Compare your current loan against a refinance: the new payment, how many months it takes for the saving to repay your closing costs, and the net interest difference after those costs.
| Input | Result |
|---|---|
| $300,000 at 6.8% with 324 months left → 5.9% over 360 months, $6,000 costs | $2,024.49 → $1,779.41, saving $245.08/month, break-even in 25 months |
| $420,000 at 7.5% with 300 months left → 6.25% over 360 months, $8,500 costs | $3,103.76 → $2,586.01, saving $517.75/month, break-even in 17 months |
| $180,000 car loan at 9.2% with 48 months left → 6.9% over 60 months, $1,800 costs | $4,496.42 → $3,555.73, saving $940.69/month, break-even in 2 months |
When you recover the closing costs before the point at which you would otherwise have finished paying. This page works that out directly: divide the closing costs by the monthly saving and compare the answer with the months left on your current loan. If the break-even lands after that point, you are not saving, you are betting you will stay long enough to collect.
The CFPB puts them at 2% to 5% of the loan amount, which the calculator shows as a band against your balance. Your lender's Loan Estimate is the number that counts, and the three-business-day window for receiving it is a legal requirement, not a courtesy.
Usually because the term changed. A shorter term raises the monthly figure while cutting total interest; a longer one does the reverse. If the new payment comes out higher, this page says so plainly and shows the interest comparison instead, because the monthly number alone is not the whole answer.
It can. Refinancing a loan with 27 years left into a fresh 30-year term lowers the payment but adds three years of payments and often raises total interest. If your goal is to pay less overall, compare the two interest figures on this page rather than the two monthly ones.
One where the new loan is larger than the old balance and you take the difference in cash. It raises the balance you are financing, so both the payment and the interest change, enter the full new balance here rather than your current one to model it.
How this page is built and kept current. Written and fact-checked by the MoneyCalcsHub editorial team. We do not sell financial products and we accept no payment to change a result, the arithmetic on this page runs in your own browser from the numbers you type.
Official sources used on this page:
Source-dependent figures are reviewed when the cited issuer publishes an update. Worked examples show the formula applied to the listed inputs; interactive results are calculated in your browser.
Spotted an error? Write to [email protected], corrections are published on the page and the last-updated date changes with them. Full process: editorial policy.