The best way to restore your credit rating: Pay back what you owe, and have it recorded by credit referencing agencies that you've done so

If you have credit card balances, transfer them to the one with the lowest APR. Pay off debts; high outstanding balances harm your chances of qualifying for auto refinancing.

Stop spending.

Pay more to cards with a high APR. Spend more than the minimum payment, or it will take ages to pay off. Credit card debt is for fools; the interest rates are near-usurious.

Scrape together your cash, and pay it off. You're giving away cash monthly if you don't. If you owe over £11,000, have no cash-at-bank, and you're a homeowner, consider a secured loan; you'll get a much better rate.

You hear people griping about the cost of auto refinancings. The socialist-student-worker-miser believes capitalism is inherently evil. Someone is out to screw him. The truth is 'yes', someone is out to screw you, and will, but only if you let them. They're not obliged to get you the best deal, and you're not obliged to take the first deal they offer. That said, go too cheap, and you get what you pay for. Is that all clear? [grin].

Dealers don't finance your auto financing, they get a commission from the real lender. The higher the interest they charge you, the more profit they'll make. It's better to get your auto refinancing from an online lender. With your financing done, there's no need to endure the confusion and trickery of car dealer financing.

Anyone can set up a loan, mortgage, credit-card, debt consolidation, web design, offshore services, auto refinancing info or merchant account lender. But few can offer a reliable, trustworthy service. If they haven't got an office, or you can't get them on the 'phone, or they won't return your calls, or they take your money and you never hear from them again, can you say you got a good deal, even if it was cheap?

Some people can't grasp the meaning of large sums of money. They take months to buy a fridge, but get a £13,000 auto refinancing on a whim. It's a buzz! Reason goes out the door. They may have been in a dead-end job before, and now they're going to realise their dream, by crackey!

It's understandable. There's a certain amount of romance. You've got your redundancy money, and now vehicular delight beckons. You're excited, the wife is excited, the kids are excited.

Now is the time to get out pen, paper and calculator and do some sums. What's the worst that could happen? Do you have a contingency plan? Do you have health insurance, some money put away for a rainy day, is the kids education secured?

A high credit score does not guarantee your auto refinancing approval. You can have a high score and if your current debt load is high, they may reject you.

Don't let someone else choose your auto refinancing. You are the one that will live with it. Don't be bullied into choosing something. The average new auto refinancing is picked out within a week. If you don't find something you're satisfied with, wait until you do. Take as long as you need. This is your financial investment and not anyone else's.

There are a bewildering variety of auto refinancing-type products on the internet. That's if you can find them. All those web sites that think that if they show you forty different, tiny links on the same page, you can actually scan them all to find what you want. Not here. Here, on most pages, you'll see a great big link to the main focus of the page, which is usually 'contact TigerTom', or 'get the free software', or both.

When you apply for mortgages and auto refinancings, lenders get your credit report from three credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and CallCredit. By using the same credit reporting agency as the lender, you'll be in sync with what they see.

Educate yourself about the market. Understand what you are buying. Many people don't understand how auto refinancing works. Auto refinancing is one of the biggest purchases you will ever make. Know your rights before you make a buy. Do your research.

How can YOU get the BEST deals on auto refinancing?

Answer:

- Do some research.

- Get written quotes from four lenders.

- Improve your credit rating.

+ Don't just pick a lender out of a newspaper. Ask friends. Use the internet! This is a major purchase. It makes sense to spend a bit of time shopping around.

+ Verbal quotes are not worth the paper they're printed on; get them in writing, and get more than one.

TIP: Watch out for the 'Deal Of A Lifetime'. When shopping for your auto refinancing, watch out for the deal that seems too good to be true. If you see that a few lender are quoting much lower than average, ask: Why so? If you you can never speak to an individual, or you have to wait 'on hold' for a long time, this indicates the level of service you are going to get long term.