How the cash-out refinance calculator works
A cash-out refinance is usually about something real: a kitchen, a college bill, a stack of card balances that finally needs to go. It turns part of your home's equity into a check by replacing your mortgage with a bigger one, and the difference comes to you at closing. It is a simple idea with one catch that most calculators never show you, so this one leads with it. More than half of all refinances in June 2026 were cash-out loans, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and half of all mortgages in the country carry a rate below 4%, which is exactly when the catch bites.
Enter your home's value, what you owe and at what rate, how much cash you want, and the new rate and term. The page works out how much cash the loan program allows, builds the new loan the way a lender does (your payoff, your cash, the closing costs, and for FHA and VA the program's own fee), and prices the new payment against the one you have now. Then it shows what the cash really costs per dollar, and the same cash borrowed two other ways without touching your mortgage: a home equity loan and a HELOC.
The formula
new loan = (mortgage balance + cash) × (1 + closing cost rate), plus any FHA or VA fee
monthly payment = P × r × (1 + r)n ÷ ((1 + r)n − 1)
first-year cost of the cash = (new loan's first-year interest − old loan's) ÷ cash
P is the new loan, r is the monthly rate (the yearly rate divided by 12, as a decimal), and n is the number of monthly payments. The last line is the one that matters: it charges the cash with everything the refinance changes, including the new rate on money you already owed.
Worked example
A $400,000 home with $220,000 left on a 3.5% mortgage and 24 years to go. The payment today is $1,130.17 a month. A conventional cash-out refinance can lend up to 80% of the value, $320,000, so after the payoff and closing costs there is room for up to $90,680 in cash. You take $50,000.
The new loan is $220,000 + $50,000 + $8,100 of closing costs (3%) = $278,100. At 7.40% for 30 years, the payment is $1,925.51 a month, up $795.34.
In its first year the new loan charges about $20,492 of interest against $7,605 on the old one. The difference, $12,887, is 25.8% of the $50,000. That is what the cash really costs in year one, because the refinance moves all $220,000 you already owed from 3.5% to 7.40% as well.
What the cash really costs
The rate on a cash-out refinance is not the rate on your cash. The new rate applies to the whole loan, so a refinance from 3.5% to 7.40% prices the new money at 7.40% and also adds 3.90 points to every dollar of the old mortgage. That second charge is the same whether you take out $10,000 or $90,000, which means small cash-outs are the most expensive per dollar. The same home, the same mortgage, the same 7.40%:
| Cash | New payment | First-year cost |
|---|---|---|
| $10,000 | $1,640.25 | 98.5% |
| $25,000 | $1,747.22 | 44.0% |
| $50,000 | $1,925.51 | 25.8% |
| $90,680 (the most) | $2,215.62 | 17.6% |
For comparison, this week's averages are 8.56% for a ten-year home equity loan and 7.29% for a HELOC. None of this is a flaw in the loan; it is simply what a single mortgage does. It becomes a problem only when a borrower compares the refinance's 7.40% against those rates and sees a bargain.
The 7.40% is itself generous. It is the average for a purchase loan, and cash-out loans price higher: Fannie Mae's own pricing grid charges a cash-out refinance 2.375% of the loan at a 740 credit score and 75 to 80% loan-to-value, against 1.125% for a refinance with no cash out, and lenders pass that on as a higher rate or higher costs. Use the rate on your own quote.
The same math turns the other way when the new rate is lower than the one you already pay. Refinance a 7.5% mortgage with 28 years left into a 6.25% loan and the first dollars of cash cost nothing at all in the first year: the rate cut on what you already owe pays for them. With no cash out at all, that is a plain refinance, and the page shows how many months the lower payment takes to repay the closing costs.
Cash-out refinance or home equity loan?
Both turn equity into cash; they differ in what they do to the mortgage you already have. A cash-out refinance replaces it, so every dollar you owe moves to today's rate. A home equity loan or a HELOC leaves it alone and adds a second, smaller loan at a higher rate. The way to compare them is the blended rate: the average of the old mortgage and the second loan, weighted by their balances.
