Auto Loan Refinance Question

[seattleitbofh]

Back in June 2014, I began my quest for building my credit. I started with a very thin file (no baddies, but no goodies either) and an auto purchase for a pre-owned Lexus, where I spent $23K on the vehicle and another $6K on an extended warranty. The finance person sent my application to 18 lenders, each one creating muliple hard pulls against nearly all 3 CRAs :0

In the end, I had to setttle for a 14.9% loan with $6K down with CapitalOne 360. I brought in $140K+/year salary, so at the time I figured that it would not be a big deal to either pay off early or possibly refinance (I'm more interested in making steady payments). Since getting the loan, I have gone down the path of getting two secured credit cards (Discover IT, BofA) and I was approved for a $1K AMEX BCE, $300 CapOne Quicksilver, and $300 WalMart card - all unsecured.

My current FICO scores are:

EQ: 685 

TU: 695

EX: 702

Here's my dilemna - at the time that I got the loan, I was employed full time as an employee. I've since left that company to run my own business (where I'm taking it a little eaier on myself), and I'm bringing in a steady $120K with a single client for a part-ime, but long term support venture (in the IT realm).

At the end of the day, I'm self employed now. I really hope that I will not have to actually go work as an employee of some company for a while to get a vehicle refinance, so f I attempt to get a vehicle refinance how is this going to play out with lenders?

Thanks in advance and Happy Gobble Day to all!

[Creditaddict]

1. off the real topic but I can't believe you paid $6k for extended warranty!!! that is like cost of transmission AND ENGINE! that's insane!

2. who do you bank with? I would find a local credit union and start working with them now to get that refi NOW! your scores should be good enough and if you have a steady flow of money for your work I don't think the self employed will be an issue with any credit union.

[seattleitbofh]

I bank personally with US Bank and BofA for my business. I had actually applied a few months back (while I was still employed full time as a senior-level engineer with direct deposit) for a vehicle refinance loan with USB. They did a hard pull from EXP, but in the end they sent me a letter saying I had a thin file with no credit history! What B.S.! I have zero problems leaving them for a CU if that is going to help me.

Regarding the warranty, it's a 100k/72mo - I've had a bad run of luck with expensive vehicle breakdowns in the past so this is a comfy security blanket for me.