Current refinance guidelines, updated from one source.
One guideline source per program feeds every number here, and the page updates when a source does. Read the four cards as the program’s settings, not an offer: how far a conventional refinance may reach as a share of value, where mortgage insurance begins and ends, what an FHA streamline and a VA IRRRL ask of the loan being replaced, and where the credit floor and the ratio ceiling sit.
One-unit principal residence; mortgage insurance above 80%
The conventional rate-and-term refinance reaches 95% loan-to-value on the home the borrower lives in, with 97% only on the first-time-buyer programs for an agency-owned loan. It rolls in the old balance, the costs, and a purchase-money second; paying a non-purchase-money second or a credit line through it makes it a cash-out. Mortgage insurance begins above 80%; the owner may cancel it at 80% of the original value, and it falls away by itself at 78%.
An existing FHA loan, refinanced with a net tangible benefit and a limited credit review
The streamline is the lightest refinance FHA offers: no appraisal, a limited credit review, and a requirement that the new loan deliver a net tangible benefit, tested against the loan being replaced and its payment history. The premium continues. Where an appraisal is used, FHA’s rate-and-term reaches 97.75% on an owner-occupied principal residence.
An existing VA loan, no VA appraisal; seasoning of 210 days and six payments
An existing VA loan can be refinanced to a lower rate or from an adjustable to a fixed rate through the IRRRL: a 0.5% funding fee that can be financed and that exempt veterans do not pay, no appraisal required by VA, a net tangible benefit, and seasoning of 210 days and six payments on the loan being replaced. The home may be a primary, second, or investment property where the veteran previously occupied it.
DTI to 50%; jumbo from 660 on its lanes
Score and ratio for a Collierville refinance: 620 is the conventional floor, 50% the automated ratio ceiling, and the finding weighs the rest of the file. The jumbo lanes, for balances above the conforming limit, start at 660, reach 90% of value on the headline lane, lend to $5,000,000, and hold the ratio to 50% on the fixed lanes with reserves per the lane.
| Program | Loan being replaced / occupancy | Maximum LTV | Conditions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conventional rate-and-term (Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac) | One-unit principal residence | 95% | limited cash-out: the old loan, the closing costs and a purchase-money second roll in, incidental cash only; 97% where the existing loan is agency-owned and the first-time-buyer program allows; mortgage insurance above 80% |
| FHA streamline | Existing FHA-insured loan | No LTV test | appraisal not required; net tangible benefit; limited credit review; the previous loan’s seasoning and payment history apply; FHA mortgage insurance continues |
| FHA rate-and-term | Principal residence (owner-occupied the previous twelve months) | 97.75% | with an appraisal and full credit review; FHA mortgage insurance on the new loan |
| VA IRRRL | Existing VA loan; a home the veteran previously occupied | No LTV test | 0.5% funding fee (financeable; exempt veterans pay none); no VA appraisal; net tangible benefit; seasoning the later of 210 days and six payments |
| Jumbo rate-and-term (wholesale lanes) | Above the conforming limit | 90% | 660+ score on the headline lane, loans to $5,000,000, DTI to 50% on the fixed lanes; reserves and the appraisal count per the lane |
A refinance that returns cash is a cash-out refinance and is covered by the conventional, FHA, VA and jumbo cash-out programs; a line of credit that leaves the first mortgage in place is the HELOC program. Each carries its own leverage and its own rules.
Current refinance snapshot · updated October 3, 2026 · a refinance replaces the whole loan and restarts the term unless a shorter term is chosen · closing costs are paid from the loan or at closing and are recovered only through the monthly saving · conforming limits apply by county and are confirmed by a Lendmire loan officer · Lendmire is a broker licensed in sixteen states for consumer mortgages, never the lender.
No offer is made here and no credit is extended. Leverage, insurance lines, benefit tests, seasoning, credit floors, and ratios are program guidelines and lender overlays, subject to change without notice; the rate in the calculator is a published weekly average used only to illustrate a payment and a break-even. A licensed Lendmire loan officer provides the terms for a specific refinance in writing. Lendmire LLC, NMLS #2371349, mortgage broker licensed in sixteen states for consumer mortgages. Equal Housing Opportunity.
