I know some of you think this is unwise but I ordered a car and it turns out my co-signer might not be able to sign with me until 2-3 months after the car arrives, and I don’t think the dealership will hold it that long.
So how soon can I refinance a loan?
I’m going to get the longest term loan (72 mo) I can get initially so my first 4 months of payment are cheap. Then when it comes time to refinance with my co-signer, I should have 7-8%~ and I’ll chop the term down to 60 or 48 months.
In fall 05, I started it w/ a loan balance of ~$27K. In 1.5yrs, I’ve paid down the loan to a little under $15K. Currently the car has a trade-in value of ~$19,500 and a retail resale value of ~$23K(I looked this up on Kelly Blue Book’s website). So I know that I’m not upside-down on my loan.
Do I have a good chance of refinancing? My credit is solid, but the only thing that I’m afraid might hinder me is the credit card balances that I currently have(although I’ve been paying them on time).
More importantly–Is there a chance Bank of America might be able to refinance my car loan for a lower rate? If they do this, is it possible for the loan acct.# to stay the same?(since it’s within the same bank) Do banks sometimes refinance car loans that they already manage? And if I tried to refi with Bank of America, would it create a hard inquiry?
I asked about it at my credit union and I’d say it’s a no-no. The credit union said they only determine int. rates based on what tier my credit score falls in, so my good loan-to-value ratio, length of loan, etc won’t help me. They also said that I’d only qualify for a “used car” loan, and the rates are higher for those. But I will definitely try Bank of America…except I called 2X today and got disconnected each time after waiting a while. >:( Anyone have any specific car loan experience dealing with Bank of America?
