Early Mortgage Payoff Calculator: How Much Should Your Extra Payments Be? - NerdWallet (2024)

FAQs

How much extra should I pay on my mortgage to pay it off sooner? ›

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. For example, by paying $975 each month on a $900 mortgage payment, you'll have paid the equivalent of an extra payment by the end of the year.

The 2% rule states that you should aim for a 2% lower interest rate in order to ensure that the savings generated by your new loan will offset the cost refinancing, provided you've lived in your home for two years and plan to stay for at least two more.

Calculate Different Scenarios

You decide to make an additional $300 payment toward principal every month to pay off your home faster. By adding $300 to your monthly payment, you'll save just over $64,000 in interest and pay off your home over 11 years sooner.

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. These calculations are tools for learning more about the mortgage process and are for educational/estimation purposes only.

The 10/15 mortgage rule is a concept made popular by a real estate social media influencer. It suggests that homeowners who can afford substantial extra payments can pay off a 30-year mortgage in 15 years by making a weekly extra payment, equal to 10% of their monthly mortgage payment, toward the principal.

But if you have a relatively recent loan, you're likely looking at tens of thousands of dollars in savings and cutting as much as eight years off the life of your loan. Obviously, not everyone can afford to make two extra mortgage payments a year. You're basically increasing your housing costs by 16%.

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.

The Rule of 78 formula

The lender allocates a fraction of the interest for each month in reverse order. For example, you would pay 12/78 of the interest in the first month of the loan, 11/78 of the interest in the second month and so on. The result is that you pay more interest than you should.

If you pay $100 extra each month towards principal, you can cut your loan term by more than 4.5 years and reduce the interest paid by more than $26,500. If you pay $200 extra a month towards principal, you can cut your loan term by more than 8 years and reduce the interest paid by more than $44,000.

How to pay off a 30 year mortgage in 10 years? ›

Options to pay off your mortgage faster include:

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

If you pay off your mortgage early, you'll no longer have any mortgage interest to deduct on your tax return if you itemize your deductions. This change is most likely to affect you if you have a large mortgage, a high interest rate—or both—-and your annual interest payments are substantial.

Any funds you pay in addition to your monthly payment amount will be automatically applied to your principal balance unless you specify otherwise.

Regardless of the amount of funds applied towards the principal, paying extra installments towards your loan makes an enormous difference in the amount of interest paid over the life of the loan.

If you pay $200 extra a month towards principal, you can cut your loan term by more than 8 years and reduce the interest paid by more than $44,000. Another way to pay down your mortgage in less time is to make half-monthly payments every 2 weeks, instead of 1 full monthly payment.

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.

If you make an extra payment of $700 a month, you'll pay off your mortgage in about 15 years and save about $128,000 in interest. If $700 a month is too much, even an extra $50 – $200 a month can make a difference.