About Refi Compass
Free calculators and plain-English guides for US homeowners deciding whether to refinance, borrow against their home or buy.
What is Refi Compass?
Refi Compass is a set of free tools for comparing mortgage choices by what they cost you each month and over the time you expect to keep the loan. You can price a refinance, a cash-out refinance, a HELOC, a home equity loan, a recast, extra payments, FHA and VA loans, closing costs and more. Each tool sits on a page that explains the rules behind it and works through an example.
It is not a lender or a broker. It doesn’t sell leads, ask for your email or quote you a rate, so nothing on the site depends on which loan you pick.
What you will find here
Calculators first, with the reading they need.
- Calculators for refinancing, home equity, buying, paying off a mortgage and the costs around a loan.
- Guides that answer one question each, such as when PMI ends or what a seller pays at closing.
- A mortgage glossary with the terms on a loan estimate, each with worked figures and the questions people ask about it.
- Side-by-side comparisons, such as a HELOC against a cash-out refinance.
- The weekly average mortgage rates, updated each week from the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
How the figures are made
Every number on a page comes from the same code as the calculator.
The worked examples in the guides aren’t typed in by hand. They are computed by the calculators’ own code, and an automated test recomputes each one, so a page can’t keep quoting an old figure after the math changes. The comparison method, net cost over the years you keep the loan with a break-even that counts the equity you build, is set out on the methodology page.
Program rules come from the agencies that set them. FHA mortgage insurance follows HUD Mortgagee Letter 2023-05, the VA funding fee follows VA’s funding fee table, and consumer rules point to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Each page links to the source it relies on.
How the site is kept current
Pages are dated and revised.
Every guide and calculator shows when it was published and last updated. Pages are revised when a rule changes, when a reader reports an error, or when search data shows people asking a question the page doesn’t answer yet. The rates page is refreshed every week after the survey comes out.
Your figures stay private. The calculators run in your browser and nothing you type is sent anywhere. The privacy page lists exactly what analytics can and can’t see.
What the tools can’t do
Estimates, not offers.
The results are educational estimates from the figures you enter. They don’t check whether you qualify, and real rates, fees, taxes and insurance vary by lender and by place. Confirm every figure with a lender, and talk to a tax professional about anything tax related.
Spotted a mistake, or want a tool the site doesn’t have? Get in touch.