looking to refinance a $4400 car loan, what do you suggest??

[ac921ol]

Im looking at refinancing my auto loan, I am paying $163 a month, and Its an apr of 18.99, then loan is with WFDS. I am looking at getting a much cheaper rate, I have an account with a CU in my area, I was thinking of going with them, but I have a few quesiton, can I ever get a Refi, with only a softpull?? I was hoping with an amount that little that hopefully I can get a softpull.

[wagsk1]

based on my experience I don`t think anybody will refi that amount.

[StartingOver10]

It doesn't hurt to ask the CU if they will finance only $4400.

The issue may be not that the loan is small, but the collateral is either too high milage or too old. Send an email or pick up the phone, you can get your answer without a credit pull to start and if they say they can do it, then they probably will need to do a HP. But ask your CU. It can't hurt. That way you can establish a good loan relationship right from the beginning. Good luck

[sccredit]

Don't expect a soft pull on the fefi at all, I guarantee you'll be HP

[SamsungHDTV]

Will be a hard pull. The question to ask the loan officer is the minimum loan amount to refinance. You might be able to find a lender willing to refinance it or even give you a personal unsecured loan or loc at a lower rate than that. 

[10kbkb]

well the credit union said they can refi the loan, which is good news, just got to check out the details and what not.

when she applies for the refi, should she apply for credit cards, right after??? Shes looking to apply for 1 or 2 cards, but we want to take care of this Refi first.

[brianguy1979]

I refinanced my car in August of this year.  I dropped from a 7.9 to a 1.4 and lowered my payment almost $50.  My score plunged 46 points after this!  Fast foward three months to today the dust has settled and my score has climbed back to 10 shy of where it used to be.  VERY frustrating considering I am watching my credit like a hawk so I can become a home owner next summer.  Keep that in mind if you do it!

[jackg]

Auto loans, generally speaking, should NEVER be refinanced, but to make the decision you'll have to do the math.

Before deciding if you should refinance this loan ask youself a couple of questions:

1. What was the date you initiated this loan?

2. Has you credit improved since that date? How many FICO points has it improved?

3. If the best rate you could get back then was 18.99% do you truthfully think you could do better today? Be honest with yourself, it's your money.

Next, you'll need to know what the new rate will be & decide how long a period you want to finance it for. Only then can you decide if it would be cost effective. Sometimes we can get distracted about how to eliminate a high interest rate loan without figuring out if it makes sense financially. Don't forget that all of the costs that go along with creating a new loan will apply again because that's what you will be doing, creating a new loan.

Good Luck

BTW: it would be a hard pull but I suspect you already knew that.

[USF813]

That's good news to hear. I refinanced an auto loan with a $5075 balance in '01. At the time, the loan was four years old. I still have that little Honda.....it's like an energizer bunny, it keeps going and going!! It was also a CU refi.

[USF813]

A refinance doesn't always means extending the term of the loan. If you can refinance the last three years from 18% to 1.99% that should be a no-brainer.