We are trying to lower our bills to save more $ for our down payement. We are looking to buy a home in about 3 months so I'm wondering if we did a refinance on our auto loan right now would it hurt our chances to be approved for an FHA loan? Credit score is currently 621 (husbands).
Starting Score: 595 (2/22/13)
The only thing I know holding them down is the length of open credit cards is less than 2 years (all on time payments) and maybe the utilization of the cards. We are paying down the balances majorly before we get pre-qualified though so the score should go up. I wish I knew how much b/c that might open up more types of mortgage loans we could qualify for. There is one judgement that is old (it was paid but it wasn't showing that it was paid so I disputed it). And one old car repo that I've been told not to even mess with because it's so old.
Reducing your car payment helps with DTI, not score. If you are tight on your DTI then do the refi. If you aren't tight on your DTI (with the new mortgage payment factors in) then don't do the refi.
I agree with EZ about working on your utilization. How many cards do you have and how many have balances? What are the balances showing on your cc's (% utilizaiton)?
You get heavily dinged for heavy utilization and if you carry balances on 50% or more of your cards. Best to only have a balance on one card at less than 9% of the credit limit report. Have the others report zero. I realize that this is not always possible. But a reduction in the utilization ought to increase your score. Having only two years AAoA shouldn't result in a low score at all. At least heavy utilization is the easiest thing to fix 
A refinance will mean a new account usually and your AAoA will take a hit. I'd work on until first and not touch your AAoA.
