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Most of your early payments go almost entirely to interest, not your home. Enter your details to see where every dollar goes, plus exactly what it takes to pay your mortgage off in 5, 10, or 15 years.
These figures are for your loan as it stands today: your current payment with no extra payments.
Want to try a different plan? Change the extra monthly amount, add a one-time lump sum, or both, then hit Apply to see the new impact.
Based on your current payment with no extra payments.
Most homeowners focus on the monthly payment when they buy a house. The number that actually matters is the total interest, and for most 30 year mortgages that number is startling. On a $350,000 loan at 7%, you'll pay over $490,000 by the time it's done. Almost half a million dollars for a house that costs $350,000.
The good news is that extra payments hit harder than most people expect. An extra $200 a month on that same loan cuts over 5 years off the payoff date and saves around $70,000 in interest. A lump sum payment early in the loan has an even bigger effect because it reduces the principal before years of interest can compound on top of it.
If you have a specific goal, like paying off your mortgage in 5 years, 10 years, or 15 years, work backwards instead. Use the "Want to pay it off early?" buttons on the calculator to pick your target, and it shows the exact monthly payment you'd need and how much more that is than your current payment. Paying a mortgage off in 5 years takes a large monthly commitment, but the interest savings are enormous because you cut off decades of compounding. Even a more modest 15-year target typically saves well over $100,000 on a mid-size loan compared with running a 30-year mortgage to term.
Here's the required monthly payment to clear common balances in 60 months at a 6.5% rate, and what that saves versus letting a 30-year loan run to term:
| Balance | Payment for 5-yr payoff | Interest paid | Saved vs 30-yr |
|---|---|---|---|
| $200,000 | $3,913/mo | $34,800 | $220,000 |
| $300,000 | $5,870/mo | $52,200 | $330,000 |
| $400,000 | $7,826/mo | $69,600 | $441,000 |
| $500,000 | $9,783/mo | $87,000 | $551,000 |
Be honest with yourself about these numbers. A 5-year payoff on a $300,000 balance means finding roughly $4,000/month beyond a normal payment, which usually only works for high earners, dual-income households throwing one entire salary at the house, or people who just received a windfall. If that's not you, a 10-year target ($3,406/mo on $300k) or 15-year target ($2,613/mo) captures most of the interest savings at a payment normal budgets can absorb.
All examples below use a $300,000 balance at 6.5% with a standard $1,896/month payment on a 30-year term:
| Strategy | Payoff time | Interest saved |
|---|---|---|
| Extra $200/month | 23.1 years | $103,000 |
| Biweekly payments (one extra payment per year) | 24.2 years | $87,000 |
| $20,000 lump sum in year one | 24.8 years | $98,000 |
| Extra $500/month | 17.5 years | $180,000 |
| Extra $1,000/month | 12.8 years | $241,000 |
Three details that matter. First, tell your servicer that extra payments go to principal, not to next month's payment, or the math above doesn't happen. Second, lump sums hit hardest early in the loan, when your balance (and therefore your interest) is biggest. Third, check for prepayment penalties; they're rare on loans written after 2014, but worth thirty seconds to confirm.
Two other tools people confuse with extra payments: a recast takes a lump sum, then re-spreads the smaller balance over your existing term to lower the required monthly payment (useful for breathing room, doesn't shorten the loan by itself). A refinance to a 15-year locks the faster payoff in as a requirement rather than a choice, and 15-year rates typically run about half a point lower, but you pay closing costs and lose the flexibility to drop back to the smaller payment in a rough month. Extra principal payments give you the same acceleration with an escape hatch.
Sometimes no. If your rate is under 4%, money markets and index funds have historically beaten that comfortably, so extra dollars usually earn more invested than they save in interest. If your rate is 6% or higher, prepaying is a guaranteed, tax-free return at that rate, which is hard to beat safely. In between, it's genuinely a coin flip and the right answer is usually whichever one you'll actually stick to. Whatever your rate: max any employer 401(k) match first (that's an instant 50-100% return), keep an emergency fund, and clear any higher-interest debt like cards or personal loans before sending extra money to a mortgage. Home equity is not liquid; you can't un-pay your mortgage in an emergency.