Broker DaveMortgage recast calculator
A recast lowers your payment without touching your rate. You put a lump sum toward principal, the servicer re-amortizes what's left over the time you have left, and the payment drops — same note, same rate, same payoff date.
Your loan today
30 yrs — 360 is a 30-year note, 180 a 15-year.
5 yrs in · estimated balance today $374,444 · 25 yrs left
The recast
Most servicers require $5,000–$10,000 minimum, or 10% of the balance.
Usually a flat $150–$500. No appraisal, no credit pull, no new closing costs.
Down from $2,528 — same rate, same payoff date, 25 yrs to go.
What the recast does
- Balance today
- $374,444
- Lump sum to principal
- $75,000
- Recast fee
- $350
- Cash required
- $75,350
- Balance re-amortized
- $299,444
- Over the remaining
- 25 yrs
- Payment now
- $2,528
- Payment after recast
- $2,022
- Monthly savings
- $506
- Fee pays for itself in
- 1 mo
Recast vs. just paying it down
- Interest left — change nothing
- $384,038
- Interest left — recast
- $307,116
- Interest left — lump sum, no recast
- $180,717
- Payoff if you recast
- 25 yrs
- Payoff if you skip the recast
- 15 yrs 10 mos
- Payoff moves up by
- 9 yrs 2 mos
- Extra interest the recast costs
- $126,399
Same dollars, two different jobs. Recasting drops the payment by $506 but keeps the payoff date. Making the same lump sum payment without recasting keeps your payment where it is and pays the loan off 9 yrs 2 mos sooner — saving another $126,399 in interest. Pick cash flow or pick payoff speed; the recast is the cash-flow answer.
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Three ways to use the same money
Recast
Lump sum to principal, payment re-amortized over the time you have left. Your rate never changes and there's no new loan — just a few hundred dollars in servicer fees. The move when your current rate is the good one.
Refinance
A brand new loan: new rate, new term, new closing costs, a credit pull and an appraisal. Worth it when rates have fallen far enough to pay for all of that. If your rate is already low, refinancing to lower a payment usually costs more than it saves.
Pay it down
The same lump sum with no recast. Your payment stays exactly where it is, so every extra dollar attacks principal and the loan ends years early. The cheapest option in total interest — it just doesn't help cash flow.
Before you count on a recast
- Not every loan can recast. Conventional loans usually can; FHA, VA and USDA loans generally cannot. Ask your servicer — not your original lender — since the loan may have been sold.
- Servicers set a minimum, commonly $5,000–$10,000 or 10% of the balance, and most require the loan to be current with a few payments already made.
- A recast does not shorten your loan. The payoff date stays exactly where it was — that's the trade for the lower payment.
- Send the lump sum as a principal-only payment and request the recast in writing. Money sent without instructions can land in escrow or get applied to your next payments instead.
- This calculator shows principal and interest. Taxes, insurance and any mortgage insurance ride along in your escrow payment and don't change because you recast.
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.