Line up your rate options and see which one wins.
Every rate on a rate sheet carries its own price. A lower rate costs money up front; a higher rate can hand you a credit toward closing. There’s rarely a clean “free” rate in the middle — so drop in up to five real options and this ranks them by what they’ll actually cost you over how long you keep the loan.
This is one of my favorite things to talk through with clients, precisely because there’s no right answer — only a right answer for you. Notice there’s no true “par” rate that costs exactly zero: every option on a real rate sheet is either paying points or handing back a credit. So the honest question isn’t “should I buy points from zero” — it’s “among these real options, which one costs me the least for as long as I actually keep this loan.” The math here settles exactly that: it stacks each option’s up-front cost or credit on top of its monthly payment and ranks them for your time horizon. Everything after that is judgment — how long you’ll really keep the loan, where you think rates are headed, and what else that cash could be doing. I built this to hand you the honest ranking and then get out of the way, because the decision past that point is yours to make, not mine to sell.
— Matt Mergo · NMLS #563819This calculator is an educational estimate, not a rate quote or loan offer. For each option it computes the principal-and-interest payment at that rate, adds the cost you pay (or subtracts the credit you receive) up front, and ranks the options by total principal, interest, and up-front cost over the time you keep the loan. It does not account for the time value of money, taxes, insurance, remaining loan balance at payoff, or what the upfront cash could earn or cost elsewhere. Real rate, point, and credit pricing changes daily and depends on your full scenario. Forest Hills Mortgage · Matt Mergo, NMLS #563819. Equal Housing Opportunity.
Reviewed July 2026 · Matt Mergo, NMLS #563819