What a rate-and-term refinance is — and how the file is qualified.
Four questions decide a Collierville refinance file: what the new loan replaces and what it may include, which program fits the mortgage already on the home, whether the saving recovers the cost and passes the program’s benefit test, and whether the owner actually wants cash, in which case this is the wrong page. Each one is answered in turn.
For the program overview, see Lendmire’s refinance program, or the statewide guide at Refinance in Tennessee; when the goal is cash, see the cash-out refinance program.
One new loan replaces the old one
Mechanically the file is a payoff and a new note. The lender orders the payoff of the existing first mortgage, adds the closing costs and the prepaid items if the borrower rolls them in, includes a purchase-money second where one exists, and writes a new loan for the total on the chosen term. The homeowner keeps the home and the equity and exchanges the old terms for the new.
Four programs, one question: which applies
The loan already on the home decides the route. A conventional loan, or an FHA loan whose owner wants the premium gone, refinances conventionally, with an appraisal and the leverage in the snapshot. An existing FHA loan that will stay FHA uses the streamline. An existing VA loan uses the IRRRL. A balance above the conforming limit uses the jumbo lanes, whatever the loan was before.
The benefit test and the break-even
Every refinance answers one question: does the saving recover the cost? The break-even is the closing costs divided by the monthly saving, and a Collierville owner who will not keep the loan that long should not refinance. The FHA streamline and the VA IRRRL add a formal net tangible benefit test, and VA requires the costs to be recouped within its window where the new loan does not exceed the payoff.
When the goal is cash, not terms
Equity can be borrowed two ways, by replacing the first mortgage with a larger one or by adding a line behind it, and neither is a rate-and-term refinance. When the question in Collierville is how much cash the home can release, the answer is in the cash-out guides; when the existing first mortgage is worth keeping, it is in the HELOC guide. This page covers the loan that changes terms and nothing else.
Nothing in the formula is a quote. The new rate is a published weekly benchmark you can overwrite, the costs are your estimate, and the result is the shape of a Collierville refinance, not its terms: the loan, the payment, the saving, the break-even, and the interest comparison, which a loan officer then prices in writing.
Where Collierville’s mortgages were written — and what a refinance changes.
The Census figures below frame a Collierville refinance file. Ownership says how much of the market holds a mortgage that can be rewritten, the median value says how much room a typical balance has under the leverage cap, and household income says what ratio a typical payment produces.
Read the figures as backdrop. Higher values mean more room under the leverage cap and an easier exit from mortgage insurance; higher balances relative to value mean less. The percentages do not move with the market; what they allow does.
Data sources: U.S. Census Bureau — ACS 5-Year (2024) housing and population estimates, including tenure, home values, gross rents, and household income.
Distinct Collierville neighborhoods, distinct refinance questions.
The Collierville submarkets below show where the mortgages sit and what a refinance there asks: the program the existing loan points to, the value the cap is tested against, and the costs the saving has to recover.
Rentals and duplexes
The small-rental refinance in Collierville is the ordinary file with the occupancy’s own leverage and the lease in the documents. The IRRRL serves a veteran’s former home now rented; the conventional route serves the rest; cash out of a rental is a different program with its own guide. Roughly 14,513 Collierville households own their homes on the latest Census estimate — 80% of all households, the pool a refinance draws on.
Homes paid off, or close to it
When the balance is nearly gone, the cost of closing a refinance can exceed the interest left to save, and the review says as much. A Collierville owner near the end of a loan is usually better served by finishing it, and an owner who wants to borrow against the home is served by the cash-out and HELOC guides rather than this one. The median owner-occupied home value in Collierville runs near $485,900 on the latest Census estimate.
