Mortgage Refinance Break-Even Calculator

Will refinancing save enough to justify the closing costs? Compare monthly cash flow, total remaining mortgage cost and the time to recover fees while accounting for the debt still owed.

Compare your mortgage and refinance offer

Current Mortgage

The calculated principal-and-interest payment is authoritative. An optional entered payment is checked for consistency; do not include escrow.

New Refinance Offer

Cash-out is additional borrowing. With cash-out, savings and break-even headlines are unavailable.

Both plans use the same next payment date as payment 1. Enter MM/DD/YYYY or eight digits (MMDDYYYY).

Optional: how long do you expect to keep this mortgage?

How it works

Fixed-rate monthly payments use balance × monthly rate ÷ [1 − (1 + monthly rate)−months], with APR ÷ 100 ÷ 12 as the monthly rate. At zero APR, payment equals balance ÷ months. Both schedules cap the final payment and finish at zero balance. Full precision is retained until display.

Economic net benefit at a payment date equals current cumulative payments plus current remaining balance, minus refinance cumulative payments, refinance remaining balance and upfront closing costs. Economic break-even is the earliest payment month with a gain above half a cent that stays positive through both payoff dates. The comparison starts before payment 1 and runs through the longer term; a temporary crossing is not reported as lasting recovery. No discounting or investment return is assumed.

Simple payment-savings break-even, shown only for upfront fees and positive payment savings without cash-out, equals upfront closing costs ÷ monthly P&I savings. Its date rounds up to a whole payment: month 1 is the next payment date. A zero upfront fee requires no cash-cost recovery. This measure ignores remaining debt and term resets, and is only meaningful while both regular payments continue. It is separate from economic break-even.

Total remaining cost equals all future payments plus costs paid upfront. Financed closing costs are already in the new principal and payments, so they are counted once. Lower payments from a longer term can still increase lifetime cost. Payoff-date changes use the same starting calendar anchor. The optional horizon compares cumulative payments and remaining balances after that payment; after payoff, balances are zero and payment totals stay fixed.

Assumptions and limitations

This estimates fixed-rate mortgages using monthly interest and principal and interest only. Escrow does not pay principal. It excludes PMI, property taxes, insurance, tax deductions, credit-score changes, selling costs and appreciation. Terms can be 1–1,200 whole months; dollar inputs are capped at $1 billion and APR at 100%.

Rolling costs into the loan increases principal and interest. Resetting the term may postpone payoff. Cash-out increases the debt in exchange for money received, so total payment differences are not pure refinance savings. For cash-out, separate plan totals and horizon balances remain visible, but savings, interest-savings and break-even conclusions are suppressed.

Actual lender payoff quotes can differ due to fees, daily interest, rounding, prepaid items and servicing rules. This estimate is not personalized financial advice or a lender quote. Dates use the original next-payment day, capped at each month end, with deterministic calendar parsing and no timezone conversion. Starting dates are limited to years 1900–9899.

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