RateGenius Auto Refinance: Service and Rates (2024 Review) (2024)

We think RateGenius gives borrowers access to a good variety of loan options, and we appreciate that it takes care of all the paperwork, including transferring your title. The company also has low rates for borrowers with good credit compared to other options on the market.

RateGenius reviews suggest most customers have positive experiences with high ratings across the board.

*All categories are scored out of 10.0 points each.

RateGenius Pros and Cons

Is RateGenius Legit?

RateGenius is a legitimate company with a great track record in auto refinance and customer service. The company is currently accredited by the BBB and has an A+ rating from the company. So, if you are looking to refinance your auto loan, RateGenius can be a good option for you.

Year founded: 1999
Headquarters: Austin, Texas

Based in Austin, Texas, RateGenius has offered services for people refinance their auto loans since its founding in 1999. RateGenius is an auto refinance loan aggregator, which means it submits your information to a lender network to find the best rate and terms for you.

The company offers auto refinancing in all 50 states through more than 150 lenders. Currently, RateGenius has helped over 385,000 people refinance their auto loans to get better rates and lower monthly payments.

Most of the lenders in its network are credit unions, and this fact may appeal to drivers who want to get away from big-bank financing. RateGenius can refinance cars, trucks and SUVs as long as they are under the company’s age and mileage limits.

Loan amount: $10,250 to $55,000
Starting APR: 4.67%
Loan term: 36 to 72 months
Prepayment penalty: Varies by lender
Application fee: None

RateGenius offers refinance auto loans and car lease buyouts to borrowers with a variety of credit scores and income levels. When you refinance, you take out a new loan to cover the remainder of your existing auto loan. It’s typically done to get a better rate, a lower payment or both. Through one application, RateGenius gets offers from multiple lenders on your behalf. This way, there’s a better chance you’ll find a lender that works for you.

At this time, borrowers with excellent credit can get annual percentage rates (APRs) as low as 4.67%. According to RateGenius, borrowers save an average of $101 per month after refinancing on the platform.

RateGenius Auto Refinance Loan Rates

Here’s a detailed look at rates from RateGenius, according to its website. These are average rates, not the lowest offered, so you may find lower rates than these depending on your situation.

*Rate averages as of 6/2/23

Factors That Affect Auto Refinance Rates

The rates you’re offered depend on your credit, which includes things like your payment history and debt-to-income ratio. Refinance rates are also influenced by your vehicle’s value compared to what you owe and the loan term you want.

RateGenius doesn’t list a minimum credit score or income level, but the lenders it works with will have minimum qualifications. Borrowers with excellent credit will get the best auto loan rates. RateGenius may not work with all credit levels, but it might be able to connect some applicants with lenders that offer bad credit car loan refinancing options.

RateGenius does have other requirements for your vehicle and current loan, as you can see below.

The application process on RateGenius is similar to applying on other refinance comparison websites. You’ll need to supply information about your vehicle and current loan, compare offers with a loan specialist and choose a refinance loan.

You can complete most of the process on the RateGenius website. You’ll work with a loan specialist who can help you decide which offer will save you the most money over time or reduce your monthly payment.

Prequalify and Apply

To get started, you can do either a prequalification, which doesn’t require a hard credit check, or a full loan application, which does. Be aware that the prequalification form is only located on one specific page of the website. Most of the other links that say “Apply Now” or “Get My Rate” lead to the full application form.

Prequalification can give an estimate of the rates you might qualify for. But you’ll need to complete a full application to see actual refinance loan offers. At the start, you can choose whether you want to lower your car payment, lower your interest rate, take someone off your loan or just check your options.

Information You’ll Need To Apply

For a full application, you’ll need to supply the following:

• Basic contact information
• Vehicle model, year, trim level and mileage
• Current lender and payment amount
• Type of residence and personal monthly rent or mortgage
• Employment type, employer and gross annual income

Be sure to provide your car’s correct trim level. If you have a turbocharged engine or limited model, that will change your loan-to-value ratio.

Entering your Social Security number is optional. RateGenius doesn’t need it to perform a full credit inquiry. Also, it’s good to write your vehicle identification number (VIN) down in case a lender needs it later on. Our secret shoppers went through the online application process, and it took about five minutes once we gathered the necessary information.

Review Your Refinance Loan Offers

Once you apply, RateGenius’ specialists will see which lenders in the network offer good rates and terms for what you want to accomplish. Then, a specialist will reach out to you directly with information on your loan offers. You can usually get a response within 24 to 48 hours after submitting the initial application.

