Refinance car loan?

[Benzadmiral]

With all the discussion and hoopla over the Federal Reserve goons lowering interest rates, how much effect will this have on things like car loans?

Would it be worth my while (as long as I don't have to drive from bank to bank or anything) to try refinancing my $8K GMAC used car loan? I'm at 8.9 per cent, and believe me, that was better than what Crapital Wun was offering (though I have excellent credit).

Do banks even touch small stuff (small to them, that is) like this?

 

[rriddle3]

Try E-Loan Auto Refinance and see what they offer.

 

[MarkC]

I refinanced my Cherokee way back, for a lower rate, but I ended up paying for it for a loooong time.

 

[Benzadmiral]

MarkC, I have no plans to change the length of the term -- still keep it at 48 months, unless the refinancing makes it attractive to go 36.

The E-Loan calculator (which is but an estimate, I know) suggests 7.2 % if I do electronic payments -- a savings every month of $9.00. That's a savings of more than $400 over 4 years. Might be worth while. . . .

 

[rriddle3]

Quote:

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a savings every month of $9.00.

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Well, break out the champagne!

 

[Benzadmiral]

This site, http://www.carbuyingtips.com/refinance.htm, suggests using either Crapital Wun or HSBC. HSBC has the same interest rate as E-Loan. Has anybody ever used them?

Another site, FirstAgain.com, says it's aimed at people w/ excellent credit, and they have 7.15 -- but I have to borrow a minimum of $10K.

 

[dwendt44]

What does your local credit union have for rates??
Mine is always lower than banks.
I have an aversion to 'banking' with a entity that only exists in cyberspace.

 

[Benzadmiral]

My credit union only deals with cars 4 years old and younger, and when I inquired about financing this 2003 car, they said their rate was the same as Capital One's horrendous 9.9 per cent.

I've never inquired about refinancing before; might they have a lower rate for that?

Yes, I'm a bit nervous about "cyberspace-only" entities, too. I got my previous Capital One loan online, but of course they have actual brick-and-mortar banks as well.

What about LendingTree.com? They're supposed to get rates from other lenders (which doesn't guarantee they'll be actual physical banks). Anybody dealt with them?

 

[oilyriser]

Nearly all your money is stored in cyberspace these days.

 

[JHZR2]

Ouch, 8.9%? I was offered 2.9% from my credit union in 2004 when I was looking at my options to buy my saab.

At those rates, pay it off ASAP. There is no benefit to holding debt that you cant better with a return elsewhere and doesnt get you a tax writeoff.

PAY IT OFF... PAY CASH NEXT TIME!!!

good luck!

JMH

 

[Gary Allan]

Auto loans don't yield that much in savings with paying them off early. When ever "paying off" something made sense, the auto loan was the last thing to yield any sensible savings.

Naturally, if you're geared to paying the least for absolutely everything ..then everything adds up.

 

[Cutehumor]

I hate paying interest on anything, it's money thrown away. I'm paying 2200 interest over five years for my vibe. I think next time I'll pay cash when I have the money saved up. I could have used that cash for a flat screen.

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

I like to pay a few extra dollars each month. It makes me feel better.

In a year, that flat screen TV will be 15% cheaper and that's some ROI.

 

[Cutehumor]

ya, but your not the one watching a 20 inch 12 year old magnavox tv

 

[Gary Allan]

I have infinite ROI on most things. I don't buy them until they're at a price I want to pay. Never would not be too long. I think I have to do something in 2009 about the television.

I do thank all of you who insist on paying for the R&D on products that I enjoy at discount prices as they fall out of vogue.

 

[VeeDubb]

8.9% is really high in this economy. Unless you have credit card debts with even higher interest, I'd pay this off first chance I get. Dunno if you can refinance for a lower rate. Given the rash of bad loans over the last few years, a lower interest rate by the Fed will not provide easier credit unless you have a stellar credit rating. But it never hurts to look. Just beware of predatory lenders with hidden fees. Sometimes they will quote you a good rate and tag on "application" fees, etc. which will bump up your effective rate.

 

[Benzadmiral]

I have top-notch credit, and have no other debts I can't pay off in a month. The reason for the 8.9, I figured, was twofold: It was GMAC, and it's not a new car, but a 2003. My credit union (Tulane-Loyola, if it matters) would have just barely permitted a car that age, and their interest rate was the same as GMAC, as I said.

Crapital Wun gave me 5.9 in 2004 for my Benz, then aged 8. I was never late, paid it off a year early . . . but then they would only give me 9.9 for a similar loan on a much newer car. They just didn't like me sending payments against the principal, and cutting them out of interest, that's all. (They made it as tough as possible, having one address for payments and one for principal payments. Scroo 'em, a stamp is cheap.)

I intend to pay this one off early, too. If I can save $400 bucks in the process just from refinancing, I'll do it!

 

[VeeDubb]

Speaking of predatory, I just want to warn everybody that it's not just the fly-by-night outfits that do shady ----. I just recently did an electronic transfer into my Bank of America account to make sure I had enough to pay my electronic bills. Those bast@rds arranged the sequence of transactions so that my bills would slot ahead of my transfer, effectively guaranteeing that I didn't have enough money to cover my bills. But that's not all. They hit me with a $35 overdraft fee for EACH bill, not just a one time fee. I got nailed for $140 in fees. I am no longer a BofA customer.

Chase on the other is awesome. I had the same thing happen and they made sure my transfer came in ahead of my bills. They also told me that they never charge multiple overdraft fees like BofA did. They hit you up with a one-shot fee and that's it. Kudos to Chase.

 

[Benzadmiral]

In Jan. '06 I thought for a few hours I'd lost the checkbook to my Chase account, and called them to put a hold on that range of checks. Once I found the checkbook again, I called them to cancel the hold.

They cancelled it. They also put it through again!

So, when I started using the checks in that range (yeah, I know, I was stooopid), they started bouncing. I can't tell you how many times that spring I had to yell at some phone drone to lift the charge for the hold and to credit me with any overdraft charges. At last I got it all straightened out (the checks were mostly to local people who knew me).

Maybe Chase has improved.