refinancing question

[helpsoneeded]

Hi, how long do u have to wait to refinance? Can u do it as soon as you are discharged? I am in a chapter 13 and we only have 4 more months to go. If we can do it soon, can we get a good intrest rate? My credit score is 680..Thanks....

[LadyInTheRed]

Whether you can refinance as soon as you are discharged and what rate you may get depends on the lender. In addition to your BK and your credit score, the lender will consider your income, how much equity you have in your home and other things I can't think of right now. The most dependable answer to your question would come from a mortgage broker who has experience with borrowers in or recently discharged from Chap 13 BK.

[ksgirl38]

Does anyone know how refinancing affects your credit score? Just wondering. Just refinanced a car loan and I'm wondering if that hurt or helped me credit score wise.

[justbroke]

Does anyone know how refinancing affects your credit score? Just wondering. Just refinanced a car loan and I'm wondering if that hurt or helped me credit score wise.

It will temporarily hurt your score, but the impact should be minimal given all other things are good (I would think a temporary drop of 5-10 points at most). This is primarily because it is "new" credit and that you will have an installment account (car loan) that is at 100% of the borrowed amount.

(Typically the FICO score treats installment loans MUCH differently than revolving debt (from credit cards). That is, the score doesn't get affected too much unless you have more than 3 installment loans. There also seems to be some affect when the installment loan is more than 50% of the original balance. Just like everyone else, I don't know the precise mechanisms of the FICO score, but from experience and reasons that I was given for my scores, what I wrote is what I have learned about installment loans.)