Debt Consolidation Refinance Calculator
Rolling your credit cards and loans into a cash-out refinance can drop your total monthly payment by a lot. This shows exactly how much, and the one long-run cost most people never get told about.
Your current mortgage
The debts you want gone
The new loan
Your monthly payment drops by
Consolidating does two things you should decide on with your eyes open. Your other debt is now secured by your home instead of unsecured, and stretching a short balance over 30 years can cost more total interest even at a lower rate. Watch the lifetime interest row above. The monthly relief is real and often worth it, especially if the plan is to keep the freed-up cash working and not run the cards back up. Just make the call on purpose.
Want me to run your actual consolidation numbers?
Leave your email and I will pull your real payment, your break even, and the honest lifetime cost for your exact debts and rate, plus whether a shorter term or a home equity loan would beat it. Refinances are the part of this work I do most, so this is the one I personally look at.
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What a debt consolidation refinance actually does
A cash-out refinance replaces your current mortgage with a bigger one. The extra cash pays off your credit cards, auto loans and other balances, so several payments at high rates collapse into one payment at a mortgage rate. On paper it is the cheapest money most people can borrow, and the drop in the total monthly outflow can be large.
The reason it works is the rate gap. Credit cards run in the twenties. A mortgage runs in the sixes or sevens. Moving a balance from one to the other is a real saving on that balance. The calculator above shows it as the difference between everything you pay today and the single new payment.
The catch nobody puts on the sales page
A credit card balance you would have cleared in three or four years gets re-spread over thirty. Even at a much lower rate, thirty years of interest on that balance can add up to more than you would have paid by grinding it out at the high rate over a short time. That is why this tool shows the lifetime interest change, not just the monthly savings. If that row is positive, you are buying monthly breathing room and paying for it over the long run.
Two ways to keep the win and shrink the catch: choose a shorter new term if the payment still fits, or throw the money you just freed up straight back at the consolidated balance instead of spending it. And the hard truth underneath all of it — if the cards go back to their old balances, you now have the card debt and a bigger mortgage. Consolidation is a tool, not a cure for the spending that built the debt.
The other option: keep your mortgage, add a home equity loan
If your current mortgage rate is already low, refinancing the whole thing to get at your equity can be a bad trade, because you would give up that low rate on the entire balance. In that case a home equity loan leaves your first mortgage alone and adds a smaller second loan just for the debt. Run both and compare.
Common questions
Is a debt consolidation refinance a good idea?
It can be, when the rate gap is large, you have the equity, and you will not simply re-run the balances. The monthly savings are real. The risks are turning unsecured debt into home-secured debt and paying more total interest by stretching a short balance over a long term. Weigh the monthly relief against the lifetime interest change above.
Will I pay more interest overall by consolidating?
You can, even at a lower rate, because a short balance gets re-spread over the mortgage term. The lifetime interest change row shows whether that is happening for your numbers. A shorter new term, or aggressively repaying the freed-up cash flow, both fight it.
How much equity do I need?
Most cash-out refinances cap the new loan around 80% of the home value, though it varies by program. Your current balance plus the debt you want to roll in has to fit under that ceiling. Leave your email and I will check your specific numbers.