Hi everyone,
I've never refinanced a car before and completely new to the process. I've shopped around at local banks and credit unions for the best deal, and I think I've found decent terms. However, again I'm completely new to the process and could certainly use some guidance to make sure I understand it correctly and have the best shot at getting this taken care of quickly and painlessly.
I currently have a 2010 Acura RDX that I purchased two years ago in March 2011. I'm currently paying a double digit APR above 10% (I know... it's terrible) on a 72 month loan.
It was my first personal car purchase and my credit was in the low to mid 600s at the time... that combined with the interest rates at the time lead to my high current interest rate.
I'm looking to refinance and have found that I can get a 5.XX% APR 60 month loan with cash back that will cut my monthly payment by $200+ a month and put some cash in my pocket due to current the value of the car.
My question is as follows...
- My credit is currently in the low to mid 700s with EX, TU, and EQ, but recently I've had a large # of CC inquiries... should I wait a bit before these age and some fall off, or should I just go ahead and go for it? Will they care much about the recent inquiries (all within the last 45 days and up to 5 inquiries on my TU report, 5 on my EX, and 2 on my EQ) given that they were for credit cards and not auto loans?
- Is there a chance that my auto weighted scores are lower than my FICOs? Is there any way to estimate what those would be? Assuming the terms weren't very good on my car, I'm not sure my auto FICOs would be that great. What is helping me though is that the car does have positive equity and I've never missed a payment in the last 2 years since it was purchased.
- Can I ask the banks to do a SI on all 3 CRAs to check my scores and see if I'm 'pre-approved' in a sense before we actually go through with it so I don't have to risk burning HIs for nothing?
- If the refi goes through, I'm assuming my current loan account be closed in good standing, and a new account be opened with the new lender (thus lowering my AAoA and possibly my score). Are my assumptions correct?
- Is there anything else I can do to increase my odds of being approved for the refinance at the quoted interest rate?
I appreciate any help, I'm completely new to refinanacing and want to make sure I'm being smart during each step the process!
