If you take out a new loan with an interest rate that's lower than the interest rate on your old loan, then the repayment term for the new loan may be shorter than the original repayment term. For example, if you have a 3-year-old $10,000 credit card with an 8% interest rate and want to refinance it for a 4-year-old $9,000 credit card with a 2% interest rate, then your new repayment term would be 2 years instead of 3 years.