And save 10's of thousands of dollars.
Why Is This Important?
- Avoid paying twice as much for your car, and save hundreds of dollars each month on your car payment.
- Reduce the risk of having the car repossessed for missing payments — people with predatory auto loans have a 33% repossession rate, vs. less than 5% for families with prime interest loans.
- Getting your car loan with a community credit union is a much friendlier experience — they will often let you skip a payment at Christmas.
- Refinancing the car will not require an additional cash down payment.
This Is Your Problem
- You got Lucifer for a lender — a predatory auto loan!
This Is Your Solution
- Refinance with a community credit union — NOT an online refinance company you've never heard of.
How Did This Happen?
- You made the mistake of letting the car dealer match you with an auto lender.
- They matched you with a predatory lender — common predators include Santander, West Lake, and Credit Acceptance.
- They often match you with a company that isn't in your best interest, because they get higher commissions putting you into a high-interest loan — they don't tell you what they're doing, because you'd be upset.
- What you should have done is gone to a local community credit union and gotten a pre-approval for your car loan at a low interest rate — this is like walking into the car dealer with cash, plus there's no down payment.
Steps to Complete the Refinance
- Make sure your credit score is already at 700, or better yet 720.
- Credit unions prefer clients that set up autopay and have their checking account with the credit union.
- If you already have a relationship with a credit union, call them and see if you can apply in person for a refinance.
Credit Unions We Recommend, and Why
- Alliant Federal Credit Union — in all 50 states, using the TransUnion score that you see on the Credit Karma app.
- Gulf Winds Credit Union — no payment for 90 days; available in Alabama, Florida and Georgia.
- Patelco Credit Union in California — uses the same credit score you see on your Credit Karma app for auto loans.