Auto refinancing can be complicated, so it’s nice to work with a specialist who can break down the information. They’ll go over important facts like:

• Interest rate options
• Total cost of the loan
• Any fees associated with refinancing
• How much you’ll save compared to your current loan
• Your options for payoff terms and monthly payment amounts

Choose a RateGenius Refinance Loan and Complete the Process

Once you pick a loan to move forward with, the process can be completed in as little as one business day. That is, if all your information is correct and nothing else is needed from you.

RateGenius will notify you when the process is complete. At this point, you’ll stop paying your old lender and begin monthly payments on the new loan. In many cases, your first payment might not be due for 30 days or more. Of course, don’t stop paying your current auto loan payment until the refinance is done.

RateGenius Transfers Your Title

One nice thing about RateGenius is that it handles the title transfer process for you. RateGenius specialists work with DMV offices in every state to record the new lender as the lienholder on your title. Not all lenders do this, and it can be a bit of a hassle to do yourself.

Before you refinance, make sure your registration is in good standing. This means you don’t have any outstanding toll violations, parking tickets or the like.

RateGenius has an average customer rating of nearly 4.5 out of 5.0 stars on the BBB website. It also has an average rating of 4.5 stars out of 5.0 on Trustpilot. More than 4,800 customers have reviewed RateGenius on these platforms. This shows the vast majority of customers are happy with the service.

Keep in mind that RateGenius reviews apply to the service and experience with RateGenius and not necessarily the lenders customers end up using.

Positive RateGenius Reviews

There’s no shortage of positive RateGenius reviews. Some appreciate that most of the interactions and document transfers happen online, which makes things easy. Others say that RateGenius’s specialists are knowledgeable and genuinely want to help customers find lower interest rates — not just close financing deals.

Many reviewers also state RateGenius maintained good communication throughout the whole process, making the overall experience fast and efficient.

Negative RateGenius Reviews

Of course, not all RateGenius reviews are glowing. For example, some customers didn’t get clear communication that the full application process would require a hard credit pull, and it took them by surprise. Some other negative RateGenius reviews say the rates they got from the specialists didn’t match up with the rates the lender offered in the end, which was frustrating.

Our review team reached out to RateGenius for a comment on its negative reviews but did not receive a response.

Considering its strong industry reputation and good average rates, we think RateGenius is a good choice for auto loan refinancing. The application process is quick and easy, and its network of lending partners gives you a good chance of finding a favorable refinance rate. With this in mind, we recommend comparing multiple lending options before making a decision.

Recommendations for Auto Refinance

Since a full application with RateGenius requires a hard credit check, you can also apply to other lenders within a short time period — 45 days for FICO^® credit scoring models and 14 days for Vantage models — and only receive one hard inquiry on your credit report.

We recommend comparing refinance companies to find the best rates. Auto Approve and myAutoloan are two of our top picks.

Auto Approve: Top Choice for Refinancing

Auto Approve is a great choice for refinancing. The process is similar to RateGenius in that you submit an application and are then contacted by a loan specialist. Auto Approve works with a wide network of financial institutions that includes banks, credit unions and car dealerships. Like RateGenius, it also takes care of all the paperwork after you choose a loan.

Keep reading: Auto Approve review

myAutoloan: Best Low-rate Option

A leading auto refinance comparison website, myAutoloan works with a range of credit types. The difference with myAutoloan is you’ll see your loan offers online — you don’t have to wait for a specialist to contact you. In addition to refinance loans, myAutoloan offers new, used, private party and lease buyout loans.

Keep reading: myAutoloan review

Because consumers rely on us to provide objective and accurate information, we created a comprehensive rating system to formulate our rankings of the best auto loan companies. We collected data on dozens of loan providers to grade the companies on a wide range of ranking factors. The end result was an overall rating for each provider, with the companies that scored the most points topping the list.

Here are the factors our ratings take into account:

• Reputation: Our research team considered ratings from industry experts and each lender’s years in business when giving this score.
• Rates: Auto loan providers with low APRs and high loan amounts scored highest in this category.
• Availability: Companies that cover a variety of circ*mstances are more likely to meet consumer needs.
• Customer experience: This score is based on customer satisfaction ratings and transparency. We also considered the responsiveness, friendliness and helpfulness of each warranty company’s customer service team based on our shopper analysis.

Our credentials:

• 300+ hours researched
• 25 companies reviewed
• 2,000+ consumers surveyed

*Data accurate at time of publication.