Jordan Goodman is the author of Everyone's Money Book, available at 888-201-6300. This is the third edition of the book. You can also visit his Web site at www.moneyanswers.com. He talks with us on Thursday mornings.

"Refinancing Car and Student Loans"

You’ve probably heard all about refinancing home loans. Turns out, though, there are other loans to consolidate -- and more money save. Here’s Jordan Goodman with this week's edition of "The Road to Riches."

While everyone is rushing to refinance their mortgages to take advantage of lower interest rates, they may be forgetting that you can refinance other loans too. The two biggest loans people can refinance are student loans and car loans.

Student loans: If you have many student loans from many years of school to several schools, it might be time to consolidate them into one loan at a lower rate. The best program is from Sallie Mae at (800)448-3533, or www.salliemae.com, where you can lock in a 5.5 percent rate on all your outstanding loans. The rate on these loans is set every May 1, based on the three-month Treasury bill rate, so it is likely to go even lower next year. If you stretch out the term of your loan when you consolidate, it could end up costing you a lot more interest in the long term. So it is best to take the shortest term loan you can afford to pay the student loans off.

Car loans: Some banks and credit unions are offering such low rates on car loans that it might make sense to refinance if you have a rate over 10 percent today. For example, at www.PeopleFirst.com, they are offering refinancing loans at 6.75 percent.

You can search for the best rates in your state at www.bankrate.com. Don’t only look at the rates, but also any fees that car lenders may charge. You need to have pretty good credit to refinance a car loan too, so check out your credit record for free at a Web site like www.guardmycredit.com. It usually only makes sense to refinance a car loan if you bought the car in the last two years because the car depreciates in value quickly, and you may not have any equity in the car. When you refinance, it is best if you don’t extend the term of the loan because you don’t want to be paying interest after the car has died.