Mortgage Refinance Calculator

This mortgage refinance calculator compares your current loan against a new rate and answers the real question: not just what your new payment would be, but whether refinancing actually saves money once closing costs and the term reset are counted. Enter your current loan details and the new rate, and the refinance calculator shows monthly savings, break-even point, and lifetime interest comparison instantly.

Example: Refinancing a $280,000 balance from 7.5% to 6.25% saves about $230 per month. With $6,000 in closing costs, the break-even point is roughly 26 months.

Break-even is the number of months until your closing costs are recovered by monthly savings: closing costs divided by monthly savings. If refinancing costs $6,000 and saves $230 per month, break-even is 26 months. If you plan to sell or move before that point, refinancing loses money even though the monthly payment is lower. The refinance calculator computes this automatically and gives a plain-language verdict.

Closing costs typically run 2% to 5% of the loan amount and can be paid upfront or rolled into the new loan. Rolling them in avoids out-of-pocket expense but increases the loan balance, the monthly payment, and total interest, which shifts the break-even math. This refinance calculator supports both approaches and shows the difference side by side.

Refinancing 8 years into a 30 year mortgage back into a fresh 30 year term restarts amortization from the interest-heavy beginning. The monthly payment drops, but total lifetime interest often rises, sometimes by tens of thousands of dollars. The calculator flags this automatically and includes a same-term comparison toggle that prices the new rate over your remaining term, isolating the true rate benefit from the term reset effect.

A cash-out refinance replaces your current loan with a larger one and pays you the difference in cash. The cash-out refinance calculator mode shows the true cost of that cash: the new payment, the added lifetime interest, and how it compares to leaving your current loan untouched. Cash-out rates also typically run slightly higher than rate-and-term refinance rates, which the calculator lets you reflect directly.

Refinancing tends to make sense when the new rate is meaningfully lower (commonly 0.75% or more below your current rate), you'll stay in the home past the break-even point, and you're not restarting a long term late in your current loan. It tends to be a poor deal when you're moving soon, the rate drop is small relative to closing costs, or the term reset adds back more interest than the rate saves. The calculator's verdict logic applies these rules to your actual numbers.

A cash out refinance calculator works differently from a standard refinance estimate because the new loan is larger than your current balance, with the difference paid to you in cash. Most lenders cap cash-out at 80% of home value, so your maximum cash equals 80% of the appraised value minus your current balance. Enter your home value and balance in cash-out mode and the calculator shows your maximum available cash, the new payment, and the true lifetime cost of the cash taken.

Example: A home worth $450,000 with a $280,000 balance allows up to $80,000 cash out at an 80% loan-to-value cap.

A rate and term refinance changes only your interest rate, your term, or both, without touching the loan balance. It's the cleanest refinance type and usually carries the lowest rates, since the lender takes on no additional risk. Use rate and term mode to isolate exactly what a lower rate saves per month and over the loan's life, with the break-even point calculated against your closing costs automatically.

Refinancing from a 30 year to a 15 year mortgage raises the monthly payment but typically comes with a lower rate and cuts lifetime interest dramatically, often by more than half. Shorten mode compares your current 30 year loan against a 15 year refinance side by side: new payment, total interest on each path, and how many years earlier you own the home outright.

Example: A $280,000 balance at 7.5% with 25 years remaining costs about $340,000 in remaining interest. Refinancing to a 15 year at 6.25% raises the payment by roughly $360/month but cuts remaining interest to about $152,000.

When two lenders quote different combinations of rate, closing costs, and points, the lower rate isn't automatically the better deal. Comparison mode puts both refinance offers side by side against your current loan: monthly payment, break-even point, and lifetime cost for each, so quotes become directly comparable numbers instead of marketing.