Making Additional Home Loan Payments (2024)

Save Thousands in Interest Expenses by Paying Your Loan Off Early With Additional Payments

This calculator allows you to enter an initial lump-sum extra payment along with extra monthly payments which coincide with your regular monthly payments. We also offer three other options you can consider for other additional payment scenarios.

Want to Make Irregular Payments? Do You Need More Advanced Calculation Options?

  • Biweekly Payment Method: Please see our bi-weekly mortgage calculator if you are using biweekly payments to make an effective 13th monthly payment.
  • Extra Payments In The Middle of The Loan Term: If you start making extra payments in the middle of your loan then enter the current loan balance when you started making extra payments and set the loan term for however long you have left in the loan. For example, if you are 3.5 years into a 30-year home loan, you would set the loan term to 26.5 years and you would set the loan balance to whatever amount is shown on your statement. If you do not have a statement to see the current balance you can calculate the current balance so long as you know when the loan began, how much the loan was for & your rate of interest.
  • Irregular Extra Payments: If you want to make irregular extra contributions or contributions which have a different periodicity than your regular payments try our advanced additional mortgage payments calculator which allows you to make multiple concurrent extra payments with varying frequencies along with other lump sum extra payments.

For your convenience current Potomac mortgage rates are published underneath the calculator to help you make accurate calculations reflecting current market conditions.

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By default 30-yr fixed-rate loans are displayed in the table below. Filters enable you to change the loan amount, duration, or loan type.

Exercising Additional Payment Options

When you sign on for a 30-year mortgage, you know you're in it for the long haul. You might not even think about trying to pay off your mortgage early. After all, what's the point? Unless you're doubling up on your payments every month, you aren't going to make a significant impact on your bottom line — right? You'll still be paying off your loan for decades — right?

Not necessarily. Even making small extra payments over time can shave years off your loan and save you thousands of dollars in interest, depending on the terms of your loan.

Making Additional Home Loan Payments (3)

Early Loan Repayment: A Little Goes a Long Way

One of the most common ways that people pay extra toward their mortgages is to make bi-weekly mortgage payments. Payments are made every two weeks, not just twice a month, which results in an extra mortgage payment each year. There are 26 bi-weekly periods in the year, but making only two payments a month would result in 24 payments.

Instead of paying twice a week, you can achieve the same results by adding 1/12th of your mortgage payment to your monthly payment. Over the course of the year, you will have paid the additional month. Doing so can shave four to eight years off the life of your loan, as well as tens of thousands of dollars in interest.

However, you don't have to pay that much to make an impact. Even paying $20 or $50 extra each month can help you to pay down your mortgage faster.

Making Additional Home Loan Payments (4)

Calculating Your Potential Savings

If you have a 30-year $250,000 mortgage with a 5 percent interest rate, you will pay $1,342.05 each month in principal and interest alone. You will pay $233,133.89 in interest over the course of the loan. If you pay an additional $50 per month, you will save $21,298.29 in interest over the life of the loan and pay off your loan two years and four months sooner than you would have.

You can also make one-time payments toward your principal with your yearly bonus from work, tax refunds, investment dividends or insurance payments. Any extra payment you make to your principal can help you reduce your interest payments and shorten the life of your loan.

Considerations for Extra Payments

Making Additional Home Loan Payments (5)

Pay Off Higher Interest Debts First

Paying off your mortgage early isn't always a no-brainer. Though it can help many people save thousands of dollars, it's not always the best way for most people to improve their finances.

Compare your potential savings to your other debts. For example, if you have credit card debt at 15 percent, it makes more sense to pay it off before putting any extra money toward your mortgage that has only a 5 percent interest rate.

Further, unlike many other debts, mortgage debt can be deducted from income taxes for those who itemize their taxes.

Also consider what other investments you can make with the money that might give you a higher return. If you can make significantly more with an investment and have an emergency savings fund set aside, you can make a bigger financial impact investing than paying off your mortgage. It is worth noting volatilility is the price of admission for higher earning asset classes like equities & profits on equites can be taxed with either short-term or long-term capital gains taxes, so the hurdle rate for investments would be the interest rate on your mortgage plus the rate the investments are taxed at.

Paying extra toward your mortgage may not make sense if you aren't planning to stay in your home for more than a few years. You won't pay down your equity fast enough to make it worth your while if you are planning to move in less than five to 10 years. You should also carefully evaluate the trends in your local housing market before you pay extra toward your mortgage.