Thin comparable sales
Thin sales data is a Collierville fact the refinance has to live with. Where the balance is small against any reasonable value, thin data changes nothing. Where the loan is near the mortgage insurance line, a conservative appraisal can keep the premium on for another year. The loan officer plans for the cautious number. On a one-unit principal residence at Collierville’s median value, a conventional rate-and-term refinance at the leverage cap allows a new loan up to $462,000 where the county limit allows it, and that loan may pay off the existing loan, the closing costs, and a purchase-money second lien.
Manufactured and unusual homes
Eligibility comes before arithmetic on an unusual Collierville property. A manufactured home on a permanent foundation with the title retired to real property can refinance on the routes that accept it; a log home, a mixed-use building, or a property with a farming use is reviewed on its own facts. The program decides first, the appraisal second. Collierville is home to about 52K people.
Older homes with long tenure
On a small balance the monthly saving from a refinance is small too, and the closing costs can take years to recover; a Collierville owner with a modest loan should read the break-even before anything else. Where the refinance pays, it is usually by shortening the term or fixing a rate, not by lowering a payment that is already low. Median household income in Collierville sits near $138,598 on the latest Census estimate.
Fixing a rate, shortening a term
In a market of long tenure, the refinance that pays is usually the shorter term, which cuts the interest on a loan the owner has carried for a decade, or the fixed rate, which ends the resets on an adjustable loan. A lower payment on a small remaining balance rarely recovers its costs, and the Collierville review says as much. About 20% of Collierville’s households rent — roughly 3,648 renter households on the latest Census estimate.
The rules do not change with the street. Every Collierville file is checked the same way: the loan being replaced against the program, the new loan against the cap where a value test applies, the costs against the saving, and the borrower against the score and the ratio.
Four reasons Collierville homeowners rewrite the mortgage.
The purpose of a refinance decides its shape. The four cards below take the common Collierville purposes one at a time: what the homeowner is after, which program delivers it, and the figure in the file that decides whether it works.
Shorten the term
A shorter term is the refinance that costs more each month and less in total. The ratio is tested on the new, higher payment, the appraisal and the cap apply as on any conventional file, and the saving shows up as interest avoided rather than as cash in the budget. The calculator sets the interest over the new term beside what remains on the old loan.
Remove or add a borrower
After a divorce, a death, or a change in who lives in the home, a refinance rewrites the note in the right names. Removing a borrower is a rate-and-term refinance when no cash changes hands through the loan; paying a departing co-owner their share through the new loan is a cash-out, or a special-purpose refinance with its own rules, and belongs to a different program.
Get rid of mortgage insurance
FHA mortgage insurance stays with an FHA loan, including a streamline, so shedding it means a conventional refinance with the new loan at or below the no-insurance line. Private mortgage insurance on a conventional loan ends by request at the published line or on its own at the lower one, which may make a refinance unnecessary; a Collierville loan officer checks both before ordering anything.
Lower the monthly payment
A lower payment comes from a lower rate, a longer term, or both. The first is a saving; the second is a loan stretched across more years, which can cost more in interest even as the payment falls. The break-even on the costs and the interest comparison over the two terms are the figures that separate a refinance that pays from one that only feels like it does.
Estimate the new payment and the break-even on a Collierville home before requesting a quote.
Start with what you know about the Collierville loan: the balance, the rate, the years left, and the costs you expect. Then pick the program and the new term. The result shows the new payment, the monthly change, and the months to recover the costs. It also shows the interest over the new term against what the current loan still owes. Every field is editable and nothing here is a quote.
Collierville refinance savings and break-even estimate
The defaults describe a typical Collierville home, not yours; enter the balance, the current rate, the years remaining, and the costs you expect.
Editable benchmark: 7.28% as of October 1, 2026 · Freddie Mac 30-year average via FRED®. A conventional market reference, not a refinance quote.
Illustrative starting assumptions: a $485,000 home value near Collierville’s median owner-occupied value, a $340,000 current balance, a current rate you enter and a remaining term seeded at twenty-five years, closing costs seeded at $7,000 as an editable placeholder (not a fee quote) and rolled into the new loan, a thirty-year term at the current Freddie Mac benchmark, and property taxes and insurance estimated for Tennessee (U.S. Census Bureau). Every field is editable.
