Student Loan Calculators

How the break-even actually works

A refinance swaps one loan for another. The new loan has its own rate and its own term, so three things change at once: the monthly payment, the total interest, and the date the debt disappears. Comparing only the monthly payment is how people talk themselves into a deal that costs more — stretching a balance over a longer term lowers the payment and raises the total.

The calculator above works out both loans month by month from the figures you enter. It shows the payment side by side, the interest each loan costs over its full term, and the total paid including any switching cost. If the lender charges a fee, the break-even point is simply that fee divided by the monthly saving: the month from which the deal is genuinely ahead. Most student loan refinancing has no origination fee, in which case the saving starts with the first payment — and the real question is no longer the money at all, but what protections the balance is leaving behind.

Where each calculator fits

Refinancing is one decision inside a much longer repayment. Before it there is the question of what your loans really cost and which order to attack them in; after it there is the payoff date, the cosigner, and the tax treatment of anything forgiven. The tools below split those questions up so each one gets a straight answer from your own numbers, not an average.