Mortgage Payoff Calculator: See How Extra Payments Add Up
Making extra payments on your mortgage can shave years off your loan and save tens of thousands in interest. This calculator shows exactly how much: enter your loan and an extra monthly (or one-time) payment, and see how much sooner you'll be debt-free and how much interest you'll avoid.
Why extra payments do so much
Early in a mortgage, most of your payment goes to interest, not principal, as your amortization schedule makes clear. Every extra dollar you put toward principal skips all the future interest that dollar would have accrued over the remaining life of the loan. That's why even a modest extra payment each month has an outsized effect, it compounds in your favor over decades. An extra $200 a month on a 30-year loan can cut years off the term.
The tradeoff worth weighing
Paying off your mortgage faster is powerful, but it's not always the best use of your money. If your mortgage rate is low, you might come out ahead investing that extra money instead. And putting cash toward the mortgage locks it into your home, less accessible than savings or investments. This is a personal-finance judgment call, not a pure math problem, worth thinking through before you commit to aggressive prepayment.
A note on how you pay extra
To make sure extra payments go to principal (not toward next month's payment), you may need to specify that with your servicer. Also check for any prepayment penalty, most modern loans don't have one, but it's worth confirming. If you're weighing prepayment againstrefinancing to a shorter term, the refinance calculator can help you compare.