In the worked example, $220,000 at 3.5% and $50,000 at 8.56% blend to 4.44% on the whole $270,000, against 7.40% for the refinance. The same $50,000 three ways:
| Same $50,000 | Monthly now | Interest and fees |
|---|---|---|
| Cash-out refinance at 7.40% | $1,925.51 | $423,183 |
| Keep the mortgage, home equity loan at 8.56% | $1,751.70 | $130,073 |
| Keep the mortgage, HELOC at 7.29% | $1,433.92 | $187,075 |
The refinance costs more each month even though it spreads the debt over a fresh 30 years, and $293,110 more over the life of the loans. The HELOC's lower payment is interest only for its first ten years, and its rate floats with prime.
A cash-out refinance comes out ahead in two situations. The first is a mortgage rate at or above today's, when the refinance cuts the rate on the old balance instead of raising it. The second is a small old balance: with $60,000 left at 3.5% and 15 years to go, $100,000 of cash costs 10.09% in the first year, close to the new rate itself, because there is little old debt to reprice. When the cash is large and the old balance small, the refinance also gives you one fixed payment instead of two loans.
A plain refinance, with no cash out
Enter 0 for the cash and the page becomes a rate-and-term refinance calculator. Its question is different: whether the lower payment repays the closing costs before you move. Refinancing a $220,000 balance at 7.5% with 28 years left into a 6.25% loan for 30 years takes the payment from $1,568.31 to $1,395.22, a saving of $173.09 a month. The $6,600 of closing costs are paid back in 39 months, so the refinance pays if you stay longer than about three and a quarter years. Remember that a new 30-year term also restarts the clock, which can raise the total interest even when the payment falls.
Freddie Mac points out that this break-even method does not work for a cash-out refinance, because the new payment also carries the cash. That is the gap the first-year cost of the cash fills: it prices the cash itself, which is the question a cash-out refinance actually asks.
FHA and VA cash-out refinances
The program changes both how much cash you can take and what the loan adds on top. A conventional cash-out refinance of the home you live in is capped at 80% of its value. FHA also caps the loan at 80%, then adds an upfront mortgage insurance premium of 1.75%, financed into the loan, and an annual premium of 0.50% of the balance (0.70% on a base loan above $726,200), paid monthly for 11 years at that loan-to-value; the upfront premium does not count against the 80% limit. In the worked example that makes the FHA payment $2,076.61 a month, including about $117.40 of mortgage insurance.
VA is the program that can go furthest: up to 100% of the home's value, funding fee included. The funding fee on a cash-out refinance is 2.15% the first time you use the benefit and 3.3% after that, and veterans who receive VA disability compensation do not pay it at all, nor do surviving spouses receiving Dependency and Indemnity Compensation. Many lenders stop at 90% even though VA allows 100%. On the worked example a first-use VA refinance allows up to $160,176 in cash, and the $50,000 costs $1,966.91 a month with the $5,979 fee financed. Our VA loan calculator covers VA purchase loans.
Is the interest tax deductible?
Part of it can be. The IRS treats the portion of the new loan that pays off your old mortgage the same way it treated the old mortgage. The cash-out portion counts only if you use it to buy, build, or substantially improve the home; cash spent on anything else carries nondeductible interest. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act made that rule permanent in 2025, along with the $750,000 limit on mortgage debt whose interest can count. Points paid to refinance are generally deducted a little each year over the life of the loan, not all at once. None of it helps unless you itemize, and the 2026 standard deduction is $16,100 for a single filer and $32,200 for a married couple filing jointly.
What lenders look for
Beyond the loan-to-value limit, lenders want an appraisal that supports the value, enough income to carry the new payment, and a seasoned first mortgage: Fannie Mae requires the loan being paid off to be at least 12 months old, with a borrower on the title for at least six months, and FHA requires you to have owned and lived in the home for the 12 months before the refinance. Because the loan is secured by your home, federal law gives you three business days after closing to cancel it; if you refinance with your current lender, that right covers the new cash.