TIRSA Refinance Rates in New York: The Refinance Discount, 12A, 12B and Why There Is No Reissue Rate

When you refinance in New York, the lender’s title insurance policy costs 50% of the normal loan rate, up to a cap explained below. If the policy is over $475,000, it costs 70%. If you live in the home, you may get a further discount: 30% off if you stay with the same lender and 15% off if you move to a new lender. These two discounts are known as “12A” and “12B”, after the sections of the state rate manual that set them.

These prices come from the TIRSA Rate Manual (Title Insurance Rate Service Association), in the version in effect since October 1, 2024. The rules apply statewide: in New York City, Westchester County and the rest of the state. Only the underlying loan rates differ between the manual’s Zone 1 and Zone 2. For the rates themselves and how the purchase premium is worked out, see what title insurance costs in NYC and Westchester.

Why there is no “reissue rate” in New York

In many states, you get a “reissue” credit when you refinance soon after an earlier title policy was issued. New York’s rate manual does not use that term or offer a separately named reissue rate. The same idea is built into the refinance rate instead.

Your discount is measured against the amount already on record for the property: the price on your deed or the amounts of your open mortgages. It is not measured against an earlier policy as such.

How the refinance rate works

The refinance rate covers any mortgage loan whose money is not used to buy the property. That includes combining existing mortgages to borrow new money, and second mortgages. It applies to commercial property as well as homes.

Refinance policy amount Refinance rate
$475,000 or less 50% of loan rate
Over $475,000 70% of loan rate

Three rules set the price:

  • The discount has a cap. The refinance rate applies only up to the highest of three amounts: the full price on your deed, the open mortgages recorded on the property, or the insurance on an existing mortgage that is shown to the title insurer. Coverage above that cap is charged at the full loan rate.
  • The 10-year limit. A deed, mortgage or policy dated more than ten years before your application cannot be used to set the cap.
  • The percentage applies to the whole policy. It is not split into layers. A $500,000 policy is charged 70% on all of it, not 50% on the first $475,000. That creates a price jump just above $475,000 (see the examples).

Some later transfers do not reset this. A transfer made without paying New York State transfer tax, such as a transfer to a spouse for no payment, does not wipe out the earlier deed’s price.

The extra discounts if you live in the home (12A and 12B)

12A 12B
Lender Same lender New lender
You pay 70% of refinance rate 85% of refinance rate
Extra discount 30% 15%
10-year limit Does not apply Does not apply

You need all of the following for either one:

  • You live there. The property is a one-to-four family home, residential condo unit or residential co-op unit, and the owner lives in it. The owner must be an individual (a “natural person”), not a company. An investment property you don’t live in does not qualify. Part of the home may be used as an office.
  • You are refinancing an existing loan. The new loan must replace an existing loan or be combined with it. A home with no mortgage gets no 12A or 12B discount, though the basic refinance rate can still apply if its own conditions are met.
  • Same people, same title, same property. The new loan must be signed by the same people, or some of them, with no one added. Your ownership must come from the same deed. The property must be the same or part of it, with nothing added.

“Same lender” means whoever holds your existing loan. A company affiliated with that lender, or one that took it over by merger, counts as the same lender. That refinance gets 12A, not 12B.

The biggest practical effect is that the 10-year limit does not apply. An owner who lives in a home bought in 2010 still gets the refinance rate measured from that 2010 deed, plus the 12A or 12B discount. The state regulator’s consumer title insurance page still describes only the ten-year refinance discount. If you compare sources, the rate manual is the one that applies.

Worked examples (Zone 2)

These examples are illustrative. They use the Zone 2 loan rates in the cost guide: $327 for the first $35,000, then $5.27, $4.31, $3.46, $3.14 and $2.90 per $1,000. Each $1,000 or part of $1,000 is charged as a full $1,000, and the total is rounded to whole dollars at the end. Endorsements (add-on coverages) and other charges are left out.

Example 1: $400,000 refinance, home bought in 2019 for $650,000. The cap is $650,000, so the whole $400,000 qualifies.

Rate Premium
Full loan rate $1,660
Refinance rate (50%) $830
12B, new lender $705
12A, same lender $581

If you rent the house out and don’t live there, only the refinance rate of $830 is available.

Example 2: the $475,000 jump. A $475,000 policy at 50% of $1,919.05 costs $960. A $500,000 policy costs 70% of $2,005.55, or $1,404. The extra $25,000 of coverage adds $444.

Example 3: new money above an old purchase price. An owner who lives in her home bought it in 2010 for $600,000. She has no deed, mortgage or policy dated within the last ten years. She refinances for $750,000 with a new lender.

  • The basic refinance rate alone would not apply, because the 2010 deed is past the 10-year limit. Full loan rate: $2,791.
  • With 12B, the limit is waived. The first $600,000 is charged at 70% (the policy is over $475,000) of $2,319.55, times 85%, which is $1,380.13. The $150,000 above the cap is charged at the full rate, $471.00. Total $1,851.

The way the amount above the cap is priced here follows a 2015 underwriter bulletin (see the details section below). Confirm the figure with the issuing underwriter’s rate calculator.

Changing your loan without new money

A modification is not a refinance. When your existing mortgage is changed without borrowing more, on the same property, with no change in ownership, the modification policy costs 50% of the loan rate. The amount of insurance generally can’t be less than the unpaid balance. The rate applies even if a different lender now holds the mortgage, and it is not limited to homes. A CEMA that adds new money combines loans, and the manual prices that as a refinance.

What to check

  1. Tell the title company who holds your existing loan. That decides 12A or 12B. Check for transfers and mergers. The company you pay each month (the servicer) is not always the holder.
  2. Confirm you live there and who is borrowing. Adding a co-borrower to title, or refinancing a home you no longer live in, removes the 12A and 12B discounts.
  3. Give the title company your deed and prior loan policy. They set the cap. A higher purchase price or open mortgage amount means more coverage at the discounted rate.
  4. Expect the TIRSA rate on the loan policy. The insurer-specific discounts (“deviations”) described in the cost guide lower owner’s premiums, not loan premiums.
  5. Read the title bill. The refinance premium is one line. Endorsements, recording fees and mortgage recording tax are separate. See the title bill explained.

Details for attorneys and title professionals

  • Where the rules sit in the manual. The Seventh Revision prices refinances under Section 12 (“Mortgage Refinance Transaction,” a loan whose proceeds are not used to acquire the property). The cap and 10-year rules are in Section 12(B). The extra discounts are Sections 12A and 12B, the residential property definition is in Section 1, rounding is Section 2(E) and the modification rate is Section 13.
  • Older numbering. Material written before the Seventh Revision uses Section 14, 14A and 14B for the same rules. Stewart underwriter bulletins from 2006, 2011 and 2015 refer to Section 14. The 14A and 14B discounts took effect August 1, 2015 in the Fifth Revision, after the Department of Financial Services (DFS) approval announced May 12, 2015. The Seventh Revision carries them as 12A and 12B.
  • Same lender or new lender. Stewart’s examples for the 2015 rules work through assignments, MERS (the industry’s electronic mortgage registration system) and multiple loans. In one example, a second-mortgage lender assigns its loan to the first-mortgage lender; the combined refinance gets 12B, not 12A.
  • Pricing above the cap under 12A and 12B. Example 3 follows the 2015 Stewart bulletin, which states that “liability above the discounted insurance amount is calculated at the full premium rate.”

Official sources

Related guides

Korvane Title is preparing to launch in New York. It is not licensed as a title insurance agent and does not accept title orders. Content on this site is general information, not legal advice.