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Will refinance a mortgage hurt your credit?

April 7, 2025 10 Min Read
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Will refinance a mortgage hurt your credit?

If you are considering refinancing, it is natural to consider how changes in your mortgage will affect your wallet and financial profile. For example, will refinance discredit you? How many times will your credit be deducted when refinancing? What credit scores will drop after refinancing activities? Read on to learn useful answers and details.

How refinancing your mortgage affects your credit score

Although there are many long-term benefits Refinance your mortgageThere are several ways that refinances will create a short-term dent in your credit score.

“A loan or credit application will affect your credit,” says Melinda Opperman, Chief Foreign Officer at Nonprofit Credit.org. “How strong the impact is depends very much on many factors.”

To get a feel for impact, start by understanding how your FICO score (the most commonly used credit score) considers various considerations. Let’s take a look at the data groups evaluated and how important they are.

  • Payment history:35%
  • Amounts outstanding (i.e., total liabilities):30%
  • Credit history length:15%
  • Credit Mix:10%
  • New Credits:10%

So will refinance discredit you? Simple answer: Yes. However, in reality, there are several ways that refinancing your mortgage can affect your credit score.

Credit enquiries

a Mortgage lender You will perform a hard credit check to see if you are eligible for a refinance and the enquiry will be recorded on your credit report, which will ring a bit of your score. “For most people, one additional inquiry costs less than five points from the FICO score,” Opperman said. “However, if we get multiple inquiries, we start adding 10% of our total FICO score, as the inquiry will explain it.”

However, the impact is relatively short-lived. Credit enquiries affect your credit score It remains visible on the credit report for 24 months within a year (even potentially even months). If you already have some of these “hard pulls” in your report, the new ones will keep your score down until two years have passed.

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Credit history length

If your current mortgage was one of the first debts to incur, refinancing for a new debt could have a significant negative impact on your score. When you refinance, you will basically replace your old existing mortgage with a new younger mortgage. “So you effectively reduce the age of your average credit account,” Opperman says.

Please check your credit account and age of your credit account. If your current mortgage is much older, you will need to prepare for a rather large dip after refinancing.

Juggle multiple new loans

If you are taking out another loan at the same time, such as a car loan or opening a new credit card, your credit score will be affected by just refinancing. Therefore, if possible, limit your activity to refinancing your mortgages only, rather than taking multiple new loans at once.

Payment late or missed

If you are refinancing and replacing your refinance with another mortgage, it can be difficult to track how long you need to make payments on your old mortgage and when you start paying for your new home. That confusion could be late or missed payment, which will have a big impact on your credit score – Payment history Counts 35% of FICO. Regular communication with lenders can help you exist when payments are due and help you avoid a larger drop in your credit score after refinancing.

Larger debt load

If you are considering doing Cash-out refinanceyou can add your debt. More debt isn’t good for your credit score, but it depends on how you use that extra cash.

If you are doing cash out refi to repay unsecured debts, spinning like credit card balances, it will ultimately have a positive effect on your score, Guild Home Loan.

How refinance affects your credit score

When you’re shopping for a refinance lender, the credit bureau numbers you’re comparing won’t drop that much if you’re there Shop another lender Short period. In the FICO Credit Model, hard credit inquiries made within 45 days are treated as one inquiry for scoring purposes.

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Typically, the impact on your credit score is minimal. However, if you are worried about your potentially lowering your score while assessing your refinance options, plan to shop for a loan within 45 days.

How to protect your credit when refinancing your home

Will refinance your home affect your credit? Now you need a clear answer. Yes, it’s not a positive way. The impact of refinancing your mortgage on your credit score is usually temporary, but you probably want to take steps to avoid a drop as much as possible. Luckily there are ways to help ease the blow after the revival.

  • Give it to yourself for 45 days. Remember: Even if you receive quotes from multiple lenders, your credit will only cost one hit as long as you limit your comparison shopping to a 45-day window.
  • Please check your credits beforehand. Instead of discovering the number after your lender has performed a strict inquiry, check your credit score at AnnualCreditreport.com before refinancing. Once you know your score, you can work to improve your score if necessary.
  • Get your first quote from the lender. Only hard credit inquiries affect your score. “Soft Pull” has fewer backgrounds. Therefore, you can ask your refinance lender to provide a preliminary estimate based on one of these soft pulls. “Once you narrow the field a little, you can do a full credit check to the last few lenders so that you can officially offer a new loan,” Opperman says.
  • Leave your credit alone. Aside from repaying your outstanding balance, don’t make any major changes if your credit is involved during the refinance process. “Don’t buy a new car, get a new credit card, or do anything that could affect your credit score while you’re working towards a new mortgage,” Opperman said. If you wish to repay your card, please refrain from closing your account. This is because it can reduce the length of your credit history and damage your score.
  • Make timely payments to other obligations. This is when you get very enthusiastic about managing other debts, from car loans to credit cards to existing mortgages. When you apply for your refinance, make sure that payments are not lost on the shuffle. At this point, you don’t want your record to see missed or arrears notices.
See also  Do I need to refinance with the same lender?

Next steps to refinance your mortgage

Once you have a plan on how to protect your credit during the refinance process, there are a few steps to help you land Best refinance rate and conditions:

  1. Carefully consider refinancing “no cost” or “zero cost.” Refinancing unclosed costs will not spare many immediate costs for various fees. However, a lack of these advance costs usually means paying more in the long term, as they are usually in exchange for higher interest rates.
  2. Request a range of rates: When collecting your initial estimate, you should consider asking your lender for a variety of scenarios, such as paying discount points or getting a smaller loan. It helps you shop and allows you to give you a variety of options and a sense of flexibility for your lender.
  3. Explore government loan refis: If your credit is rough, government-supported options such as FHA and VA loans may allow you to refinance as lending standards are often more tolerant.
  4. Compare offers using APR. Annual Rate (APR) for refinance offers reflect the true cost of the loan, including fees, and can provide a more accurate basis for comparing offers.
  5. Consider the reasons for refinancing: Ask yourself what your goal is to refinance your mortgage. Ideally, the long-term profits of refinance will outweigh the short-term damage to your credit.

Mortgage Refinance and Your Credit FAQ

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