This page compares a new loan against the one you have — without your current loan there is nothing to compare it to. Type it in above, or record it on the home in Portfolio.
Refinancing replaces the loan you have with a new one, and you pay closing costs to do it. The break-even point is the month where the payments you have saved add up to what the switch cost you — roughly the closing costs divided by the monthly saving. Stay in the home longer than that and refinancing pays; sell or move sooner and it does not.
That is why this page asks for the loan you already have. A new rate on its own says nothing: the saving is the gap between the two rates, and the gap is what pays the closing costs back. Enter your balance, your current rate and the years you have left, or pick a home from your Portfolio that already has a loan on record.
A lower monthly payment is not automatically a win. Restarting a 30-year term part-way through your current one stretches your payoff date and can cost more interest overall, even while each month gets cheaper — this page says so when the new term runs past your current schedule. A shorter term avoids it, at a higher payment.
Closing costs typically run 2–5% of the loan, and lenders quote them differently, so the figure to compare is the one on your own Loan Estimate. Rates move, and your break-even moves with them.
Rates move — your break-even moves with them. See where today’s lenders actually are, then decide.