 TITLE: Can I Refinance My Mortgage Without an Appraisal? CONTENT: How Refinancing Your Home Can Affect Your Credit\n------------------------------------------------\nRefinancing can impact your credit scores in several ways, as you'll be paying off your old loan and applying for and taking out a new one. Overall, however, the impact may be minimal.\nApplying for a refinance loan can lead to a hard inquiry, which may hurt your credit scores a little. Additional applications that cause more hard inquiries could increase that negative impact, but multiple hard inquiries for the same type of loan will only count as one hard inquiry if they occur within a 14- to 45-day period (the timing depends on the credit scoring model). This means you're still able to rate shop to try and get the best rate.\nThe new loan will also decrease the average age of your accounts, which could hurt your scores a little. Your original mortgage will be paid off and closed, but your payment history on that loan can continue to help (or hurt) your credit, as the account will stay on your credit report for up to 10 years. Continuing to make your payments on time on the new loan can also help your credit.\nMake sure a mistake or delay during the refinance process doesn't lead to you accidentally missing a payment on your original mortgage. Otherwise, a late payment could be reported, which could lead to a large score drop. END