How Much FHA Cash-Out Lends When You Just Meet the Case Number Date

The Quick Read: Meeting the date earns you eligibility, not extra cash. The 12-month ownership and occupancy test counts back from the day the lender requests your FHA case number, not from closing. The loan amount comes from a separate formula: 80% of the home’s adjusted value, the county loan limit, and what the new loan must pay off first. Someone who clears 12 months by a single day gets the same ceiling as someone who has owned for ten years, subject to lender guidelines and full file review.

What Does “Just Meeting the Date” Actually Mean?

You meet the date when you have owned the home and lived in it as your principal residence for the 12 months before your case number is assigned. A case number is the identifier FHA gives each loan. Your lender requests it early in the process, and that request date is the anchor.

Across the wholesale programs Lendmire places files with, the FHA cash-out refinance has a loan-to-value ceiling that applies to a home owned and occupied for 12 months before the case number. This article covers the narrower question: what happens to the dollar amount when your timing is tight.

The short answer: nothing changes. Timing is a gate. You are either through it or you are not. Once through, the gate has no say in how much you borrow.

How Is the Loan Amount Actually Set?

Three limits decide the amount, and the lowest one wins.

1. The 80% cap. HUD Mortgagee Letter 2019-11 lowered the maximum loan-to-value and combined loan-to-value on FHA cash-out refinances to 80 percent. It applies to case numbers assigned on or after September 1, 2019. The percentage is measured against adjusted value, which is the appraised value after HUD’s adjustments.

2. The county loan limit. FHA limits are set by county and change every year. County loan limits apply, and for most homes the 80% cap bites first.

3. What the new loan must pay off. Your existing mortgage, any other liens on the home, and any costs you finance all come out of the same 80% before a dollar reaches you.

Many borrowers still carry an older number in their heads. The cap was once 85%, and before that FHA had allowed far more. HUD’s archived announcement says cash-out loans made up 64 percent of FHA-insured refinances, and it gave that as the reason for the cut. Any older material that still shows 85% is out of date.

How Do You Count the Date?

Count back from the day the case number is requested. Closing day plays no part. Neither does the day you signed an application.

Picture three borrowers who bought on the same calendar day:

• Borrower one has the case number requested exactly on the 12-month anniversary of the purchase. Lenders generally want a clean full year, so this borrower is at the edge. Many lenders would rather see the request land a little past the anniversary.
• Borrower two applies a month before the anniversary, but the lender waits to request the case number until after it. This borrower is fine. The application date is not the test.
• Borrower three applies a month before the anniversary, and the lender requests the case number that same month, before the 12 months are complete. This file fails the test. The borrower has to wait until the full 12 months have passed and start over with a new case number.

The practical lesson is simple. Ask your loan officer when the case number will be ordered, and ask them to hold it until you are safely past the date. Applying early is fine. Ordering early is the mistake.

What Else Has to Be True on That Date?

Clearing the clock is one test of several. A lender will also look at these items:

• Occupancy proof. Lenders typically want employment records or utility bills at the property address showing you lived there.
• Payment history. HUD Mortgagee Letter 2020-30 says a payment counts as delinquent if it is not paid within the month due. For a cash-out, you must show payments made within the month due for the previous 12 months, or since the mortgage began if that is shorter. The payment for the month before disbursement must also be on time. The test covers every mortgage secured by the property, not only the FHA loan.
• Credit and ratios. Across the wholesale programs Lendmire places files with, the FHA programs start at a 580 decision score. The base debt-to-income pair is 31/43 (housing and total), and documented compensating factors can reach 40/50 at the top tier. The automated finding governs most files.

That payment-history rule trips up borrowers who focus only on the calendar. One payment made after the month it was due can make a file ineligible, even with a perfect ownership record.

What Does “Just Meeting It” Do to Your Cash?

It does nothing to the formula. It can change the paperwork, since a borrower at the edge has less history to show, so the lender may lean harder on occupancy documents.

Here is how the cash is sized, in words. Start with the adjusted value from the appraisal. Take 80% of it. That is the most the new loan can be, before the county limit is applied. Subtract what the new loan must retire: your current mortgage balance and any other liens. Subtract the costs you choose to finance. What remains is the cash that can reach you.

