When you make a lump-sum payment on your mortgage, your lender usually applies it to your principal. In other words, your mortgage balance will go down, but your payment amount and due dates won't change.
The first option is to pay one lump sum that covers the remaining balance. Before doing so, however, it's crucial to ask your lender if a prepayment penalty applies. The amount of a potential prepayment penalty varies by lender but could range from 2 to 5 percent of the total loan balance, which can get expensive.
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. Additionally, the term of the mortgage can be drastically reduced by making extra payments or a lump sum.
In most cases, you can pay your mortgage off early without penalty — but there are a few things to keep in mind before you do. First, reach out to your loan servicer to find out if your mortgage has a prepayment penalty. If it does, you'll have to pay an additional fee if you pay your loan off ahead of schedule.
Pay extra toward your mortgage principal each month: After you've made your regularly scheduled mortgage payment, any extra cash goes directly toward paying down your mortgage principal. 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.
Since your interest is calculated on your remaining loan balance, making additional principal payments every month will significantly reduce your interest payments over the life of the loan. By paying more principal each month, you incrementally lower the principal balance and interest charged on it.
Early Mortgage Repayment FAQs
Yes! Make sure you tell your lender that you want your payment to go toward your principal if you do make advance payments on your mortgage. Some mortgage lenders apply any extra payment you make toward your next monthly minimum. This won't help you reduce the amount of interest you owe.
So, for this example you would type =PMT(. 05/12,60,200000). The formula will return $3,774. That's the monthly payment you need to make if you want to pay off your home mortgage of $200,000 at 5% over five years.
Using one of these options to pay off your mortgage can give you a false sense of financial security. Unexpected expenses—such as medical costs, needed home repairs, or emergency travel—can destroy your financial standing if you don't have a cash reserve at the ready.
Paying off your mortgage early is a good way to free up monthly cashflow and pay less in interest. But you'll lose your mortgage interest tax deduction, and you'd probably earn more by investing instead. Before making your decision, consider how you would use the extra money each month.
Generally, national banks will allow you to pay additional funds towards the principal balance of your loan. However, you should review your loan agreement or contact your bank to find out their specific process for doing so.
You should aim to have everything paid off, from student loans to credit card debt, by age 45, O'Leary says. “The reason I say 45 is the turning point, or in your 40s, is because think about a career: Most careers start in early 20s and end in the mid-60s,” O'Leary says.
While 15-year mortgages do have some advantages, especially when it comes to paying less overall interest, the higher monthly payments may be difficult for most borrowers to swallow. However, if you do end up with a 30-year mortgage, it's a good idea to try to make extra payments on your loan each year if you can.
In this scenario, an extra principal payment of $100 per month can shorten your mortgage term by nearly 5 years, saving over $25,000 in interest payments. If you're able to make $200 in extra principal payments each month, you could shorten your mortgage term by eight years and save over $43,000 in interest.
It's often more beneficial for newer owners to be aggressive with their mortgage payments. This is because your money is typically going towards the interest on the loan, not the principal itself. This means that any extra payments will reduce the total amount of interest owed over the course of the entire loan.
Being mortgage-free can make it easier to downsize in other ways – such as going part time – and usually makes it cheaper and easier to buy and sell your home. Generally, a smaller mortgage gives you greater freedom and security.
Here's the bad news: Your property taxes and homeowners insurance don't go away once you pay off your 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).
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. The extra payments will allow you to pay off your remaining loan balance 3 years earlier.