I want to refinance my car, where do i start???

Question

I want to refinance my car, where do i start???

Answer 1

Go to the original finance company and indicate your intentions. They may work with you to extend your payments to make them more affordable. They would rather do that than see you default.

Answer 2

Let me see if I can get this answer out to you as fast and concise as possible.

1. What is Refinancing?

For a car, refinancing is taking a current loan and giving it to another (or the same lender) on new terms. The terms can go up or down (payments, interest, and length of term).

The old auto loan is paid off fully and title is transferred to the new lender. You cannot get cash out of this deal. You cannot change owners of the car by refinancing. If you don't need a cosigner, don't get one. (If this is your bf car, don't be a co-signer, trust me)

2. Why refinance?

Many reasons: 1. Extending your loan another few months can reduce your payments. 2. Reducing interest rate can reduce the amount you pay out over the life of the loan.

3. How much will I save?

That depends on many things. Most people think it's just the credit score of the borrower. But that isn't the only thing. LTV (loan to value, or the value of your car versus what you owe on it), DTI (debt to income, or what you make versus what you owe each month in rent, etc), and what the contents of your credit report are (collections, # accounts, etc.).

4. What you need when going for refinancing:

a. Car Info (make, model, year and VIN if you have it)

b. Loan Info (who, payoff, rate, payment)

c. Financial Info (monthly pay, monthly debts, SSN, etc)

5. Who do I go to for refinancing?

There is no right answer here. Start with a CU, see if they can help. I work for a car refinancing company that works a lot like Lending Tree, but for cars. We take your information to a list of lenders and get the best deal (like a personal shopper). Watch how many places you apply at though. Too many inquiries COULD (not will, could) hurt your credit. So be picky about who you apply to refinance with.

Let me know any other ?s you have. I'll add a link to our FAQs if that helps.