Refinancing a mortgage is all about the numbers. It can be a money-saver for borrowers who can snag a lower interest rate, lower their monthly payments, shorten their loan term or ditch mortgage insurance premiums. Before you shop around for lenders, crunch the numbers to make sure refinancing your existing home loan will save you money. The Bankrate Mortgage Refinance Calculator will give you an idea of how much you stand to save (or lose).

How to use a mortgage refinance calculator
To start, find your latest mortgage statement. This will give you the numbers you need to fill in the first six fields in the refinance calculator. 

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The next section is a little trickier because it’s hard to know exactly how much closing costs will be until you’re well into the process of refinancing. However, you can get a rough idea by checking out Bankrate’s guide to refinancing costs. Once you’ve plugged all the numbers into the refinance mortgage calculator, you can use the key outputs to determine whether a refinance makes sense. The most common measure is the break-even point. More about that below, but if your closing costs will be $4,800, for instance, and your monthly savings are $200, then you’ll break even in 24 months or two years. If you plan to be in the house well past two years, a refi could make sense.