Qualifying is the wrinkle that reorders everything: a refinance is underwritten on the income you can document at the time. If your household is about to drop to one income and you would need both to qualify, the practical order of operations can flip. You might have to refinance while both incomes still show, even if you would rather wait for a better rate later. That timing pressure often matters more than the rate itself. From there, weigh what each option actually does: - Pay the minimum. Preserves cash and flexibility, which is worth a lot right after income tightens. - Recast. Keeps your current rate and term but lowers the payment by applying a lump sum to principal. Only helps if you have cash you are comfortable committing. - Refinance. Resets rate and term, but has to clear both a break-even and the new income test. - Pay it off. Trades liquidity for peace of mind, and liquidity is usually what you want most right after losing an income. Jeb has lived the qualifying side of this as a self-employed business owner: in a down year he extended his tax filing so a lower reported income would not box him out of a future refinance. Have all four options modeled against your real numbers before you commit. That is exactly what the free Roadmap conversation is for, and the right choice is the one you can sleep with.