For the past several months I 've been paying extra principal ( or so I thought ) each month when I sent in my auto payment. When I called this week I discovered the extra money I 've been sending has simply been paying any additional interest rather than paying down the balance as intended. So now I 'm paid ahead a month or more when I want to have my balance lowered as intended. When I contacted customer service they attempted to make me feel like this is a benefit to me, in case I do n't want to make a payment in the future I wo n't have to since I 'm paid ahead. Seems like flawed logic at best and outright robbery at worst. Why would I pay extra for any reason other than applying it to principal. If the lender does n't know how I wanted the money applied they could simply ask me. Seems to me they are lining their pockets by applying to my additional payment amount to interest rather than principal thus dragging my loan out further than I desire 
