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Cash-Out Refi Waterfall

Written in-house · editorially graded

Every SkillsBank offering is written in-house — never scraped or crowd-sourced — and graded against a fixed editorial rubric in a separate grading step.

Dry-run test passed · Aug 20, 2026

Editorially graded · Aug 20, 2026

Turns a homeowner's current loan and new-quote details into a client-ready PDF plus a live-formula Excel model showing true net cash-out proceeds, PMI re-trigger risk under the Homeowners Protection Act, acquisition-vs-cash-out tranche allocation for the IRS interest-deductibility cap, break-even, and NPV. Use when a homeowner is weighing a cash-out refinance and a simple old-payment-vs-new-payment comparison won't capture the PMI trap or the tax-deductibility split.

What you get

A ready-to-paste prompt you can drop into your AI. Produces a PDF and an Excel workbook (.xlsx).

Works in
Claude · ChatGPT · Gemini
Paste it in, fill the [brackets]
Any AI assistant
Works anywhere you can paste text

See it in action

A real input → output sample

Example Input
A homeowner is considering a cash-out refi. Their current loan has a balance of $287,400, a rate of 6.875%, and a monthly P&I of $1,890. The home is now worth $610,000. They've been quoted 6.125% on a new 30-yr fixed loan with $0 points, $7,800 in closing costs to be financed, and $4,200 in prepaids/escrows. They want $45,000 in cash out to pay off a credit card and fund a new roof.
Example Output
The cash-out refi analysis shows net proceeds of $45,000, a new monthly payment of $2,086, and an NPV of +$30,267 over 8 years. The new loan has an LTV of 56.4% with no PMI. The tax shield is estimated at $4,632 if itemizing. Debt consolidation comparison shows ~$3,525 in savings over 47 months by rolling the credit card into the mortgage.

Questions

What information do I need to provide?

Your current loan balance, rate, and remaining term; the new loan quote (rate, term, points, closing costs); your home's current value; loan type (conventional/FHA/VA); PMI status; tax bracket; and what you plan to use the cash for. It mines any statements or loan estimates you provide first.

What do I actually get?

A 5-page client-ready PDF covering net proceeds, PMI risk, payment comparison, tax-shield analysis, and break-even/NPV, plus an editable Excel workbook with amortization schedules, tranche allocation, and live formulas you can adjust as your numbers change.

What happens if I don't have all the details, like my exact new rate or tax bracket?

It proceeds anyway using clearly labeled assumptions (e.g., a flagged 'assumed rate' cell, a 22% bracket shown alongside a no-tax-shield case) and lists every assumption it made in a gap note at the end, closing with a count of items still needing your input.

Does this just compare my old and new payment like a typical refinance calculator?

No — it's built specifically for cash-out refinances. It also models PMI re-triggering from higher loan-to-value under the Homeowners Protection Act, and splits your new loan into deductible acquisition debt versus non-deductible cash-out debt per IRS rules, both of which a plain payment comparison misses.

Can I edit the numbers myself after I get the files?

Yes. The Excel workbook is fully unlocked with no passwords, and every rate, fee, and assumption traces back to an Inputs tab, so you can plug in your actual lender quote or updated figures and watch the amortization, tax, and NPV tabs recalculate.

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