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Streamline Refinance Calculator

One advantage to a government-backed home loan like an FHA or VA loan is the ability to streamline refinance.

This means refinancing your existing mortgage with far fewer hurdles and red tape. You often don’t even need an appraisal or even a credit check.

The idea is that you’re lowering your monthly mortgage payment, thus becoming a less risky borrower in the process, so not much is needed to underwrite the file.

However, there are a number of other requirements that must be met, such as a clean payment history and a certain amount of time must have passed since you originally got the loan.

My streamline refinance calculator helps you determine both eligibility and the possible savings of a refinance.

Streamline Refinance Calculator

For FHA and VA (IRRRL) streamline refinances. Estimate your new payment and monthly savings, and check whether your scenario passes FHA’s Net Tangible Benefit test or the VA’s rate-reduction and 36-month fee recoupment rules.

Your Current Loan

$
Use the principal balance from your latest mortgage statement.
%
$
From your latest mortgage statement. Enter principal and interest only, not escrow, mortgage insurance, or your total payment.
With your first payment date, used to work out your remaining term for FHA’s term-reduction exception (new term at least 3 years shorter than the remaining term)
%
Required. Find it on your statement or original closing disclosure. Loans endorsed before March 20, 2023 often carry 0.80%–0.85% on a 30-year term; loans endorsed on or after that date use today’s 0.50%–0.55%.
FHA counts 210 days from the note date.
Filled in automatically as the 1st of the second month after closing (a January closing means a March 1 first payment). Check your note and edit it if yours differs.
Defaults to today. Change it to see whether you’ll meet seasoning by a future date.
$
Optional. If your loan closed within the last 3 years, this is used to estimate your upfront MIP refund. Find it on your note or original closing disclosure. Assumes the upfront MIP was financed.

New Streamline Loan

%
yrs
$
Use the value from your last loan (see your closing disclosure or appraisal). We calculate your LTV and MIP tier for you.
%
Leave blank to use the rate for your loan amount, term, and LTV.
$
Lender, title, and recording fees only. Don’t include upfront MIP, escrow, or prepaid interest here.
HUD doesn’t allow standard closing costs to be rolled into an FHA streamline loan balance unless there is an appraisal.
💡 No appraisal, no financed closing costs. On an FHA streamline without an appraisal, closing costs must be paid in cash or covered by a lender credit (which means a higher rate). Upfront MIP can still be financed. Choose “with an appraisal” above if you plan to finance closing costs.
💡 LTV limits apply when using an appraisal. FHA caps the new base loan at 97.75% LTV, and at 100% LTV including the upfront mortgage insurance. Financed closing costs count toward these limits, so confirm with your lender that your new loan fits.
💡 FHA streamlines still charge upfront MIP (1.75%) on the new loan, but if your current loan closed within the last 3 years, part of the upfront MIP you originally paid is refunded. The refund is credited against your new upfront MIP, so only the net amount is added to your loan. Enter your original loan amount above and this calculator estimates the refund from HUD’s schedule (80% at month 1, dropping 2 points a month to 10% at month 36), counted from your note date. HUD counts from the endorsement date, so your lender’s official figure may differ slightly.
💡 Streamline refinances don’t allow cash-out. Both FHA and VA cap incidental cash back to the borrower at closing (generally around $500). This isn’t a way to tap equity, only to lower your rate or change your term.

Itemized Estimate

Amortization Schedule — New Loan

Principal & interest only.

Disclaimer: This calculator is for informational and educational purposes only and is not financial, legal, or tax advice. Results are estimates based on HUD and VA rules as of this writing and do not guarantee loan approval or a specific interest rate. Annual MIP follows HUD Mortgagee Letter 2023-05, and the upfront MIP refund is estimated from your note date rather than the endorsement date. ARM-to-ARM scenarios aren’t modeled. Passing these tests is necessary but not sufficient for approval, since actual underwriting depends on your lender, your loan history, and investor overlays. Consult a licensed mortgage professional before making any decision.

How to Use the Streamline Refinance Calculator

To begin, pick either an FHA loan or a VA loan. For the record, USDA loans also have a streamline refinance option but it’s not covered by this calculator.

Next enter your current loan balance (the outstanding balance from your latest mortgage statement).

So if your original loan amount was $400,000 and now it’s $360,000, enter that smaller number.

Then enter your current mortgage rate, loan type (fixed vs. ARM), original loan term (e.g. 30 years), and the monthly principal and interest payment.

Don’t include property taxes and insurance. And if you have impounds, where these items are included in your payment, only tally up the principal and interest portion (P&I).

[Searching for a home loan? See your options with dozens of lenders fast.]

For FHA loans, enter your current annual MIP rate (such as 0.55%), the note date (closing date) of your original loan, and the first payment due date.

This is usually the 1st of the second month after the month in which you closed (e.g. a January closing means a March 1st first payment).

You need to know this because there are minimum waiting periods to qualify for a streamline refinance. Your loan can’t be brand new.

If you loan closed within the past three years, you can also enter the original loan amount to calculate an upfront mortgage insurance premium (UFMIP) refund.

The next section asks about the new streamline loan, including the new mortgage rate, loan type, loan term, etc.

You can also enter a home value from your last loan to help determine the annual MIP rate on your streamline loan.

Next enter your expected closing costs and if you plan on financing your closing costs.

Note that if you want to roll closing costs (other than the UFMIP) into the loan, you can only do so if you get an appraisal.

A better option might be a lender credit where these costs are absorbed via a slightly higher interest rate (and no appraisal is required).

VA Streamline Rules Differ a Little

For the VA streamline refinance, it’s slightly different. You enter your current loan balance, mortgage rate, loan type, loan term, and principal and interest payment.

Then you enter your note date (closing date of original loan) and the first payment due date.

As mentioned, typically the first day of the second month after closing (a January closing means a March 1st first payment).

Then you enter the new loan details including interest rate, loan type, and loan term.

If you know your closing costs, you can enter them. If not, the calculator will determine the maximum amount that meets the VA’s 36-month recoupment rule (38 U.S.C. § 3709).

Lastly, you can choose if you want to finance the closing costs and/or the VA funding fee, or pay them out of pocket.

FYI, there’s no issue about needing an appraisal if you do finance these costs, unlike with FHA streamlines.

Those who are exempt from the VA funding fee can also tick the appropriate box before hitting “Analyze My Streamline Refinance.”

The Results

The streamline refinance calculator will show you if you qualify for the refinance based on various parameters, including seasoning requirements.

And also things like the FHA Net Tangible Benefit (NTB) and the VA’s 36-month recoupment rule to ensure the refinance qualifies.

The refinance has to make sense in order to proceed, even if you otherwise qualify (not that it’s necessarily hard to qualify).

That typically means a rate/payment reduction is needed, or a product change from an adjustable-rate mortgage to a fixed-rate mortgage is necessary.

The calculator will show you if you pass the necessary checks, how much the new monthly payment will be, and how much the monthly savings will be.

Then you can decide if it’s worthwhile to go through with the refinance based on the anticipated savings.

Or what’s needed if for some reason you don’t qualify, e.g. more time must go by, or the rate reduction must be greater.

Colin Robertson
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