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This month we cover current auto loan refinance rates, monthly averages, and winter weather impact on applications.
This inaugural report includes averages for interest rates broken down by both credit tier and loan term. We’ve also included average interest rates for January and February, plus we share some data on the impact of Winter Storm Uri on refinance applications in Texas.
Here’s the Auto Refinance Rate Report for March 2021.
Current average interest rate
The current average auto refinance is 6.23%. This is an average across all loan terms (36 to 72 months) and all credit profiles for approved loans in the last 30 days.
During the last week of February into early March, we saw lenders in our network reduce their rates across all credit tiers and monthly loan terms. Rates will continue to be competitive this month.RateGenius CEO Chris Speltz
In our State of Auto Refinance Report, we stated that, just like 2020, 2021 would continue offering low rates for borrowers. Fortunately, the positive trend has benefited borrowers from all credit backgrounds — including subprime customers with credit scores below 640.
“During the last week of February into early March, we saw lenders in our network reduce their rates across all credit tiers and monthly loan terms,” says RateGenius CEO Chris Speltz. “Rates will continue to be competitive this month.”
Here’s what February looked like for customers who refinanced their car loans in our lender network:
From February 13 to 17, 2021, Winter Storm Uri battered Canada, United States, and Mexico with subfreezing temperatures, snow, and ice. Millions were impacted by this severe weather, including Texas where power grid outages, infrastructure failures, and dangerous icy road conditions left many without heat or essentials (including many RateGenius employees).
Read more: Auto Refinance Company RateGenius Perseveres in Texas After Unprecedented Winter Storm Uri
We analyzed the storm’s impact on auto refinance loan volume by looking at applications the week of February 15 and compared volume to the previous three-week average. Overall, auto refinance applications only dipped 8% during the severe winter weather. As one might expect, Texas auto refinance loan volume experienced a much larger decline, 37%.
RateGenius analyzed data on customer applications for auto loan refinancing made between January 1, 2021 and March 10, 2021. This dataset included thousands of anonymized completed auto loan refinance applications. We examined annual savings, changes in interest rates, auto loan debt, and application volume, broken down by credit tier and/or loan term. Average interest rates, refinance savings, and loan balances are based on approved loans across all loan terms, 36 to 72 months. The average interest rate includes all approved loans within the last 30 days across all credit tiers and loan terms.
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