Illustrative estimate only — not a Loan Estimate, approval, quote, or commitment to lend. The new rate field carries the weekly Freddie Mac thirty-year conventional benchmark, a market reference and not a refinance quote; a refinance is priced by the lender at lock, and the current rate, the remaining term and the closing costs are figures you enter. The current payment is estimated from the balance, the current rate and the remaining term; the break-even divides the closing costs by the monthly saving and ignores the interest effect of a longer term. On the VA IRRRL the funding fee is added to the loan unless the veteran is exempt. Taxes and insurance are editable estimates. Licensed in sixteen states for consumer mortgages; Lendmire is a broker, never the lender.
Same home, four ways to refinance it.
Which refinance fits depends on the loan being replaced, the balance, and what the owner wants from the new loan. The cards compare the conventional route, the government streamlines, and the jumbo lanes on the same Collierville questions: the appraisal, the leverage, the insurance, the fee, and the review.
Conventional, streamline, or jumbo.
The conventional rate-and-term refinance replaces whatever first mortgage is on the home with an agency loan: value tested by appraisal, leverage capped as in the snapshot, mortgage insurance ending at the line, the old loan and the costs inside the new balance. It asks the most of the file and reaches the most homeowners, including FHA borrowers ready to shed the premium. See the conventional loan program.
The government streamlines refinance the government loan already on the home and nothing else. FHA loans go to FHA loans with no appraisal and a limited review. VA loans go to VA loans with no VA appraisal, the fee inside the loan, and a benefit test. Both follow the agency’s seasoning clock. They are the quickest route to a lower payment or a fixed rate for an eligible Collierville owner, and the wrong route for shedding FHA insurance. See the FHA and VA programs.
Above the conforming limit the agencies step aside and the wholesale jumbo lanes take over: a higher score floor, leverage set by the lane, reserves measured in months of payments, and a second appraisal on the largest loans. The rate-and-term jumbo refinance fits a Collierville owner whose balance the conforming limit cannot hold, on a fixed, adjustable, or interest-only structure. See the jumbo loan program.
Refinance conventionally when the loan is conventional, when an FHA premium should end, or when a borrower must come off a loan the streamline cannot serve; use the FHA streamline or the VA IRRRL when the loan is already FHA or VA and the goal is a lower payment or a fixed rate; go to the jumbo lanes when the balance is above the limit. Go to the cash-out guides when the goal is cash.
What to prepare for a Collierville scenario review.
A conventional refinance documents income, assets, the property, and the loan being replaced; a streamline or an IRRRL documents mostly the loan being replaced. Here is the full set a Collierville review may ask for, so nothing waits on paperwork.
This is a general preparation guide, not a universal checklist. The selected lender may request additional information based on the transaction, the property, the automated finding, and the income picture. Nothing here is legal or tax advice.
Local details that can change the loan.
A handful of details decide whether a Collierville refinance closes as planned, closes on different terms, or should not close at all. These are the ones that come up most.
Use these checks to keep the Collierville file clean and fundable.
Before the appraisal is ordered: run the break-even on realistic costs, compare the interest over the new term with what remains on the old loan, and confirm which program the existing loan points to for the Collierville home.
- Run the break-even: Compare the break-even with how long you expect to keep the loan.
- Weigh the reset: Read the interest comparison in the calculator before choosing the term.
- Check the limit: The county conforming limit decides agency or jumbo.
The costs are recovered only through the saving
A refinance that saves a modest amount each month against substantial costs can take years to pay for itself. The rule is simple: if the months to break even exceed the months the owner expects to keep the loan, the refinance does not pay, whatever the new payment looks like. A Lendmire review states the break-even in writing before any fee.
