| Year | Current loan | New loan |
|---|
Enter your current loan — remaining balance, interest rate, and months left — so the tool knows your current monthly payment.
Enter the refinance offer — the new interest rate, new term, and closing costs. Toggle "roll closing costs into the loan" if you plan to finance them rather than pay upfront.
Read the results instantly — your new monthly payment, monthly savings, the break-even month when savings repay the closing costs, and the lifetime interest difference.
Use the balance-over-time chart and data table to see how the two loans compare across their full terms, then decide whether the refinance is worth it.
The single most important refinance question is "how long until I recoup the closing costs?" The tool divides your closing costs by the monthly saving and shows the break-even month, so you know whether you will stay long enough to benefit.
A lower monthly payment can still cost more over time if the term resets. The tool compares total remaining interest on your current loan against the new loan, and clearly flags when refinancing increases lifetime interest despite a lower payment.
Choose whether to pay closing costs upfront or finance them. Rolling them in raises the new principal and payment but eliminates out-of-pocket cost, and the break-even logic adjusts accordingly so the comparison stays honest.
If the new rate or term actually costs more each month, the tool shows a plain warning instead of a misleading number, so you are never nudged toward a refinance that does not help you.
Bankrate and NerdWallet wrap this calculation in ad-heavy, lead-capturing pages. Here every figure is computed in your browser, nothing is uploaded, and there is no form to fill in before you see your answer.
Refinance calculators on big finance sites often exist to capture your details as a mortgage lead. This tool computes everything client-side and collects nothing — no email, no phone number, no credit pull. You get the break-even math without becoming a sales target.
Instead of burying the answer under offers, the tool leads with the three figures that actually drive the decision — monthly savings, break-even month, and lifetime interest. It is built to help you decide, including telling you when not to refinance.
The most common refinancing mistake is resetting a partly-paid loan back to a full new term, lowering the payment while quietly increasing total interest. This tool surfaces that trade-off explicitly, so a tempting monthly saving does not hide a larger lifetime cost.
For a deeper month-by-month breakdown, the calculator links to our Mortgage Calculator, so you can move from the quick refinance decision to a complete amortization schedule without re-entering your numbers from scratch.
Refinancing replaces your existing mortgage with a new one, ideally on better terms. People refinance to lower their interest rate, reduce their monthly payment, shorten their term to pay off the loan faster, switch from an adjustable to a fixed rate, or tap home equity with a cash-out refinance. Whatever the goal, a refinance is not free: it carries closing costs, and it usually restarts the clock on the loan. Whether it pays off depends on the numbers, and on how long you will keep the home.
The most important calculation is the break-even point: how many months of savings it takes to recover the closing costs. The formula is simple — break-even months = closing costs ÷ monthly savings. If refinancing costs $6,000 and saves $250 a month, you break even in 24 months. If you will stay in the home well beyond that, the refinance likely pays off; if you plan to sell or move before break-even, it probably does not. This single number cuts through most of the marketing noise around refinancing.
Here is the subtlety that catches many borrowers. Suppose you are ten years into a 30-year mortgage and you refinance into a fresh 30-year loan at a slightly lower rate. Your monthly payment drops, which feels like a win — but you have just stretched your remaining balance over 30 more years instead of 20, and you may pay more total interest over the life of the loan despite the lower rate. A lower payment is not the same as a cheaper loan. This calculator compares lifetime interest precisely so you can see whether the monthly saving is real or borrowed from your future self. If keeping the payoff date matters, choose a new term close to your remaining term, or use the savings to pay extra principal.
Closing costs typically run 2–5% of the loan amount and cover the appraisal, title, origination, and various fees. You can pay them upfront or roll them into the new loan. Rolling them in preserves your cash but increases the principal, the payment, and the total interest, and it changes the break-even math — there is no out-of-pocket cost to recoup, but you pay interest on the costs for the life of the loan. The right choice depends on your cash position and how long you will hold the loan. The roll-in toggle lets you compare both scenarios instantly.
You may have heard that refinancing makes sense only if you can drop your rate by 1% or more. That is a rough guide, not a rule. A smaller rate drop can be worth it on a large balance, while even a big drop may not pay off on a small balance with high fixed costs, or if you will move soon. The break-even calculation is always more reliable than a rate-drop rule of thumb, because it accounts for your actual balance, your actual costs, and your actual savings. Use the rule of thumb to decide whether to run the numbers, and the numbers to make the decision.
