$488.04
Break-even
Counting the balance you still owe, the refinance is genuinely ahead from month 17 — 1 yr 5 mo. The simple "costs divided by saving" answer is 1 yr 2 mo, which is optimistic because the new term restarts the schedule.
- New loan amount
- $350,000
- Old payment
- $2,586.47
- New payment
- $2,098.43
- Simple break-even (costs ÷ saving)
- 1 yr 2 mo
- True break-even (cash paid plus debt owed)
- 1 yr 5 mo
- Position after 5 years
- $17,656
- Position after 10 years
- $37,676
What this is doing
- The true break-even charges both loans the same way: cash out of pocket so far, plus the balance still owed. That is the comparison that survives a term reset.
- Cash taken out is credited to the new side rather than treated as a saving, so a cash-out refinance is not made to look free.
- Every figure here is illustrative. It is generated from the numbers you typed using published rules, and it is not a rate quote, a pre-qualification, or an offer of credit.
The rule this page applies
The simple break-even divides closing costs by the monthly payment drop. It flatters any refinance that resets the term, because a lower payment on a longer schedule is not the same as being better off. The true break-even compares cash paid so far plus debt still owed, on both loans, month by month.
Source: Cash position accounting
Questions people ask about this one
Why are there two break-evens?
Because the popular one is wrong whenever the term changes. Dropping from 25 years remaining to a fresh 30 lowers the payment even at the same rate — that is not a saving, it is a longer loan. The true break-even counts the balance you still owe, so a term reset shows up as the cost it is.
Should I roll the costs in?
Rolling them in preserves your cash and raises the loan, so you pay interest on the closing costs for as long as you hold the loan. Toggle the field and watch the true break-even move — that is the honest way to decide.
Does this include a rate lock or an appraisal?
Put them into the closing-costs field. This calculator has no view about what those cost, and would be lying if it pretended to.
The rest of the bench
Monthly payment
Principal, interest, taxes, insurance, mortgage insurance and HOA — drawn as five separate threads, not folded into one number.
Amortisation
The full schedule, switchable month-wise and year-wise, with a running total and the crossover month called out.
Affordability
Income, debts and cash in, a defensible price out — and a plain statement of which of the three constraints is the one actually holding the number down.
Extra payment
A recurring extra, a one-off lump sum, or both — against the interest they remove and the months they take off the end.
Rent vs buy
Both households start with the same cash. Whichever is cheaper in a given month invests the difference; whichever is dearer draws it down. That symmetry is the whole argument.
FHA MIP
The upfront premium, the annual premium, and the part almost every calculator gets wrong: whether it ever comes off.
VA purchase
The VA funding fee changes with the down payment and with whether it is your first use of the entitlement. Exempt borrowers pay none of it.
VA refinance
An IRRRL carries a 0.50% funding fee; a VA cash-out carries 2.15% or 3.30%. Both are shown against a true break-even.
Points
One point is one percent of the loan, paid today, for a lower rate for as long as you keep it. The only question that matters is how long that is.
HELOC
Interest-only while you draw, then a fully amortising payment that can be several times larger. Both are shown, because the second one is the surprise.
DSCR
Debt-service coverage divides the rent the property brings in by what the property costs to carry. Most lenders want 1.20 or better.
Fix & flip
Acquisition, rehab, points, interest, holding costs and selling costs against the after-repair value — with the cash you actually have to put in.