https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Home-loan-pre-approval-Is-refinancing-an-auto-loan-to-lower-dti/m-p/4869916#M119922 <P>How much was the auto loan originally for?&nbsp;</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>Refinancing could cause your EX mortgage score to go down, but if the EX score is already the lowest of your three scores that is no problem.&nbsp; We'll be able to guess better how much your EX score might go down when you tell us the amount of the original loan.</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>EQ and TU mortgage scores would be affected much less, except as the change in AAoA affected them and possibly Age of Youngest Account and an inquiry.</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>And is this auto loan your only open installment loan?</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>The advantage to the refinance is that it would affect your DTI by lowering the monthly payment.</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>There seem like pros and cons and there's no way to begin to weigh them against each other without knowing a lot more.&nbsp; E.g. is your EX score your lowest mortgage score?&nbsp; Do you need an improvement to DTI?&nbsp; What was the original amount of the car loan?&nbsp; What is your AAoA now and what would it be after the re-fi?&nbsp; What is the age of your youngest account right now?&nbsp; Etc.</P> Tue, 21 Feb 2017 04:31:45 GMT Anonymous 2017-02-21T04:31:45Z https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Home-loan-pre-approval-Is-refinancing-an-auto-loan-to-lower-dti/m-p/4869883#M119914 <P>I got my median score up to 668 which qualifies me for a USDA home loan up to $225K according to my potential lender. The homes I am looking at are around $255K which is on the low end in my area of Colorado. I have an auto loan of $13K which is my only debt owed but I pay $348 monthly at 10% interest (Credit was much lower when I applied for the loan). If I were to refinance my auto loan at around 4% for 60 months that would lower my monthly payment by around $100 per month. Is this a bad idea to do when looking to close on a house within the next 6 months?</P> Tue, 21 Feb 2017 04:00:07 GMT https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Home-loan-pre-approval-Is-refinancing-an-auto-loan-to-lower-dti/m-p/4869883#M119914 Anonymous 2017-02-21T04:00:07Z https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Home-loan-pre-approval-Is-refinancing-an-auto-loan-to-lower-dti/m-p/4869916#M119922 <P>How much was the auto loan originally for?&nbsp;</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>Refinancing could cause your EX mortgage score to go down, but if the EX score is already the lowest of your three scores that is no problem.&nbsp; We'll be able to guess better how much your EX score might go down when you tell us the amount of the original loan.</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>EQ and TU mortgage scores would be affected much less, except as the change in AAoA affected them and possibly Age of Youngest Account and an inquiry.</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>And is this auto loan your only open installment loan?</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>The advantage to the refinance is that it would affect your DTI by lowering the monthly payment.</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>There seem like pros and cons and there's no way to begin to weigh them against each other without knowing a lot more.&nbsp; E.g. is your EX score your lowest mortgage score?&nbsp; Do you need an improvement to DTI?&nbsp; What was the original amount of the car loan?&nbsp; What is your AAoA now and what would it be after the re-fi?&nbsp; What is the age of your youngest account right now?&nbsp; Etc.</P> Tue, 21 Feb 2017 04:31:45 GMT https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Home-loan-pre-approval-Is-refinancing-an-auto-loan-to-lower-dti/m-p/4869916#M119922 Anonymous 2017-02-21T04:31:45Z