Broker DaveTurn your 30-year into a 15
Every other payoff calculator makes you guess an extra payment and see where it lands. This one runs backward: tell it when you want to be done, and it hands you the exact payment — then shows you whether you'd be better off just refinancing into a real 15-year instead.
The loan you have
30 yrs — 360 is a 30-year note.
4 yrs in · balance today about $380,238 · 26 yrs left
When you want to be done
15 yrs from today. You have 26 yrs left as things stand.
The refinance you'd compare it to
A real 15-year note prices below a 30. Put an actual quote here — a made-up gap is the fastest way to make this comparison lie.
15 yrs — 180 is the classic 15-year.
Lender fees, title, appraisal, prepaids. This is what the refinance has to earn back.
$2,528 today plus $784 to principal. Payoff moves up 11 yrs and $192,610 of interest never happens.
The part that surprises people
Refinancing into a 15 yrs at 5.75% costs $3,210.68 a month — that's $102 LESS than the $3,312.28 it takes to hit the same payoff date on your current note.
The lower rate does the work your extra payment was going to do. You still pay $6,400 to get it, and you give up the right to drop back to $2,528.27 in a bad month — which is exactly the trade the table below prices out.
Two ways to get there
| Pay it down | Refinance short | |
|---|---|---|
| Rate | 6.5% | 5.75% |
| Payoff | 15 yrs | 15 yrs |
| Loan amount | $380,238 | $386,638 |
| Monthly payment | $3,312.28 | $3,210.68 |
| Payment you're actually committed to | $2,528.27 — extra is voluntary | $3,210.68 — locked |
| Closing costs | $0 | $6,400 |
| Total interest | $215,973 | $191,285 |
| Total cost above today's balance | $215,973 | $197,685 |
“Total cost above today's balance” is every dollar you hand over beyond the $380,238 you owe right now — interest on both sides, plus closing costs on the refinance whether you financed them or wrote a check.
The verdict
- Cheaper overall
- Refinancing
- By
- $18,288
- Refi break-even
- 2 yrs 8 mos in
- Do nothing: interest still owed
- $408,583
- Do nothing: payoff
- 26 yrs
- Interest saved by hitting the target
- $192,610
Break-even is the number that decides it. The refinance starts $6,400 behind and claws it back with the lower rate. It gets in front after 2 yrs 8 mos — so if there's a real chance you sell or refinance again before then, paying the current loan down wins by default.
And the part no calculator can price: paying extra keeps your required payment at $2,528.27. Lose a job, have a bad quarter, face a surprise repair — you just stop paying the extra, and nothing bad happens. The refinance commits you to $3,210.68 every month for 15 yrs, and the only way out is another refinance or a sale. Buying $18,288 with that flexibility is a real decision, not a rounding error.
Both schedules
Both payoff schedules side by side, yearly or month by month.
Email me this analysis
Same finish line, two very different commitments
Paying the 30 like a 15
No application, no appraisal, no closing costs, no credit pull. And your required payment never moves — the extra is voluntary every single month, so a bad quarter costs you time, not your house.
Refinancing into a 15
A genuinely lower rate, because 15-year notes price below 30-year notes. You pay closing costs to get it and you lock yourself into the bigger payment for the whole term.
The rate gap decides it
A quarter point of difference rarely covers the closing costs. Three quarters usually does, and can even make the locked 15-year payment lower than paying your current note down that fast.
How to read your own answer
- Start with break-even. The refinance begins behind by its closing costs and claws them back with the lower rate. If there's a real chance you sell or refinance again before that date, paying the current loan down wins by default — no math required.
- Then look at the committed payment. This is the row people skip and regret. Paying extra commits you to nothing; the refinance commits you to the bigger payment for fifteen years. If your income is lumpy — commission, self-employed, one earner — that flexibility is worth real money even when the refinance is technically cheaper.
- Put a real quote in the rate field. The comparison is only as good as the 15-year rate you type. Invent a gap and the tool will cheerfully tell you to refinance into a loan nobody will actually give you.
- Mark extra payments principal-only. In writing, with your servicer. Money sent without instructions can land in escrow or get applied to next month's payment instead of the balance — and then none of this happens.
- This is principal and interest only. Taxes, insurance and any mortgage insurance ride along unchanged on both sides, so leaving them out doesn't tilt the comparison either way.
This calculator is educational and is not a loan offer, a rate quote, or a commitment to lend. Every figure is an estimate. David Lurvey, NMLS 410420.
Already know your extra payment?
If you'd rather go the other direction — “I can do $400 a month, when am I done?” — that's the extra payment calculator.
Extra payment calculatorWant a lower payment, not a shorter loan?
A lump sum plus a recast re-amortizes the balance and drops the required payment while keeping your payoff date and your rate.
Recast calculator