This tool focuses on the core financial comparison. A complete decision also weighs factors it does not model: whether refinancing resets private mortgage insurance, prepayment penalties on the current loan, the opportunity cost of cash spent on closing, tax effects of mortgage interest, and your broader financial plans. Treat the break-even and lifetime-interest figures as the foundation of the decision, then layer these considerations on top. For anything affecting a major financial commitment, confirm the specifics with your lender and, where appropriate, a financial advisor.
This tool compares two fixed monthly payments — it does not model an adjustable-rate mortgage's future rate resets, so if either your current loan or the new offer is an ARM, treat the rate you enter as a snapshot rather than a lifetime figure. It also does not calculate whether refinancing lets you drop private mortgage insurance, nor the tax treatment of mortgage interest or cash-out proceeds — those depend on your loan-to-value ratio and personal tax situation and should be confirmed with your lender or a tax advisor. If you are considering a cash-out refinance specifically to consolidate other debt, compare the new mortgage's total interest against paying that debt down directly with the debt payoff calculator before assuming the mortgage rate is automatically cheaper.
| Factor | This calculator | Spreadsheet | Lender/lead-capture estimator |
|---|---|---|---|
| Requires contact details | Never | Never | Usually, before showing a rate |
| Flags the term-reset trap | Yes, via lifetime interest | Only if you build it in | Rarely highlighted |
| Break-even month shown clearly | Yes | Depends on your formula | Sometimes buried in fine print |
| Triggers a credit pull | Never | Never | Sometimes, for a "personalized rate" |
A refinance decision rarely stands alone. If you want the full month-by-month schedule of the new loan once you've decided to proceed, the mortgage calculator generates a complete amortization table, and if the goal of refinancing is to free up monthly cash flow for a specific target — an emergency fund or a house down payment — the savings goal calculator shows how quickly the freed-up amount gets you there.
Break-even months equal your closing costs divided by your monthly savings. If a refinance costs $5,000 and lowers your payment by $200 a month, you break even in 25 months. After that point the refinance is saving you money; before it, you are still recovering the upfront cost. If you plan to move before break-even, refinancing usually does not pay off.
Because refinancing often resets the loan term. If you are partway through a mortgage and refinance into a new full-length term, you spread the balance over more years. The payment drops, but you may pay more total interest over the life of the loan. This tool compares lifetime interest so you can see whether a lower payment is a real saving or just a longer schedule.
Paying upfront avoids financing the costs and keeps the loan smaller, but uses your cash. Rolling them in preserves cash but increases the principal, payment, and total interest. The right choice depends on your cash position and how long you will keep the loan. Use the roll-in toggle to compare both, and watch how the break-even point and lifetime interest change.
No — that is a rough guideline, not a rule. A smaller rate reduction can be worthwhile on a large balance, and a larger one may not pay off on a small balance with high fees or if you will move soon. The break-even calculation, which uses your actual balance, costs, and savings, is always more reliable than a generic rate-drop threshold.
No. Every figure is computed entirely in your browser. There is no signup, no email or phone capture, and nothing is sent to a server. Unlike many big finance sites, this tool is not a lead-generation form — you get the answer without giving up your contact details or triggering a credit pull.
If the new rate or term would actually raise your monthly payment, the tool shows a warning instead of a savings figure. Refinancing into a higher payment rarely makes sense unless you are deliberately shortening the term to pay off the loan faster. The warning prevents the calculator from presenting a misleading positive result.
You can approximate a cash-out refinance by increasing the new balance to include the cash you take out, or by rolling additional amounts into the loan. The break-even and lifetime-interest math still applies. For a precise month-by-month schedule of the new loan, follow the link to the Mortgage Calculator.
Yes, completely free with no registration, no usage limits, and no ads injected into your results. Monthly savings, break-even analysis, lifetime interest comparison, the roll-in toggle, and the balance chart are all available at no cost, computed privately in your browser.
It compares fixed monthly payments at the rates you enter. For an ARM, treat the current or expected rate as a snapshot rather than a lifetime figure, since the tool does not model future rate resets on either the current loan or the new offer.
No. Private mortgage insurance depends on your loan-to-value ratio and your lender's specific rules, which this calculator does not model. Ask your lender directly whether the new loan amount and appraised value would drop you below the PMI threshold.
It depends on the rate spread and how long you'd take to repay either way. Compare the mortgage's added interest on the cash-out amount against paying the debt down directly with the credit card payoff calculator; mortgage rates are often lower, but stretching the debt over a much longer mortgage term can still cost more in total interest than a faster, higher-rate payoff.
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