Friday, May 15, 2009

Use a Private Party Auto Loan To Refinance

Over the course of a normal loan circumstances sometimes change. It is not different for auto loans. Maybe your credit score has improved. Or Perhaps interest rates have just gone down and you can now get a better rate elsewhere. Perhaps you want you lost part of your income and need to extend your loan term to reduce your monthly payments. The point is that there are many situations where it would be smart to refinance your existing auto loan using a private party auto loan.

The first step is to find out exactly what the status of your existing loan is. You need track down any documents you might have pertaining to it. You also need to find out the current balance, how many months you have left till you pay the loan off, your current minimum monthly payment, and your interest rate.

Second you need to find out your credit score. I use CreditKarma to monitor my credit score for free. It is a great service but it does not offer an official report. If you are looking to refinance into a private party auto loan then you should get an official credit report from one of the three major credit bureaus. You are entitled to one free report per year. They will try and get you to sign up for additional services but that is not necessary.

Third you need to shop around for a good lender. I recommend starting with your own bank and seeing what they have to offer you. Or you can try some of the online micro-lending services like Lending Club which offers person-to-person loans with very competitive rates.

Once you have a loan officer they will walk you through the process of refinancing your original auto loan. But basically you will use the new private party auto loan to pay off the remaining balance of your loan and transfer the title of vehicle to the institution you chose to work with.

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