torontomazda3 school me on auto refinancing

[redman]

is it possible to refinance my car with a lower interest rate? is it worth it..... i'm a real newb about this. my 3 was the first car i financed.

[ghostdog]

you're going to have to give more info... re-finance from banks? they usually don't give the low rates you get from the car dealers (because the dealers and bank work out a deal to have the dealers offer low rates through the banks)...

[redman]

i financed my car from the dealership with 6 something %......

[Fobio]

6 something eh...wow...sorry that you missed out on the 0% financing or the 0.9% leasing rate.

I work at a bank, and like ghostdag say, we work out a deal to have the dealersell "bulk" for us, and that's how the dealers get the "better rates". They also borrow money from us so even when they say 0% financing, the bank obviously recoup it from the overall business relationship with Mazda.

The only way, in your situation, where refinancing will make sense is if you have access to a SECURED line of credit that is charging PRIME for interest (currently 5.25%). Any unsecured line, you're looking at MINIMUM Prime + 1%, which doesn't make much sense in your case. (this solution requires you to qualify for the line of credit with your current debt load including the car, use the line to pay off the car's current financing and carry the debt on the line)

This solution infact doesn't work for most ppl who have lower rates than your "6 something". Obviously, since I'm getting 0% financing, there's no bank out there that can beat it. So it wouldn't make sense for anyone who's current rate is already below PRIME.

[andytam]

6% really sucks man... but i guess thats on par with a car bank loan.

[alhope34]

I got 5.9% from Scotiabank through Mazda on a 6 year loan. When I was getting my 94 Probe GT just over a year ago, I went to Scotia in person and the best they gave me was 13.9% for $2500 over 3 years. That's worse than my Visa card I got through Scotia. Still owe $1500 on the Probe... $85 a month for a car that is a little cube somewhere...ugh...