@stemnyjones
First off, the credit union is a good place to get a loan, they are not out to rook you as a used car dealer or broker might be inclined to do
Did you buy the Elantra new? If so you should be in the fifth year of a loan which means you are paying principal not interest.
If you bought it used, you have to look at where you are in the loan. This is off the top of my head but if you are more than say 60% along in the loan you might be costing yourself more money (as noted before) because you will be paying more interest to the bank and not principal. Paying principal lowers the amount of interest you will owe.
The particulars are important, like what do you owe on the car? Market value.
(IN CAPS FOR A REASON) YOU ARE PAYING FOR A CAR AND LOOKING TO LOWER YOUR OVERALL EXPENSE, NOT YOUR PAYMENT. PAYING MORE MONEY MIGHT LOWER YOUR TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP AND IS NOT NECESSARILY A BAD THING.
Will the credit union charge you a fee for the transaction? Probably not, but if they did that could wipe out what you might be saving on the loan,
Looking for a lower payment by stretching out what you owe NOW may result in two things, 1. you are paying more interest over a period of time, the new loan, even though the payment is lower and 2. you may at one point owe more on the loan that the car is worth. This is not like people walking away from mortgages, you can’t walk away from car debt very easily.
SRM