Two things move that figure far more than your timing:

• The appraisal. A lower appraised value shrinks the 80% ceiling, and the cash with it. Your payoff stays fixed, so the whole drop in the ceiling comes out of your cash, and that drop is a larger share of the cash than of the loan.
• Financed costs. Costs rolled into the loan use up the same room. The CFPB’s research on cash-out refinances notes that borrowers commonly use proceeds to pay closing costs. You will see this on the Loan Estimate as “Closing Costs Financed (Paid from your Loan Amount),” per Regulation Z § 1026.37, alongside the cash to close.

The mortgage insurance also matters. FHA charges an upfront premium of 1.75% of the base loan, which can be financed. It also carries an annual premium between 0.15% and 0.75% of the balance, depending on term, loan amount and loan-to-value. On a thirty-year loan with a higher loan-to-value, the annual premium lasts for the term. At lower loan-to-value levels, it ends after eleven years. A cash-out at the 80% cap falls in the lower group. Those are program facts, not prices, and the upfront premium is financed on top of the capped base loan.

One more honest point: a larger balance means a larger monthly payment, and your equity shrinks. At the cap, at least 20 percent of the home’s value stays as equity. Weigh that before you decide how much to take.

Where the Rule Breaks

The general rule has named exceptions and neighbors. Know which one you are in.

• Inherited homes. The 12-month occupancy period is waived only if you have never treated the home as an investment property since inheriting it. If you rented it out after inheriting, you must occupy it for 12 months first. This comes from handbook text reproduced by third parties, so confirm it with your lender.
• Free-and-clear homes. A home with no mortgage can still qualify. There is no payment history to test.
• Short mortgage history. Older HUD guidance treated loans under six months old as ineligible for cash-out. Current handbook text focuses on every payment being made within the month due. Lender overlays may add more.
• Forbearance. HUD sets separate payment counts after a forbearance. Ask your lender how they apply to you, because the counts are detailed.
• Divorce, separation or death. Carve-outs exist when someone comes off title. The specifics vary, so ask your loan officer to walk through your documents.
• Second homes and rentals. Cash-out is for a principal residence. Occupancy decides the leverage, so a non-owner-occupied property falls outside this program.
• Manufactured homes. The home must have been permanently installed on its site for more than 12 months before the case number.

Lenders may also add their own rules on top of HUD’s minimums. Some set stricter timing or payment-history standards, so a file that works with one lender can stall with another.

What Are Your Options If You Are a Few Days Short?

You have three realistic paths.

If you are only days short, waiting is the simplest path. The clock keeps running while you keep paying on time. Ask the lender to order the case number once you are past the line.

A Streamline refinances an existing FHA loan with no appraisal, a limited credit review and a net tangible benefit, and the mortgage insurance premium continues. It cannot put cash in your hand. A rate-and-term refinance with an appraisal reaches 97.75% on a principal residence occupied for the previous twelve months. It pays off your loan without cashing out, and the leverage differs from the cash-out’s 80%. Compare the full terms on each Loan Estimate before you choose.

Mistakes to Avoid

• Assuming the 12 months run from closing.
• Letting the lender order the case number early.
• Planning around an 85% or 95% cap from an old article.
• Treating the date as a promise of the maximum amount.
• Missing the month-before-disbursement payment.
• Ignoring a second lien that eats your room.

Key Terms Defined

Case number: The identifier FHA assigns to a loan, requested by your lender, which anchors the timing test.

Adjusted value: The appraised value after HUD’s adjustments, used to measure the 80% cap.

Loan-to-value (LTV): The loan balance divided by the home’s value, shown as a percentage.

Combined loan-to-value (CLTV): All loans secured by the home, added together, divided by its value.

Seasoning: The waiting period a loan or ownership must meet before a new refinance is allowed.

Cash-out refinance: A new, larger mortgage that pays off the old one and gives you the difference in cash.

If you are weighing a cash-out refinance against keeping the loan you have, Lendmire can help you compare the programs and the equity each one reaches. Quote requests start with a call to 828-256-2183.

For your own numbers, request a scenario review with Lendmire.

About Lendmire

Lendmire (NMLS# 2371349) is a mortgage broker licensed for consumer lending in 16 states. Lendmire arranges FHA, VA, conventional and jumbo purchase and refinance loans through wholesale lenders; every file is underwritten by the lender under the applicable program guidelines. Scotsman Guide named Lendmire a Top Mortgage Workplace in both 2025 and 2026.

References

1. HUD Mortgagee Letter 2019-11

2. HUD archived press release pr19-114

3. HUD Mortgagee Letter 2020-30

4. CFPB research on cash-out refinances and paydown behavior

5. CFPB Regulation Z § 1026.37