New Survey: One In Four Car Owners Unaware Of Auto Loan Refinancing

NEW YORK, June 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, RateWatch, a premier banking data and analytics service owned by TheStreet, Inc. (NASDAQ: TST) released the results from of a new survey: Auto Lending: Today's Customer. The data shows how consumers are thinking about car loans and what factors impact how they buy and finance a vehicle.

The survey found that many consumers overlook or are not interested in refinancing their auto loans:

• 27% of respondents did not know that refinancing their auto loan was an option.
• 59% of respondents knew that refinancing was an option but chose not to refinance.
• Those ages 30-44 were most likely to be aware of auto refinancing options, but only 20% had taken advantage of them.
• Those who have owned their vehicle for 5 or more years were most likely to have known refinancing was an option and follow through with a refinance. More than half of those who have owned their vehicles for less than 5 years were not aware refinancing was an option.

"Auto-loan refinancing tends to be somewhat uncommon and it's unfortunate since consumers can save thousands of dollars in the course of paying off their loan," said Ross Kenneth Urken, Personal Finance Editor for TheStreet. "It's a technique more consumers need to recognize as beneficial to their finances."

The survey also revealed that consumers are paying off their loans with varying interest rates:

• Those who have owned their vehicle for 2 through less than 5 years are most likely to have an interest rate of 2% to less than 3%.
• The percentage of respondents paying an interest rate between 1% and 2% is the same as the percentage of respondents paying an interest rate of 8% or greater, demonstrating the large range of available rates.

For more about this survey, please visit https://www.rate-watch.com/press-release/auto-lending-survey-062014.  For the full story on MainStreet, please visit http://www.mainstreet.com/article/smart-spending/autos/auto-loan-refinancing-lesser-used-trick-accelerate-savings.  

Survey Methodology
This survey aims to understand the behaviors and preferences of consumers regarding their current loans and future loan plans. Survey responses were obtained through a third party service with questions distributed March 28 to March 30, 2014 to consumers ages 18 and older throughout the United States. 608 total unique responses were received with 527 having completed the full survey.

About RateWatch
For over 20 years, RateWatch has been the premier provider of competitive interest rate and product information to financial institutions across the United States.  Consistently providing top quality, highly relevant data RateWatch maintains the largest database in the industry with deposit, loan, and fee information monitoring over 97,000 locations. Rate surveys, product comparisons, financial strength reporting, local/regional/national averages, fee reporting, specialty reports and more are available.  To learn more about RateWatch, visit www.rate-watch.com.  RateWatch is a division of TheStreet, Inc.

About TheStreet
TheStreet, Inc. is the leading independent digital financial media company providing business and financial news, investing ideas and analysis to personal and institutional investors worldwide. The Company's portfolio of business and personal finance brands includes: TheStreet, RealMoney, RealMoney Pro, Stockpickr, Action Alerts PLUS, Options Profits, MainStreet and RateWatch. To learn more, visit www.thestreet.com. The Deal, the Company's institutional business, provides intraday coverage of mergers and acquisitions and all other changes in corporate control. To learn more, visit www.thedeal.com.

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SOURCE TheStreet, Inc.