So I spent a good deal of time today arranging a refinance of my home. I’m rolling my first and second mortgage into one loan, and also putting the financing that I did for the windows and the air conditioner into it. Unfortunately, I’m not saving a hell of a lot of money. About $150 a month. Why?

Well, my credit seems to have taken a crapper recently. One of the reasons? The second mortgage and the windows were both financed through American General Finance, which I have come to find out is bad for your credit rating.

Yeah, that’s right. Going through a finance company and not a bank hurts your credit.

I’ve also got far too many credit cards open right now. I guess 3 is the magic number you’re supposed to shoot for there?

One of the nice things about the company I’m refinancing through, though, is that they refinance again for free if you go through them. SO, the plan is to spend the majority of this year making sure that all of my payments are made on time, and eliminating some of the credit cards from my wallet. This will allow me to get out of the cruddy “you have bad credit” finance and into a more reasonable interest rate program. Maybe even one of those “interest only” loans that will allow me to pay directly on to my principal in amounts that suit my financial situation from month to month.

Ugh. You know, as easy as this has been (and it’s been VERY easy), doing this kind of thing still gives me a headache.