With any refinance, there is a loan payoff from your previously held mortgage generated for the closing. This is so the new lender and title company know how much to pay to your current lender in order to satisfy the debt, which allows the current mortgage on the house to be released. When you pay your mortgage regularly, you are always paying interest in arrears (unlike rent where you pay for the month to come). This means that your mortgage interest is always only paid up through the first day of the month for which you are making the payment. In other words, when you make your mortgage payment due on October 1st, your mortgage is only paid up through the first day of October since that payment covered all the interest that accrued during the month of September. This number is the balance reflected on your statement. Therefore, if you close on a refinance in the middle of October and your old mortgage company is paid off October 20th, then they will require 20 days of accrued interest as part of the payoff. The current balance plus the accrued interest (plus any processing fees from your current lender) will give you your total payoff, which is always higher than your current balance.