Mortgage Refinance Calculator – With Cash Out and Points

Our mortgage refinance calculator is designed to quickly deliver relevant advice and data on your specific home loan situation. All you’ll need is a few basic details on your loans and a couple of minutes of free time. Includes options for cash out, closing costs and points.

These two elements make our calculator unique:

  • Clark’s Breakeven Rule: This calculator is built to give advice based on Clark Howard’s 30-month breakeven rule for mortgage refinancing. Clark believes that refinancing is only a good idea if you can recoup all refinancing costs through interest savings within the first 30 months of the new loan. You can read more details on why this is important here.
  • Interest Savings vs. Payment Savings: While this calculator will measure both, Clark wants you to focus on interest savings when considering a refinance of your mortgage. Payment savings are great too, but if they aren’t accompanied by interest savings you may end up paying more for your home in the long run.

If you are having any issues with the calculator, please let us know.

Mortgage Refinance Calculator

  • Current Mortgage Details

  • This is the amount of the loan when you first took it out.
  • Mortgage loans are usually 30 or 15 years. If your current mortgage is an ARM, it will still usually have a total mortgage term of 15 or 30 years. If you are unsure, check with your current mortgage company.
  • New Mortgage Details

  • This will usually be 30 or 15 years, but is sometimes 10 or 20 years.
    There are several options for handling closing costs. You can simply pay them at the time of closing. You may also have the option of adding the closing costs to the amount you owe on the mortgage - that's usually called "rolling them in". Some lenders also offer a true no closing cost loan, but this usually means the interest rate you pay will be higher.
  • Almost all loans have closing costs. The lender should be able to give you an estimate of the closing costs on the new loan. If you aren't working with a lender yet, you should estimate closing costs of 1.5% of the mortgage amount. For example, a $300,000 mortgage would have closing costs of $4,500.
  • This is usually a number between 0 and 2. Not all loans have points. Points are a way to pay for interest costs up front to lower the interest rate on the loans. When comparing loan rates, you should always compare the rates with the same number of points. It is best to compare loan rates with zero points.
  • A cash out refinance is when you finance more money than the total amount owed on the home. This is sometimes done to pay for extra projects on a home (such as a pool or remodel), or it can be done to consolidate debt. The additional money borrowed is rolled into the total amount of the mortgage.

Some Key Details for Using Clark's Mortgage Refinance Calculator

  • You need info for both loans: For this calculator to give you accurate information and advice, you will need to have the details on both your current mortgage and your proposed new loan. The more data you're able to give us, the more accurate the advice can be.
  • Prepayment Caveat: If you have made a significant prepayment to your existing mortgage, that could impact the accuracy of the data you receive. Our calculator, like most you'll find on the internet, is built to judge your savings based on the amortization schedule of your original loan. Prepayments, while a great idea for paying a loan off early, don't reflect in your progress on the amortization schedule.

Your Results

Your monthly payment will go up down {{ calc_change_in_paymentDisplay }} {{ calc_change_in_paymentDisplay }} per month.

Your payment is going up because you shortened your payoff from {{api_hom02_currentTermO/12}} years to {{api_hom02_traditionalTerm/12}} years.

Your new monthly payment will be {{ api_hom03_pandi_run2Display }}. This amount does not include insurance and taxes.

Your new mortgage will be paid off in {{ calc_refi_payoff_year }} instead of {{ calc_current_payoff_year }}. You have added {{calc_change_in_payoff_yearsDisplay}} years to subtracted {{calc_change_in_payoff_yearsDisplay}} years from  your loan period.

If you refinance, you will save {{ calc_change_in_total_interest_costsDisplay }} in interest over the life of the loan compared to what you will pay in interest if you do not refinance.

If you refinance, you will pay {{ calc_change_in_total_interest_costsDisplay }} more in interest over the life of the loan compared to what you will pay in interest if you do not refinance.

Is it worth it to do this refinance?

Clark’s simple rule:
“If you can make back the cost of the refinance in 30 months or less, you should do it.” - learn more about this rule.

Your new mortgage will pay for the {{calc_total_cost_of_refinancingDisplay}} cost of refinancing in {{ clark_calc_interest_breakeven_months }} months.

If you refinance your mortgage, you will never save enough interest to pay for the {{calc_total_cost_of_refinancingDisplay}} cost of refinancing. Refinancing your mortgage is probably not a good idea.

Based on Clark’s rule of thumb, doing a refinance is probably a good idea as long as you plan to stay in your home for more than {{ clark_calc_interest_breakeven_months }} months.

Based on Clark’s rule of thumb, your payback period is longer than he normally recommends. For this refinance to make sense for you, you will need to be sure you are going to own your house longer than the {{ clark_calc_interest_breakeven_years }} years it will take to pay for the cost of the refinance.

Even though you will be able to pay for the cost of refinancing in less than 30 months, you will actually be paying more in total interest over the life of the loan. What this means is that this refinance is a good idea in the short term, but in the long term it will cost you more money. You should consider refinancing into a loan with a shorter term. This will give you the benefit of lower interest costs in the short term and the long term.

Not only is the breakeven period longer than Clark recommends, but this refinance will also cost you more in interest over the life of the loan. If you think you will be in your home long enough to pay for the cost of refinancing, and you want to also save money over the life of the loan, you should consider a loan with a shorter loan period.

In your first payment, you will be saving {{calc_change_in_first_interest_paymentDisplay}} in interest costs.

See your full amortization schedule

What if you want to pay extra principal and pay off your new mortgage in the same year, {{calc_current_payoff_year}} as your current mortgage?

Your current mortgage is scheduled to be paid off in {{ calc_current_payoff_year }}, and your new mortgage is scheduled to be paid off in {{ calc_refi_payoff_year }}.

If you pay {{calc_additionalal_principalDisplay}} in additional principal payments each month, you can pay off your new mortgage in {{ calc_current_payoff_year }}, just like your current mortgage.

Paying this extra amount will save you {{ calc_enhanced_change_in_total_interest_costsDisplay }} dollars in interest over the life of the loan.