lenders look at several things when it comes to lending. for the incentive lending right now, to have that rate, the score that is needed is 730. 730 is a fairly high score for someone without much on their history. if you are looking to have a lower rate and just push debt around in a different way, there are several credit cards that are available with balance transfer promotions for 12 month periods. with the rate you have, i would guess that your score is around a 705 without much history. with that in mind, a credit card with a balance transfer promo is probably very easily attainable. for example, citibank offers several credit cards with 12 month balance transfer promo's. 0% for the first 12 months. there IS a 3% balance transfer fee though.

here is how that works: you transfer over a balance of $10,000, pay the fee of 3% which would be $300. you now pay $10,300 with low minimum payments (3% of the balance owed is the minimum payment), which is $309. if you owe $30,000, just tripple these numbers. if you throw 30k on it, then you are looking at 927 payments per month at a minimum. if you are already looking to pay these balances more quickly, then that should be a very comfortable payment for you. at the end of the 1 year for the 0% BT (balance transfer) promo, you can look for another card to transfer the balance to again, or do whatever you like.

again, this is just if you want to move around debt, not become debt free. do this the wrong way, and you will find yourself with more debt than you can ever pay back, go into bankrupcy, and good luck getting any loan at less than 15% for the next 7 years.

IMHO, i'd just keep what you have. the savings you are looking to get would be minimal, and if you request a refinance of anything EVER, it will be a credit inquiry, and if declined, there will be an adverse action on your report. if there is a counter-offer and you choose to decline that offer, that is also an AA (adverse action) on your history. these are bad.

(the pb in my name stands for personal banker. this is what i do all day every day)

 

Very!

 

yeah I like the idea of credit card balance transfers, that's what I was planning on doing. There are cards with 15 month 0% so was once I get to around $15k left I was going to transfer it to a card and just pay $1000 per month... Or you could always transfer again if you need more time.

as tampa pb said most banks charge a rate to transfer but i find many banks cap it to max of $75 or $100. All depends on the rate and length of offer...

I have a Chase card and they constantly mail me about 3.9% for length of the loan. You might want to consider that. Doesn't help me since I got the 3.9% but for you it might be worth it. Not sure if they will give you a credit line of 30k but maybe within a year you can cut that down to 20k...

Anyways, I think that's your best bet, just hold off and transfer it to a credit card. I like this site to review different card offers:
http://www.creditcards.com

 

To get 3.9% or 2.9% all you need is a 620 score!!! I have read this on several infiniti dealer sites.

 

I was kind of in a similar situation as you a month ago. From what some have already said, I'm not sure if it's worth the cost and trouble to refinance when your rate is not that bad right now. Since you have it going for 5 year, you have the flexibility of having low payments each month but I would just put down as much as I can to pay it off quickly, like what you've been doing.

You can see how much you're saving by putting down different amounts each month:
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/auto-loan-calculator.asp

Good luck.
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5.9% that sucks for a new car.