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You can refinance a car loan at any time, but there are several factors to consider before refinancing.

If you recently bought a car, you may wonder when you can refinance your car loan to reduce the interest rate or lower the payment.

Strictly speaking, you can refinance your auto loan as soon as you find a lender that’ll approve the new loan. That may be a challenge since most lenders won’t refinance until the original car loan has been open for at least two to three months.

Delayed lender approval can be an obstacle to refinancing your car loan, but there are potential benefits to waiting.

When to refinance your car loan

Here are some general guidelines to help you determine the best time to refinance.

when to refi

During the first 60 to 90 days of the loan	It usually takes at least two to three months for your vehicle title to transfer from the manufacturer or previous owner to your current lender. Most lenders won’t even consider an application to refinance if the title hasn’t transferred. So waiting will give you the opportunity to apply and be considered by more lenders When you applied for the original loan, the hard inquiry on your credit report may have caused a temporary small drop in your credit score. This drop could result in a higher interest rate on your new loan. Unless you already have good or excellent credit (a FICO score of 690 or higher), you'll benefit from waiting for your credit score to recover
A least 6 months into the loan	Waiting at least six months into your loan term provides more time for your credit score to rebound from any temporary drops. If your goal is to lower the interest rate and monthly payment, it makes sense to wait until your credit score enables you to qualify for a lower rate than your current one If this is your first time borrowing for a car, or you've had credit issues in the past, you should wait at least a year to refinance. This way, you'll have time to build a good history of on-time payments. Most lenders require six to 12 months of on-time payments before they'll consider a refinancing application
2 years or more remaining on the loan	To see a benefit from auto refinancing, you should have at least two years remaining on your auto loan. With most interest paid in the beginning of a loan term, there's less potential for savings if you refinance too late in the term Also, most lenders have refinancing requirements that come into play later in your loan. These differ from lender to lender and usually include the number of months left on your loan term, the remaining balance on the loan, the age of the car and its mileage. When you apply to lenders, be sure to ask about their specific requirements for refinancing

Should you refinance?

Regardless of when you refinance, you should take time to apply with multiple lenders and get more than one offer. Comparing refinance offers with your current auto loan can help you decide whether to refinance your auto loan at all. Our auto loan refinance calculator below can help you compare offers.

You're most likely to benefit from auto loan refinancing in these situations:

• Your credit score has increased since you took on a car loan
• Interest rates for auto loans have gone down since you got the loan
• You took a higher-rate loan at a dealership than you would qualify for with a different lender
• You're having trouble making the monthly payment. Refinancing to a longer term may reduce your payment, but you could end up paying more interest over the life of the loan

 

Source: Nerdwallet