The term starts over unless you choose a shorter one
Resetting the term is the quiet cost of most refinances. The payment falls because the balance is spread across more years, and the interest paid over the life of the loan rises for the same reason. The fix is a shorter new term, which raises the payment back toward the old one and keeps the interest saving; the review runs both versions for the Collierville owner.
Above the conforming limit the jumbo lanes apply
Jumbo rate-and-term refinances follow the lane: the headline lane’s score floor and loan-to-value cap in the snapshot, reserves per the lane, and a second appraisal above the lane’s threshold. Fixed, adjustable, and interest-only structures exist. The Collierville review places the loan against the county limit first and chooses the lane second.
Condominiums add the project review on the conventional and jumbo routes
A conventional or jumbo refinance of a Collierville condominium adds the agencies’ project review to the file: the association’s budget, insurance, and investor share are checked before the appraised value is applied to the loan-to-value cap. Established buildings usually pass; newer or investor-heavy ones draw questions. The FHA streamline and the VA IRRRL do not re-review the project.
The appraisal decides the conventional and jumbo routes
A conventional or jumbo refinance is sized on an appraisal, and the value it reports sets the loan-to-value, the cap, and the insurance line at once. A value below the plan can move a Collierville file over the insurance line or past the cap, or push it toward a streamline instead. The streamline and the IRRRL skip the appraisal, which is part of their appeal.
From a Collierville scenario review to a new first payment.
The order matters because the review is free and the appraisal is not. A Lendmire refinance starts with the arithmetic, continues to the application only when the arithmetic works, and orders the appraisal only when the written terms are agreed. Here is the sequence for a Collierville home.
Scenario review
Start with the balance, the current rate, the years remaining, the value, the score, and the costs. A Lendmire loan officer identifies the program the existing loan points to, runs the new payment, the saving, the break-even, and the interest comparison, and provides the terms in writing before anything is ordered.
Application and automated finding
The application goes to the selected wholesale program and the automated finding comes back with the documentation the file needs; the FHA streamline and the VA IRRRL follow their own limited review instead. The finding sets the ratio ceiling and often trims the paperwork; the loan officer reads it before the appraisal is ordered.
Appraisal and underwriting
Value first, then verification. On a conventional or jumbo refinance the appraisal is the one input the Collierville owner cannot control; on a streamline or an IRRRL there is none. Underwriting reads the finding’s conditions, the payoff, and the benefit test where it applies, and, where the file supports it, approves the loan on the terms the review set out.
Closing, rescission, and funding
The closing documents are signed, and on a principal residence the rescission period runs before the old loan is paid off and the new one funds. The Collierville owner’s first payment on the new loan follows the funding date; the old loan’s final interest is in the closing figures, and nothing is skipped or forgiven.
A brokerage that runs the break-even honestly.
Why Collierville owners bring a refinance to a brokerage: the programs are compared side by side, conventional, the streamlines, and jumbo, on the same numbers; the file is placed with the wholesale program that fits it rather than the only one a lender sells; and the answer, including the answer not to refinance, is given in writing first.
The break-even, run before anything else
The arithmetic is run on the owner’s own figures before an application exists: the saving, the months to break even, the term reset. When the refinance does not pay, the recommendation is to wait, and that recommendation is given as readily as the other.
Shopped across wholesale programs
Lendmire places the file with the wholesale program that fits it, conventional, FHA, VA, or jumbo, rather than with the one program a single lender sells. A Collierville refinance is compared on the same numbers across programs before a route is chosen.
Terms in writing, before any fee
Written terms before the appraisal is the rule on every Collierville refinance Lendmire arranges: the program, the term, the loan, the payment, and the break-even on paper, agreed, and only then the order. The streamlines, with no appraisal to order, settle the whole plan on paper.
Trusted by homeowners & families alike.
Collierville refinance FAQs
Plain answers to the questions Collierville homeowners ask most about refinancing, in the order they usually ask them.
What is a rate-and-term refinance, and how is it different from a cash-out?
Rate-and-term means the loan’s terms change and the balance does not, apart from the costs rolled in. A cash-out means the balance grows and the difference is paid to the borrower. The agencies treat them as different transactions with different leverage and different prices, and so does every program on this page.
