Record a refinance and see what it did to your return

When you refinance, tell Wealthru that the new mortgage replaces the old one. That one link is what keeps your equity history readable, and it changes what your return figures say.

Before you start

• Works on all plans and on any property with a mortgage already recorded.
• Have the new loan's details ready, plus how much cash you took out, if any.
• Record the refinance as a new mortgage. Do not edit the old one. The old loan is part of your money history and Wealthru keeps it.

Steps

1. Open the property and go to the Mortgage tab.
2. Choose + Add and fill in the new loan.
3. Under Does this replace an existing mortgage?, pick the loan it replaces.
4. In Cash taken out, enter what you actually received.
5. Save.

What to enter in Cash taken out

• Took money out? Enter that amount.
• A straight rate-and-term refinance where nothing came to you? Enter 0.
• Not sure yet? Leave it blank.

Blank and 0 are not the same thing. Entering 0 says you took nothing out. Leaving it blank says you have not recorded it, and Wealthru will not guess. Until you fill it in, your mortgage paydown figure counts the new borrowing as if it were a loss, which understates how the property did.

What happens next

• The old loan is marked paid off on the new loan's start date, with its payoff recorded as the balance it had that day. This is the point of the link. Without it Wealthru would carry both loans as live debt, so your net worth, your borrowing room and your T776 mortgage interest would all count a mortgage you no longer have.
• Your Where your equity came from card reads your balance history through the link, so the starting balance comes from the loan you actually had back then rather than the one you have now.
• Mortgage paydown counts what your loans really paid off across the window.
• Cash you took out is shown on its own line, and it is not part of your return.

Why cash out is not part of your return

Taking equity out is a financing decision, not a gain or a loss. The property did not become worth less, and you are not poorer. The money moved from your equity into your bank account. Counting it as a loss would say you had a bad year in a year you did not, so Wealthru reports what your loans paid off and shows the cash separately.

Notes

• You can only link a refinance to a live mortgage on the same property.
• A mortgage that is already paid off cannot be refinanced. If it was paid off by selling the property, its payoff came from your discharge statement and Wealthru will not overwrite it.
• A mortgage can only be refinanced once. If you refinanced twice, link each new loan to the one it actually replaced, and the chain is followed all the way back.
• Renewing at the end of a term is not a refinance. For that, see See what your payment becomes at renewal.