How soon you can refinance a mortgage depends on the type of home loan you have and the type of refinance you're getting.
Some mortgages let you refinance immediately after getting the original loan. Others require a period to elapse before refinancing — what the mortgage business calls "seasoning." If you’re unsure whether or not you can refinance your mortgage, contact your loan servicer to double-check.
This article outlines the seasoning rules for conventional, FHA, VA, USDA and jumbo loans.
Rules for refinancing conventional loans
In most cases, you may refinance a conventional loan as soon as you want. You might have to wait six months before you can refinance with the same lender, but you can refinance right away with a different lender.
An exception is cash-out refinances. A cash-out refinance is where you borrow a larger sum than what's left on your mortgage and receive that extra amount in cash. To get a cash-out refinance on a conventional mortgage you must have owned the home for at least 12 months, unless you inherited the property or were awarded it in a divorce, separation or dissolution of a domestic partnership.
Rules for refinancing FHA loans
An FHA loan is a mortgage insured by the Federal Housing Administration. The FHA has several types of refinances, each with its own rules.
Cash-out: To qualify for an FHA cash-out refinance, you have to own and occupy the home as your principal residence for at least 12 months. You can do a cash-out refinance of a home you own free and clear. If you have a mortgage, you must have had it for at least six months. Any mortgage payments due in the last 12 months must have been made on time.
Rate-and-term and simple: With either a simple FHA-to-FHA refinance or a rate-and-term refinance from another loan type, you're not required to wait to refinance unless the lender has a seasoning requirement. You can qualify with fewer than six mortgage payments if all were made on time.
FHA streamline: An FHA streamline refinance is a faster way to refinance from one FHA loan to another, because it doesn't require an appraisal. You must have had the mortgage for at least 210 days, and made at least six on-time monthly payments with a maximum of one late payment (30 or more days late) in the six months before that.
Rules for refinancing VA loans
To refinance into a VA loan — a mortgage backed by the Department of Veterans Affairs — you’re required to wait at least 210 days after you’ve made the first monthly payment or long enough to have made six payments, whichever is longer.
Rules for refinancing USDA loans
The U.S. Department of Agriculture offers two USDA mortgage programs for rural home buyers: guaranteed loans and direct loans. For either type, the USDA offers three options for refinancing into another USDA loan:
Nonstreamlined
Streamlined
Streamlined assist
If you get a nonstreamlined refinance or streamlined refinance, you must have made all of your payments on time for the last 180 days.
For the streamlined assist refinance program, which allows borrowers to refinance with significantly less paperwork, you must have been current on your mortgage payments in the last 12 months.
Rules for refinancing jumbo loans
As with conventional loans, in most cases you may refinance a jumbo mortgage whenever you want — lenders may have their own requirements, but there aren't agency rules to follow.
Jumbo loans are for amounts exceeding the conforming loan limits used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, so lenders keep jumbo loans on their own books. That can mean stricter underwriting requirements than for conventional loans.
