DEBT STRATEGY • PURCHASE • REFINANCE
What Is Your Debt Really Costing You?
Your mortgage or rent is only one part of your financial picture. Compare your housing and other debts together, then explore how buying, moving, or refinancing could change monthly cash flow, blended borrowing cost, and your path forward.
Important Planning Disclosure
Understand the structure before you act on the payment.
This calculator is for educational planning only. It does not determine qualification, approval, available loan programs, property eligibility, interest rate, APR, suitability, or whether a debt strategy should be used. Lower required payments can result from longer repayment, higher total interest, closing costs, or converting unsecured debt into debt secured by real estate. Purchase scenarios that show a debt as paid separately assume a permitted source other than purchase mortgage proceeds.
START HERE
What are you trying to understand?
Choose the path that matches the decision in front of you. The two journeys share the same debt mathematics but answer different questions.
STEP 1 • TODAY
Start with what housing costs you now.
Use your current rent or total mortgage-related housing payment. We will add your other debts next.
STEP 2 • YOUR OTHER DEBTS
Build the complete monthly debt picture.
Add credit cards, auto loans, personal loans, student loans, HELOCs, or other debts. If you have no other debt, continue without adding another row.
STEP 3 • POSSIBLE HOME
What are you considering buying?
Enter the core financing assumptions first. Property taxes, insurance, HOA, and mortgage insurance can be added below so the housing estimate is more complete.
Add property-specific costs
STEP 4 • PURCHASE DEBT STRATEGY
Compare the whole monthly picture—not rent versus mortgage alone.
The result below uses the debt outcomes you selected. Debts marked “Paid separately” are assumed satisfied from another permitted source, not from purchase mortgage proceeds.
Property-specific assumptions will appear here.
A higher housing payment can still result in a much smaller change to the household's total monthly obligations if other debts are changing. The calculator does not decide whether those debts can or should be paid.
Educational estimate only. This is not a mortgage approval, rate quote, Loan Estimate, financial plan, debt-management plan, or commitment to lend.
STEP 1 • YOUR HOME TODAY
Start with the mortgage you already have.
Use principal-and-interest payment here. Property taxes, insurance, and HOA generally remain outside the debt restructuring comparison.
STEP 2 • OTHER DEBTS
What else is competing for your monthly cash flow?
Add each debt separately. The blended rate is weighted by balance, so the individual high-rate debts still matter even when the overall blended rate looks modest.
STEP 3 • TEST THE STRUCTURE
Model a new mortgage without pretending the lower payment is the whole answer.
Use the checkboxes on your debts to decide which balances are included. The tool calculates the modeled new loan amount automatically.
Closing-cost treatment will appear here.
STEP 4 • REFINANCE DEBT STRATEGY
See the required-payment change, then test what happens if you do not spend the difference.
Lower required payments do not automatically mean lower lifetime cost. A refinance can extend repayment, add closing costs, and convert unsecured debt into debt secured by your home. The same-payment scenario above is a modeled behavior choice, not a promised outcome.
Educational estimate only. LTV shown here is arithmetic, not a statement that a loan program allows the modeled leverage. Actual options depend on credit, income, assets, property, occupancy, seasoning, loan program, pricing, underwriting, and other requirements.
WHY THIS TOOL EXISTS
A mortgage rate is not a household balance sheet.
A low mortgage rate can coexist with expensive revolving or installment debt. A higher future mortgage rate can also make a move materially more expensive. The useful comparison is the complete structure: payment, rate, debt balances, term, equity, liquidity, and what happens next.
For Consumers
Replace isolated payment comparisons with a clearer view of the obligations competing for monthly cash flow.
For Real Estate Agents
Use the tool to educate homeowners and buyers before assuming a low mortgage rate or high consumer debt automatically determines the next move.
For Financial Advisors
Create a cleaner starting point for discussing mortgage debt in the context of the household's broader liabilities and liquidity.
FROM CALCULATOR TO STRATEGY
The number should start the conversation—not make the decision for you.
Use the calculator to identify what deserves a closer look. Then test the actual financing, equity, qualification, cash, and long-term tradeoffs before acting.