Monthly Payment
$202.76
Total Interest
$2,165.84
Total Paid
$12,165.84
How it works
The Mortgage Payoff Estimator calculates exactly how long it will take to pay off your mortgage given your current balance, interest rate, monthly payment, and any additional principal payments you plan to make. It shows the payoff date, total interest paid, and the interest saved by making extra payments.
A standard 30-year $300,000 mortgage at 6.5% costs approximately $382,000 in interest over its life — more than the original loan. Adding just $200/month in extra principal payments reduces the loan by 6 years and saves over $60,000 in interest. This calculator makes that math visible in seconds.
How to use it: enter your remaining loan balance, annual interest rate, current monthly payment, and any additional monthly principal payment you're considering. The calculator shows the payoff date and total interest for both scenarios side by side — helping you see the exact dollar and time benefit of extra payments.
Amortization breakdown: click "Show full amortization schedule" to see a month-by-month table of principal vs. interest allocation, remaining balance, and cumulative interest paid. This shows how early payments are almost entirely interest, and how extra principal payments accelerate the crossover point.
One-time lump sum: enter a one-time extra principal payment (e.g., a tax refund or bonus) to see how much it reduces your payoff date and total interest. A $5,000 lump sum on a typical mortgage saves $8,000–15,000 in interest depending on how early in the loan term it's applied.
Privacy: all mortgage calculations run in the browser.
Frequently Asked Questions
- On a typical $300,000 mortgage at 6.5% interest, an extra $100/month reduces the payoff time by approximately 4 years and saves roughly $45,000 in total interest. The exact savings depend on your remaining balance, rate, and how many years are left on the loan — use the calculator to see your specific numbers.
- Extra principal payments save the most interest when made early in the loan term, when the outstanding balance is highest. A $1,000 extra payment in month 12 saves more interest than the same $1,000 payment in month 240. Any extra payment at any time reduces the balance and thus future interest, but earlier is always better.
- Mathematically identical — both reduce the outstanding principal. A 13th annual payment is equivalent to paying 1/12 extra each month. Some borrowers find the 13th-payment approach easier to budget for (save 1/12 of a payment each month, then pay it at year-end). Others prefer the certainty of a higher recurring monthly payment.
- If your mortgage rate exceeds your expected investment return, pay down the mortgage. If your after-tax investment return exceeds your after-tax mortgage rate, invest. For a 6.5% mortgage with a mortgage interest deduction, the after-tax cost is ~5%. If you expect 7–10% from index fund investing, the math favors investing — but the guaranteed return of debt payoff has psychological value too.