The break-even test
How RateSignal decides a refi is worth the call
Every fifteen minutes, RateSignal reprices every borrower in your book against live rates. But a rate move by itself is not a signal — a signal fires only when the math clears for a specific borrower. That math is the break-even test.
What the test asks
For each borrower, the test weighs four things against each other:
- Closing costs — what the refinance will cost the borrower to do
- Rate spread — the distance between the borrower’s current rate and today’s market
- Loan size — the balance the spread actually works on
- Time to recoup — how long the monthly savings take to pay back the closing costs
Only when the savings clear the costs inside a sensible recoup window does the borrower become a signal. Until then, RateSignal stays quiet and keeps watching.
Why a round-number alert is not a test
A generic rate alert fires when the market crosses a round number — for everyone, regardless of their loan. The same quarter-point move is meaningful money on one balance and a rounding error on another; it clears one borrower’s closing costs in months and never clears another’s at all. Treating those two borrowers the same is how books get burned: the first call arrives late for the borrower who was ready, and too often for the borrower who wasn’t.
The break-even test is the opposite: per borrower, against their actual numbers, every fifteen minutes.
What happens when the math clears
The borrower gets a text and a call carrying their actual monthly savings and your name. You get the handoff with everything on one screen — they’re expecting you. Outreach is consent-based, and nothing goes out at 2 a.m.: signals hold until a decent hour in the borrower’s time zone.
Thresholds are adjustable — per borrower, if you want. Your book, your rules for when a signal is worth firing.
The subscription math
| RateSignal, per month | $197 | $147 on a founding account |
|---|---|---|
| Average refi commission | $3,500 | varies with loan size and comp plan |
| Refis to break even | 1 every 17 mo | one every 23 months at the founding rate |
| Contract | none | cancel anytime |
The average refinance commission runs about $3,500 — it varies with loan size and comp plan. At $197 a month, one closed refi covers the subscription for well over a year.
Get founding access — $147 a month, locked for life, limited to the first 100 accounts. Or start with how RateSignal works.