When does refinancing actually make sense?
It makes sense when the monthly saving recovers the closing costs well inside the time you will keep the loan and the interest over the new term does not exceed what remains on the old one, or when the refinance delivers something other than a saving: a fixed rate in place of an adjustable one, the end of mortgage insurance, a shorter term, or a borrower removed. The calculator on this page shows the break-even and the interest comparison on your own figures, and a Lendmire review states both in writing.
What does a refinance cost to close?
Expect the ordinary set, lender charges, third-party charges, prepaid interest, escrow deposits, title, and recording, plus the VA funding fee on an IRRRL, and expect them on the Loan Estimate rather than here. The costs are not forgiven by rolling them in; they become part of the balance. The break-even is how a Collierville owner judges whether they are worth paying.
Can I get rid of mortgage insurance by refinancing?
For FHA borrowers, yes, by refinancing conventionally at or below the line; the streamline keeps the premium. For conventional borrowers, often without refinancing, by asking the servicer to cancel at the published line; a refinance helps when rising values would clear the line on a new appraisal before the balance would on its own.
What is an FHA streamline, and who can use it?
Only FHA-to-FHA. The streamline cannot refinance a conventional or VA loan, and it cannot remove FHA insurance; it can lower the payment or fix an adjustable rate with less documentation than any other refinance on this page, provided the new loan passes HUD’s benefit test and the old loan is seasoned with the required payment history.
What if I want cash out of my home as well?
Then you want a cash-out refinance, which is a separate program with its own leverage, seasoning rules, and price, covered in the conventional, FHA, VA, and jumbo cash-out guides on this site; or, if the first mortgage is worth keeping, a home equity line that sits behind it, covered in the HELOC guide. A rate-and-term refinance returns no cash beyond an incidental amount, and sizing one for a Collierville owner who wants cash is a wasted application.
Can I refinance to remove my ex-spouse, or to add someone, to the mortgage?
Yes. A name comes off a mortgage only when the loan is rewritten, so a refinance is the ordinary route after a divorce or a change in the household: the remaining borrower qualifies alone on income, credit, and the ratio, and the title is conformed at closing. Adding a spouse or a family member whose income helps the ratio works the same way. If the departing owner is paid their equity through the new loan, the file becomes a cash-out or a special-purpose refinance, which is a different program.
What credit score do I need to refinance?
There is a floor for each route in the snapshot, and the floor is not the whole story: the automated finding, the ratio, and the value decide a conventional file, the lane decides a jumbo file, and the payment history on the loan being replaced decides a streamline or an IRRRL. A Collierville loan officer reads the score in that context.
Can I pay off a second mortgage or a HELOC with a rate-and-term refinance?
Yes for a second mortgage taken at purchase; no for one opened later or for a HELOC, unless the file is treated as a cash-out. Subordination is the other route: the second lien stays, its lender agrees to sit behind the new first mortgage, and the refinance proceeds as rate-and-term.
How long does a refinance take?
The sequence is fixed and the calendar is not. The review comes first and costs nothing; the application and the finding follow; the appraisal, where the program needs one, sets the pace; underwriting and closing follow; the rescission period runs on a principal residence before funding. A streamline or an IRRRL removes the appraisal step.
A Collierville refinance sized to the balance, the costs, and the break-even.
Begin with a scenario review: the balance, the current rate, the years remaining, the value, the score, and the goal. A licensed Lendmire loan officer identifies the program, runs the new payment, the saving, the break-even, and the interest comparison, and provides the terms in writing before any appraisal is ordered.
This guide covers Collierville — for the statewide guidelines, markets, and scenarios, see Refinance in Tennessee, part of Lendmire’s refinance program.
Nearby markets in Tennessee: Bartlett · Memphis · Jackson · Columbia · Spring Hill · Clarksville · Franklin · Nashville
Related programs: Cash-Out Refinance · Conventional Loans · HELOC