t the rate you actually pay once the dealer fee is folded in. The 25-year term that makes the monthly payment palatable costs you tens of thousands more in lifetime interest than a 15-year loan on the same principal. The 30% federal Investment Tax Credit only helps if you owe enough federal tax to use it. These articles unpack the mechanics of solar financing one decision at a time — so you can sign documents knowing what they actually mean.

Every guide here is written by the Sunlight Finance editorial desk, sourced from public lender disclosures, IRS publications, and NMLS records. We don’t accept advertising from lenders, and we don’t get paid more by sending you to a particular brand. If our research changes our view on something, we update the article and timestamp the change.

Three guides to start with.

Mechanics · 9 min read

How solar loans actually work

From the day your installer pulls up the tablet to the day the loan is paid off — the seven mechanical steps, where the money flows, and the four signatures that lock you in.

Covers: dealer-fee math · re-amortization triggers · milestone funding · PTO timing · the 30% federal Investment Tax Credit lump payment.

Read the article

Decision · 7 min read

Solar loan vs. solar lease vs. cash

The three financing paths compared on lifetime cost, monthly cash flow, the federal tax credit, and what happens when you sell the home — with the math worked out on a typical $30,000 system.

Covers: 20-year cost comparison · who owns the panels · home-resale complications · when leasing actually makes sense.

Read the comparison

Eligibility · 6 min read

What credit score do you need?

Minimum FICO scores at every major U.S. solar lender, how dealer-fee tiers work with each credit band, and five options if you don’t qualify — including what to do with a 620 score.

Covers: soft vs. hard pull · rate-shopping rule · cosigner availability · alternatives below 640 · credit-building timeline.

Read the guide

What you’ll find here

Topic clusters we cover.

Loan mechanics

How point-of-sale solar lending works, the dealer-fee structure, re-amortization clauses, the seven-step funding flow from contract to first payment, and the milestone payment schedule between installer and lender.

Comparison frameworks

Lender-by-lender comparisons (Sunlight Financial vs GoodLeap, Mosaic, Dividend, Sungage) and the financing-path comparisons (loan vs lease vs cash vs HELOC) that determine lifetime cost.

Tax credit logic

The 30% federal Investment Tax Credit, who can use it, how it interacts with re-amortizing loan structures, and when the credit isn’t worth what it looks like on paper.

Eligibility & credit

FICO score minimums, debt-to-income thresholds, soft and hard credit pulls, the FICO rate-shopping window, and what to do if you fall below the minimum at every major solar lender.

In the pipeline

Topics we’re writing next.

Tax-credit timing for re-amortizing loans · battery-storage financing options · what to do if your installer goes out of business mid-project · how to transfer (or pay off) a solar loan when you sell the house · HELOC vs solar loan effective-APR comparison · the role of capital providers and why your loan might get sold within 90 days.

Have a question we should cover? Send it our way — we update the editorial pipeline based on what readers actually ask.