I tried looking up the forum for information about auto refinancing. But couldn't find none so took the initiative to put forth my situation. Hope it helps out others too (if there is already information availalbe, I will be very grateful if u can direct me)

I purchased a used Honda Accord EX 2001(fully loaded with 45k miles on the vehicle) in Sept 2006 for $12000 + taxes. I made a down payment of $4000 and got the rest financed from Chase auto finance. Well the first mistake which i did was not having an auto finance available with me before purchasing the vehicle hence the financing was arranged by the dealer.

The financing was for 4 yrs with 11% ( 10.64% to be exact) with monthly installment of $250. The reason for high rate of interest was firstly I am international who just recently got a job in the US( started working from Aug 2006 onwards) so didn't have a big purchase credit history.

Now i am thinking about refinancing the car. So far i have made my regular payments on time. Other than the vehicle i don't have other debts.

I looked online on website like bankrate and there are companies like Capital one which do refinancing.
A friend suggested DCU (digital fedral credit union) --> https://www.dcu.org/index.html .

I am yet to approach these places with my personal case and get a quote.

My question are
1. Has any heard about Digital fedral credit union or does anyone has personal experience with Bankrate or any other bank regarding auto refinance, please do share with us
2. Are there some other good places to look for car financing.
3. Is this a good time to refinance, I mean i just have had the vehicle for 10 months or so and my financing started from Oct 2006 onwards. should i wait for a while and then get the refinancing in place.

I look forward for your suggestions

I don't know much about re-financing vehicles, but the Digital Credit Union intrigues me. I can't tell if they're trying to be a nation-wide credit union, or if they're just local to Massachusetts.

Have you run the numbers on what a hypothetical refinancing would save you? There are a bunch of refinance calculators out there. Though they're mostly for mortgages, they should work for other loans, too.

DCU has been around for ages and from what I hear is reputable and consumer friendly.

Have you checked your credit report yet to see what your score is? You can check at myfico.com. You'll have to pay for the score, but if your score is still low/non-existant it doesn't make sense to refi because you'll just get another low rate. You may have to wait a few more months.

Have you gotten a credit card to assist with building credit?

Thanks JD and pf101 for your suggestions. Yes I do have couple of credit cards. While making the car purchase (sept 2006) I had checked my credit score - 650. But I haven't checked it since. I will check it soon.
One of the reasons mentioned for high interest rate for my used car financing ( national average is about 8 %) was than since even though my credit score is good but since i have not made any big purchases like car , house hence my credit score won't be effective. I am not sure how much of that argument is valid.
:?:

I will do bit more on my homework - calculating my saving and getting my credit score and will get back to you guys.

Getting back to the Auto Refinancing issue. I inquired about my credit score and it is 766 (which is pretty good). I guess my regular car payments helped me on this one :D
I got a quote from Digital Credit Federal union for an auto refinance and it works out to be 5.70% on doing my calculations I figure out that i will be saving one third of my original loan amount interest by taking the refinance issue. I inquired from Capital one and E-loan mentioned on Bankrate.com and they are offering an interest rate of 7.65% and 8.3% respectively.
I would like to get a feedback if this refinance rate is good or can one strive for a better rate at other financial institutions.

That's a pretty damn good rate for a used car. I'd jump on it as long as you've read the fine print about fees, prepayment penalties, etc.