Auto Loan Refinance Calculator

It is when you can get a meaningfully lower rate — usually because your credit improved or rates fell — and you keep the term at or below what you had left. Dropping from 9% to 6% on a $25,000 balance over the same term saves real interest. Extending the term to lower the payment usually does the opposite.

Briefly and mildly. The application is a hard inquiry, and the new account lowers your average account age. Both recover within months. Rate-shopping several lenders within a two-week window typically counts as a single inquiry, so shop in a tight cluster.

It is hard. Lenders limit the loan-to-value ratio, and being underwater — owing more than the car's value — puts you above their limit. It is most common early in a loan on a car that depreciated fast. Paying the balance down to the car's value first is usually the only route.

Because payment and total cost are different things. Restarting a 48-month balance over 72 months lowers the monthly figure but adds two years of interest. A lower rate over a longer term can still total more than a higher rate over a shorter one. Always check the lifetime figure, not just the payment.

When the rate improvement is small, when the current loan has a prepayment penalty, or when the car is near the end of its loan — the remaining interest is small and refinancing costs may exceed it. Late in a loan, most of the payment is already principal.