Mortgage Points Calculator
Buying discount points lowers your rate — but only pays off if you keep the loan long enough. Enter your loan and the points to see the cost, your monthly savings, and exactly when you break even.
Results
Break-Even
—
Saved / mo
$0
Rate w/ Points
6.750%
How Buying Points Works
A point costs 1% of your loan and buys down your rate — usually about 0.25% per point. The decision is a simple break-even:
Break-Even Months = Cost of Points ÷ Monthly Savings
Worked example
On a $320,000 loan at 7% over 30 years, buying 1 point ($3,200) cuts the rate to 6.75%. The payment drops from about $2,129 to $2,076, saving roughly $53 a month — so you break even in about 60 months. Keep the loan past five years and the point pays off; refinance sooner and it doesn't.
Comparing points across loans is really a question of how long you'll hold the financing. If a refinance may be on the horizon, run the refinance break-even too, and check the underlying payment with the mortgage calculator.