Re-amortization · Same rate · Same payoff date
Hand your servicer a lump sum and a small fee. They re-spread what is left over the months you already had: same rate, same payoff date, smaller required payment. Enter your numbers to see the new payment, and what the same cash would do if you skipped the recast.
The ledger correction
Enter your loan and the lump sum you could put down to see the correction.
Prefer the road that ends sooner? Prepaid instead, the same $50,000 finishes the loan May 2048 and keeps $198,884, at the price of keeping the full $2,528.27 payment. Load the lump into the payoff plan.
Leaning toward the prepay column? The payoff calculator takes this same lump and shows the full schedule it produces, or set a target month on debt-free by date. Your loan carries over.
All the math runs in your browser; nothing you enter is stored or sent anywhere. Last updated July 2026.
One pile of cash, three ledgers. Only one of them changes your required payment, and it’s not the one that saves the most.
| Strategy | Monthly payment | Payoff | Total interest | Interest saved |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Do nothingkeep the schedule, keep the cash | … | … | … | … |
| Recastlump + fee, then pay the new minimum | …Lowest payment | … | … | … |
| Prepay, skip the recastsame lump, keep the old payment | … | … | … | …Most saved |
All three rows spend the same money. The interest saved in rows 2 and 3 comes from the principal reduction itself; the row you pick decides only how much of it you keep.
Same cash, three moves. Dollar figures use the example: a $50,000 lump on the $400,000 at 6.5% / 30-year loan, one year in, with a $250 recast fee. Run your own numbers above.
Send the lump to principal, skip the recast, keep paying what you already pay. Nothing about your bill changes. But the loan ends 8 yrs 2 mos sooner (May 2048 instead of Jul 2056), and the interest saved is $198,884: more than three times the recast’s $61,223. No fee, no paperwork, no permission: every servicer must accept principal-only payments. If you don’t need a lower bill, this is the whole answer.
Recast, accept the lower required payment, and voluntarily keep sending the old $2,528.27. Your balance now tracks strategy #1 to the penny: same May 2048 finish, same $198,884 kept, minus the $250 fee. What the fee bought is a permanently lower floor: any month life gets expensive, you can drop to $2,208.67 without asking anyone. Cheap insurance if your income is lumpy; pointless if you’d never use it.
Sometimes the point isn’t the interest; it’s the bill. One income now, a new kid, retirement on the horizon: freeing $319.60 every month can matter more than finishing early. The lump still saves $61,223 against doing nothing, the rate you locked stays locked, and the loan still ends on the original date. Just make the choice with the ledger open: the relief costs $137,661 of the savings your lump could have earned.
Every tool inherits what you type here. Nothing to re-enter, nothing stored. Dollar figures are the example loan: $400,000 at 6.5% over 30 years.
Make your plan
Payoff calculator
Add $200 a month and watch $111,892 of interest die. Lump sums and milestones too.
Amortization schedule
Every payment, split into interest and principal. $200 a month deletes 67 rows.
Debt-free by date
Pick the month; it finds the smallest extra that gets there. Twenty years costs $454.03 a month.
Before retirement
Paid off at 65 instead of 71 costs $221.89 a month. Priced in birthdays, not dates.
Weigh your options
Prepay vs invest
The market has to beat your mortgage rate after tax. Both roads run to the cent.
Bi-weekly payments
Half-payments every two weeks finish 5 years 10 months sooner. The paid programs get priced too.
RecastYou are here
A $50,000 lump can cut the payment $319.60 a month. The lower payment’s price: $137,661.
Refinance
The advertised break-even says 25 payments. The honest ledger says 20. You see both.
Today’s numbers
Payoff amount
The statement says $395,529.10. The check that clears the loan says $396,515.26.
PMI removal
Asking at 80% instead of waiting for 78% keeps $2,805. Both dates, dated.
A recast (re-amortization) is simple. You make a lump-sum principal payment. Your servicer then recomputes the monthly payment on the smaller balance, over the months remaining, at your existing rate. On the example loan, $50,000 a year in drops the payment from $2,528.27 to $2,208.67. The term, the rate, and the payoff date don’t change; only the required payment does.
A refinance replaces your loan: new rate, new term, closing costs, a credit check, an appraisal. A recast keeps the loan you have and just re-spreads the smaller balance, for a small fee and no underwriting. That cuts both ways. If you locked a rate below today’s market, a recast lowers your payment without giving up that rate. That is often the whole reason to prefer it. If your rate is above market, a recast can’t fix it; run refinance math instead.
Some, but be precise about why. The lump sum saves the interest, not the recast. Put $50,000 on the example loan and pay the new lower minimum: you save $61,223 versus doing nothing. Put the same $50,000 down and keep the old payment instead: you save $198,884. The recast, taken as a lower payment, gives back $137,661 of what the lump could have earned. That can still be the right trade; it’s just a trade, not a bonus.
Decide what the money is for. If you want the loan gone and the most interest saved, prepay and keep your payment: no fee, no minimum, works on every loan. If you need the required payment lower (cash flow, one income, retirement), that’s exactly what a recast is for. Want both? Recast, then keep paying the old amount by choice. Your schedule matches plain prepaying to the penny, and the fee buys you the option to pay less in a hard month.
No. Government-backed loans (FHA, VA, USDA) generally can’t be recast; conventional loans usually can, and jumbo or portfolio loans depend on the lender. Servicers also set minimum lump sums, commonly $5,000 to $10,000. Call yours and ask for their recast (“re-amortization”) terms: the minimum, the fee, and how long processing takes.
Typically $150 to $500, charged once; some servicers waive it. Processing commonly runs several weeks to a couple of billing cycles. Keep paying your current amount until the new payment shows up on a statement; a quoted figure isn’t a changed loan.
Neither. The rate you have is the rate you keep. The final payment stays scheduled for the same month it always was: Jul 2056 on the example loan, with or without the recast. A recast changes one number: the payment. If you want the date to move, that’s what extra principal does; the payoff calculator shows it.