Business Info

Everyone has heard about refinancing their mortgage, as it is very common amongst people these days. What you may not heard, but you may not have thought about refinancing your car loan when interest rates drop. Refinancing an auto loan can be a good idea for several reasons, and it is easier than refinancing a mortgage.

Refinancing could save thousands of dollars over the life of the loan, even if you received a decent rate. Anyone who didn’t get a car loan below 3% APR should consider refinancing. More than likely, however, your APR was much higher than that. If you had a few dings on your credit report when you bought a car, the lender may have quoted you 20% to 25% Annual Percentage Rate (APR). Despite what you might think, you aren’t stuck at this interest rate. Once you have
held the loan for about 6 months and made all payments on time, you will find lenders are now more willing to take a chance on you. You can also change a few of your habits to raise your credit score in that period.

An example would be if you were to be approved for an amount of $16,500 auto finance for a term of 60 months at 21% APR. If you considered to refinance your auto loan at 7% APR, your monthly payments will drop from the original amount of $446 to a new discount of $330. Those savings over the life of the loan total about $6,945. As you see, looking to renegotiate your auto finance is a key to saving money.

Refinancing does not just save you money, but it can also be seen as the only way to assist you with your debt troubles. If you are paying 27% or more APR, there is no way you will ever be able to get out of debt while making these monthly payments. Since you will be paying most of the interest charges early in the life of the auto loan, the earlier you consider refinance, the better as it will be saving you money.

One of the big differences between auto finance and home loan mortgages is that the financial lenders will not refinance your auto finance that they originally lend you. You will need to locate a different lender to refinance your auto loan. You may find these lenders at banks, credit unions, and online that will refinance your auto loan. Remember to shop around for the best refinancing rates to get your best deal. When applying online, it usually only takes 1 or 2 minutes to fill out an online application. There is generally no risk involved in applying for a refinance.

Many small businesses will visit banks hoping to receive a loan to get their business off the ground and of those only a few will walk out with a check. Most financial institutions are over cautious when it comes to lending money to new businesses due to the historically high failure rate of new businesses.

Its no real secret that in order to get a business loan from most banks, you have to be able to show that you really do not need their loan. While bank may be interested in financing businesses, their main concern is the ability to repay the money and insuring the business owner has sufficient collateral and liquid assets to help meet expenses during downturns in the business.

While they may be reluctant to hand money out for a new business there are some thing a business can do to promote a favorable decision and walking into the loan officers office on your knees with your hands folded in a pleading position is not one of them. You must walk into the office with air of confidence, not to be confused with arrogance and dress professionally looking like a potential business owner and a person of integrity who is capable of accepting responsibility for their actions.

Check your credit report before applying for a loan and work to clear out any negative items it may contain. This can take some time so starting on it early can have it cleaned up to more accurately represent your credit worthiness at the time the application is submitted. There are different types of business loans available, some for equipment and some for operating capital and they all have different criteria, which must be met. Make sure you are applying for the right type of business loan. You may qualify to borrow money for new equipment or upgrades but not qualify for an operations expense loan.

Regardless of the type of loan you apply for, be prepared to offer specific reasons why the money is needed. It will not be enough to state the money will be used for business expenses. You will have to break it down into specific amounts for specific purposes. Many bank will not ask for the use of each and every penny of the loan but generalizations about the use of the cash will not be looked upon favorably.

Even with these three issues being addressed there are other factors that will play into the banks decision such as the type of business you are starting and your experience in running that type of business. For example, if you managed a video store for several years and want to open a restaurant, the business aspect of running the store will be a plus but having little or no experience in food service willl be a negative on your application.