Yes, there is an effect, and with six to eight months of runway and otherwise good credit it is usually minor. Opening a new card brings a modest early ding: the hard inquiry plus a brand-new account with no history yet. Your score can dip a little in the short run. Working the other direction, the new card raises your total available credit, so if you move a balance onto it, your overall utilization drops, which can actually help. For a refinance several months out, that early dip typically fades well before you apply, and if your score is already above 750, the impact is small enough that it rarely matters at all. So the honest read is a small negative in the near term that mostly washes out by the time you refinance, especially with strong credit. The one move we would avoid is opening the card right before you apply, when there is no time for the inquiry and new account to settle. If timing is at all tight, a quick soft-pull check before you open anything will show whether the wait is worth it.