Reduce Your Car Loan Monthly Payments by Refinancing

Your monthly car payment is usually one of the biggest financial obligations that you have every month. Besides your mortgage payment, most of the time, the car payment is the second largest payment each month. One way that you could potentially address this is by refinancing. Here are the basics of refinancing an auto loan to lower the payment.

How it Could Help

Refinancing an auto loan could potentially lower your payment in a few different ways. When you initially take out an auto loan, the term is usually for around 5 years. Each and every month, part of your payment goes towards the principal and the interest on the loan. When this happens month after month, the balance that you owe on the loan will go down.

Although your balance is going down, the loan is still amortized on the original loan amount. Therefore, your monthly payment is set up based on the old loan balance. If you were to wait a few years and then refinance the loan, you could amortize the loan on the new loan balance. For example, instead of paying your monthly payment based on a $15,000 loan amount, you can pay your payment based on a $7,500 loan amount. This would increase the time that it takes to pay off your loan, but it would result in a lower monthly payment.

Another thing that could potentially help is if you can locate a lower interest rate for the loan. For example, depending on what rate you were able to secure for your initial loan, you may be able to get a lower rate in the market later. Therefore, instead of paying 5% on a car loan, you could find a loan for 4%. Even if you have not paid down your balance much, this will have the effect of lowering your monthly payment.

How to Refinance

In order to refinance your car loan, you will first have to locate a lender that you can work with. You need to shop around through multiple outlets in order to find the best rate. You need to check with banks, credit unions, and online auto lenders. There are a plethora of options available and checking them all out will ensure that you get the best rate available in the market.

Once you locate a lender that you can work with, you need to apply for the new loan. Filling out the application will be pretty simple. You will provide them with the basic information that they require, such as your name, address, and social security number.

The lender will then pull your credit report and decide whether you are worthy of a new loan. If you are approved, they will give you the money that you need to pay off the old loan. You will pay it off and then start making payments to the new lender.