 TITLE: Does Refinancing Reset Your Loan Term? CONTENT: How Does Refinancing Affect Your Credit?\n----------------------------------------\nCredit scores don't consider the interest rate or repayment term of your accounts, and refinancing generally has a minor impact when you're replacing a loan with a new loan of the same type. But here are a few reasons why you may see your scores change:\n*   **Opening a new account**: Adding a new account to your credit report can lower the average age of your accounts, which may also hurt your score. However, making your new payments on time can help your credit.\n*   **Closing accounts**: The accounts you pay off will generally be closed, which can sometimes hurt scores. But your closed accounts can stay on your report for up to 10 years and continue to impact age-related scoring factors during that time.\n*   **Hard inquiries on your credit report**: When you apply for a new loan, the creditor will check your credit, causing a hard inquiry to appear. These may hurt your credit scores, although the impact is small and temporary.\nOne exception is when you refinance or consolidate credit card debt with an installment loan, such as a personal loan. Moving revolving debt to an installment loan can lower your credit utilization rate, which can have a significant, positive impact on your scores—as long as you don't run up balances on the cards you just paid off. END