Is there a way to get refinance rates without a hard pull?

[Anonymous]

When I got my car two years ago, my credit was crap. Barely in the low 600s for everything. So when Capital One offered me 7.2% interest rate I was just grateful it wasn't a double digit % interest rate. (The dealer ran a few others for me and she couldn't find me anything lower than 10%.) But my payment is a bit high and my credit profile has improved (TU 690, EQ 702, EP 710) since then. I also have some things falling off next month which will only make my scores go higher. So I'm starting to think about refinancing my car loan to get a lower interest rate and payment. Not in a hurry but don't want to keep a higher payment if I don't have to- I'd rather throw that towards my other debts. I will probably wait a few more months until all three scores are more solidly in the 700's and the last thing I want to do is extend my repayment duration. But I just don't even know where to start shopping for refi rates and I don't want to do a bunch of unnecessary hard pulls.

I know I qualify for better interest rates already. The ironic thing is that Capital One keeps sending me pre-qual emails for the Auto Navigator. I punched my info into it and it told me they don't refi their own loans. Just for fun and to trick their program, I changed the name of the bank in their tool to see what my refi rate would be. It came back 3% lower than my current rate. I was thinking of calling Capital One and telling them I'm getting refi offers (I am) and asking them to lower my rate or else I walk but I know that will take a hard pull and I'm just trying to save that hard pull until I know it's actually happening. I also don't know that I need to stay with them and I was kind of looking for ideas on other banks to look into for getting refi rates. Does anyone know of any other banks that will do a reliable preapproval (Like C1 does) without a hard pull? I know if you do multiple inquiries within a short period of time it counts as one but I'm thinking I'll be shopping around for rates over a couple months to figure out the best time to do it as I trend upwards. So I just want to be able to get a sense of my refi interest rate from different lenders as my credit profile improves to be able to take the best offer at the right time. Or is this just too much FOMO?

[Anonymous]

You *could* contact some credit unions, and ask them about their refi rates at certain auto scores? 

If you have your 3B scores you could provide whichever ones they use and see what they come up with 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

You *could* contact some credit unions, and ask them about their refi rates at certain auto scores? 

If you have your 3B scores you could provide whichever ones they use and see what they come up with 

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Are there any credit unions you would recommend?

[debts]

I too am in the auto refi market right now (within next 4 mos) & working on improving my scores.  The absolute best Auto refi rate i have ever come across with a TU 730+ Fico 8 score is houston fCU (1.75% APR). needs a 770xx zipcode. (refinance term upto 84 mos). I guess 1.99% apr is pretty common.From there it just goes up & up.  I just rather target by Credit bureaus (my favorite is TU) versus rates & credit unions.

Next best is DCU (EQ pull) at 2.49% APR . DCU allows three months forward pre-payment, wherein you dont pay for upto 3 months if you prepay a large sum ( atleast 3 extra months of payments; although you can pay lot more but payment extension is restricted upto 3 mos only) over & beyond your scheduled payment. RBFCU (also TU pull ; no payment for upto 120 days & two days early deposit)  & shellfcu.org (pull EQ).
USAA (pull EX) will be my last choice for under 3% APR. 

All these credit unions are texas based. 

[Dj4Money]

Where do you live? - https://www.mycreditunion.gov/about-credit-unions/credit-union-locator

 In the LA area I can recommend -

 Los Angeles Federal Credit Union (County Employees)

 Logic Federal Credt Untion (Formerly Lockheed Martin)

 Nationally -

 State Dept Federal Credit Union

 Digital Credit Union (DCU)

 I have experience with all the above.

[KLEXH25]

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@debts wrote:

I too am in the auto refi market right now (within next 4 mos) & working on improving my scores.  The absolute best Auto refi rate i have ever come across with a TU 730+ Fico 8 score is houston fCU (1.75% APR). needs a 770xx zipcode. (refinance term upto 84 mos). I guess 1.99% apr is pretty common.From there it just goes up & up.  I just rather target by Credit bureaus (my favorite is TU) versus rates & credit unions.

Next best is DCU (EQ pull) at 2.49% APR . DCU allows three months forward pre-payment, wherein you dont pay for upto 3 months if you prepay a large sum ( atleast 3 extra months of payments; although you can pay lot more but payment extension is restricted upto 3 mos only) over & beyond your scheduled payment. RBFCU (also TU pull ; no payment for upto 120 days & two days early deposit)  & shellfcu.org (pull EQ).
USAA (pull EX) will be my last choice for under 3% APR. 

All these credit unions are texas based. 

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@debts This is great information! I've been wondering if I could pay ahead. Do you just make a larger payment at the scheduled time? Does it automatically push it out three months or do I have to call them to make a special payment?