Calculating Your Mortgage Overpayment Savings

Making Additional Home Loan Payments (6)

Start Paying More Early & Save Big

Want to build your home equity quicker? Use this free calculator to see how even small extra payments will save you years of payments and thousands of Dollars of additional interest cost. Making extra payments early in the loan saves you much more money over the life of the loan as the extinguised principal is no longer accruing interest for the remainder of the loan. The earlier you begin paying extra the more money you'll save.

Use the above mortgage over-payment calculator to determine your potential savings by making extra payments toward your mortgage. Put in any amount that you want, from $10 to $1,000, to find out what you can save over the life of your loan. The results can help you weigh your financial options to see if paying down your mortgage will have the most benefits or if you should focus your efforts on other investment options. As you nearly complete your mortgage payments early be sure to check if your loan has a prepayment penalty. If it does, you may want to leave a small balance until the prepayment penalty period expires.

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Making Additional Home Loan Payments (2024)

FAQs

Does it make sense to make additional mortgage payments? ›

You might find that making extra payments on your mortgage can help you repay your loan more quickly, and with less interest than making payments according to loan's original payment terms.

Is it better to make extra principal payments monthly or yearly? ›

Making an extra mortgage payment each year could reduce the term of your loan significantly. The most budget-friendly way to do this is to pay 1/12 extra each month.

What happens to your mortgage when you make extra payments? ›

When you pay extra on a mortgage, you're paying above and beyond the regular monthly installment. The money you send is meant to apply directly to the loan principal, not the interest. This allows you to pay down your loan sooner and save money on interest.

What happens if I pay an extra $1,000 a month on my mortgage? ›

When you pay extra on your principal balance, you reduce the amount of your loan and save money on interest. Keep in mind that you may pay for other costs in your monthly payment, such as homeowners' insurance, property taxes, and private mortgage insurance (PMI).

What happens if I pay an extra $2 000 a month on my mortgage? ›

The additional amount will reduce the principal on your mortgage, as well as the total amount of interest you will pay, and the number of payments.

How many years does one extra mortgage payment take off? ›

As a general rule of thumb, making one extra mortgage payment per year at the start of your 30-year mortgage can shorten the term by approximately four to five years. You could potentially pay off the mortgage and own the home outright in 25 to 26 years instead of 30.

What happens if I make 5 extra mortgage payments a year? ›

Making additional principal payments will shorten the length of your mortgage term and allow you to build equity faster. Because your balance is being paid down faster, you'll have fewer total payments to make, in-turn leading to more savings.

Do extra payments automatically go to principal? ›

Ideally, you want your extra payments to go towards the principal amount. However, many lenders will apply the extra payments to any interest accrued since your last payment and then apply anything left over to the principal amount. Other times, lenders may apply extra funds to next month's payment.

What happens if I pay an extra $500 a month on my mortgage? ›

Making extra payments of $500/month could save you $60,798 in interest over the life of the loan. You could own your house 13 years sooner than under your current payment.

How to pay off a 250k mortgage in 5 years? ›

There are some easy steps to follow to make your mortgage disappear in five years or so.
  1. Setting a Target Date. ...
  2. Making a Higher Down Payment. ...
  3. Choosing a Shorter Home Loan Term. ...
  4. Making Larger or More Frequent Payments. ...
  5. Spending Less on Other Things. ...
  6. Increasing Income.

How do I pay off a 30 year mortgage in 15 years? ›

Options to pay off your mortgage faster include:

Pay extra each month. Bi-weekly payments instead of monthly payments. Making one additional monthly payment each year. Refinance with a shorter-term mortgage.

Is $2,000 a month mortgage high? ›

$2,000 Mortgages Are More Common Than You Might Think

After factoring in property taxes, the data reveals that it's still possible to buy a house in a little more than half the country — 28 states — with a monthly budget of $2,000.

Does it make sense to increase mortgage payments? ›

Increasing the amount of your payments, even by a small amount, helps you pay off your mortgage faster. You may only be able to increase your payments by a certain amount each year. Check your mortgage contract for the specific amount.

Is it good to double up mortgage payments? ›

Your Double-Up payment is applied directly against the principal balance of your mortgage, which cuts down the life of your mortgage and saves interest costs.

How much money do you save by making an extra mortgage payment? ›

Instead of paying twice a week, you can achieve the same results by adding 1/12th of your mortgage payment to your monthly payment. Over the course of the year, you will have paid the additional month. Doing so can shave four to eight years off the life of your loan, as well as tens of thousands of dollars in interest.

Is it worth increasing mortgage payment? ›

Overpaying your mortgage could help you cut your loan-to-value (LTV). This is the proportion of your property price covered by your mortgage. It goes down if your property value goes up and as you pay off more of your mortgage. That's why overpaying can help bring it down.

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