$358.65
Break-even
Counting the balance still owed, this is genuinely ahead from month 16 — 1 yr 4 mo.
- Funding fee rate
- 0.50%
- Funding fee
- $1,600
- Other closing costs
- $3,500
- New loan amount
- $325,100
- Old payment
- $2,281.74
- New payment
- $1,923.09
- Simple break-even
- 1 yr 2 mo
- True break-even
- 1 yr 4 mo
What this is doing
- An IRRRL has a low fee and limited paperwork, but it still resets the term. A streamline that drops the payment while adding five years to the schedule can leave you worse off, which is what the true break-even is for.
- A VA cash-out is a different product with a much larger fee and full underwriting. Switching the selector shows the gap.
- 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 IRRRL funding fee is 0.50% regardless of entitlement use. A VA cash-out refinance is 2.15% on a first use and 3.30% subsequently. Exempt borrowers pay neither.
Source: 38 U.S.C. §3729 · VA Lenders Handbook M26-7
Questions people ask about this one
Is an IRRRL always worth it if the rate drops?
No. The fee is small but the term reset is not, and the recoupment rules exist precisely because streamlines were being churned. Read the true break-even, not the payment drop.
Can I take cash out with an IRRRL?
No — beyond a small allowance for energy-efficiency improvements. Cash out requires the cash-out product, with its higher fee and full underwriting.
Am I exempt from the fee?
If you receive compensation for a service-connected disability, generally yes. Select "Exempt" and the fee goes to zero; the break-even usually improves sharply.
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.
Refinance
Costs divided by monthly saving is the answer most sites give, and it ignores the fact that a new 30-year term restarts the clock. Both numbers are shown here.
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.
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.