Refinancing is not automatically a good idea

What reasons have nothing to do with the payment?

Sometimes somebody is changing the structure of their mortgage. Sometimes they are accessing equity. Sometimes their life changed. Sometimes they are trying to accomplish something completely different financially.

Which is why will my payment go down is not the only refinance question, and treating it as the only question is how people end up making a change that looks fine on one line and does nothing for what they actually cared about.

Start with the goal. The structure that fits becomes much easier to see once the goal is on the table.

When is refinancing genuinely not worth it?

When the reason does not make sense after you look at the whole picture.

Run the four questions: what is the goal, what does it cost, how long do you expect to keep the mortgage, and what changes. If the answers do not add up, do not do it.