What is a mortgage recast?

A mortgage recast is when a lender allows a borrower to reduce his monthly payment by making a lump sum recast payment towards the principal of the mortgage. Borrowers who do a mortgage recast will save interest payments and the overall costs for the mortgage because of lower interest payments each month. There will be no change in the interest rate or the terms for mortgage recasting. There is a recast fee that lenders charge should the borrower choose to recast his mortgage. The recast fee is usually around a few hundred dollars, but you will need to check with your bank or lender for the exact amount. A mortgage recast may save you interest payment in the long term depending on how much recast payment you want to make and the recast fees associated with it.

Extra mortgage payments

There are many other options you may have to save interest payment on a mortgage other than a mortgage recast. One method is by making extra payments to reduce your principal. You can make a one-time lump sum payment or increase your monthly payment to reduce principal. Making a lump-sum payment is essentially the same as a recast, but you avoid the recast fee that the bank charges. However, some lenders don't allow borrowers to make extra payments or to pay off their mortgages early, or they may charge a penalty for doing that. You will need to check with your bank and read the fine print of your mortgage to make sure there are no fees or penalties. Our mortgage recast calculator or the extra payment mortgage calculator to see which one saves you the most money in interest, and which option makes the most sense for your current situation.

Biweekly mortgage payments

Another option you may have is to increase the frequency of your mortgage payments. Instead of the regular monthly payments, you can choose to make bi-weekly payments. With biweekly mortgage payments, a borrower pays half of their monthly payments every 2 weeks. This is equivalent to 13 months worth of payments each year which is one more payment than the default monthly payment where a borrower makes 12 payments per year. One extra payment per year might not seem like a lot, but it actually saves you a lot on interest payments and may even cut a few years from the life of the mortgage term.

Recast vs Refinance

One other option that borrowers should consider is refinancing. If the interest rate is declining since you got your first mortgage, then refinance may be a good option. Recast allows a borrower to make a lump sum payment to reduce their mortgage balance, but keep the same interest rate and term, whereas refinance allows a borrower to get a lower interest rate. On the other hand, if you already have a low-interest rate, or if the interest rate has gone up since you bought your home, then refinance makes no sense because you won't be able to lower your monthly payments and there will be no savings on interest payments. On top of that, refinance takes longer to get approved since it is essentially the same as applying for a new loan, and the refinance costs are higher than a recast. Following is a list of the benefits of recast and refinance to help you decide which is the better option for you.

Benefits of refinancing

• Lower monthly payments - If the interest rate has gone down dramatically since you bought your home, refinance is a good option to get a lower interest rate and hence a reduced monthly payment.


• Improved credit score - If your credit score has improved and you believe that you are now qualified for a much lower interest rate, refinancing could be a good option.


• Changning terms - If you want to lower your 30-year term to a 15-year term, or switch from an adjustable-rate mortgage to a fixed interest rate, refinancing is a good way to do that.

To learn more about refinance and how much you can save, check out how much can I save by refinancing calculator. Benefits of Recast

• Lower costs - Recasting a mortgage has a much lower fee than refinancing.


• Shorter approval process - You may or may not qualify to refinance your mortgage, but you are most likely to get approved for a recast. Since recast is more like you ask your lender to recalculate your amortization schedule for your monthly payments, it doesn't require you to provide income proof or credit score checks like refinance does, the approval process is much shorter.

Is recasting worth it?

If you received a big amount of money, either from an inheritance, a bonus from your job, or proceeds from selling another house, and your lender does not allow you to pay off your mortgage without penalty, then recasting might be the best option for you. Otherwise, you may consider making extra payments or increasing the payment frequency since recasting does not lower your interest rate and the mortgage term. Use our mortgage recast calculator with amortization schedule to see exactly how much you will save with mortgage recasting against your original mortgage. You will also see the recast amortization schedule that shows you the new lower monthly payments.