How To Pay Your Mortgage Quicker

Refinanceor Pretend You Did

Another way to pay off your mortgage early is to trade it in for a better loan with a shorter termlike a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage. Lets see how this would impact our earlier example. If you keep the 30-year mortgage, youll pay more than $158,000 in total interest over the life of the loan. But if you switch to a 15-year mortgage, youll save over $85,000and youll pay off your home in half the time!

Sure, a 15-year mortgage will probably come with a bigger monthly payment. But if it fits within your housing budget, itll totally be worth it! And hey, maybe youve boosted your income or lowered your cost of living since when you first took out your mortgagethen youd definitely be able to handle the bigger payment.

You can refinance a longer-term mortgage into a 15-year loan. Or if you already have a low interest rate, save on the closing costs of a refinance and simply pay on your 30-year mortgage like its a 15-year mortgage. What if you already have a 15-year mortgage? If you can swing it, imagine increasing your payments to pay it off in 10 years!

Boost Your Income And Put All Extra Money Toward The Loan

A great way to cut the life of your loan is to work on earning more money with the intention of making extra payments on your loan. Consider selling stuff on Amazon or eBay, cutting your impulse purchases and putting saved money toward your loan, or taking on a side hustle on weekends or holidays for extra cash. Even a job that nets you an extra $200 a month can make a big difference in your loan.

Triumph over your loans by using one or more of these tricks to make them shorter and pay less interest. You deserve to keep more of your money!

Change Your Payment Schedule From Monthly To Biweekly

Making biweekly, instead of monthly, payments is a way to pay down your mortgage faster without having to make a big payment. Its simple math: A monthly payment schedule is 12 months of payments per year. A year has 52 weeks, so a bi-weekly schedule would be 26 payments per year. Thats one extra payment a year.

Lets assume you have a $200,000 mortgage with a 30-year term and a 4% interest rate. Your monthly payment would be about $955, resulting in $11,460 paid toward your mortgage over the course of a year. A bi-weekly payment of $477.50 may seem like the same thing , but multiplied by 26, thats $12,415 toward your mortgage . That extra payment goes purely toward the principal meaning youll pay off the loan four years faster and save $22,366 in interest.

Many lenders will allow you to make the switch, but some dont offer the option and some charge fees, which isnt worth it, says Ilyce Glink, CEO of Best Money Moves and author of 100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask. Every month, you can do the same thing by taking the cost of one or two extra payments, divide by 12, and add that amount to your monthly mortgage payments, Glink says.

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Is It Better To Pay Off Escrow Or Principal

If you’re stuck between paying down the balance on the principal or escrow on your mortgage, always go with the principal first. By paying towards the principal on your mortgage, you’re actually paying on the existing debt, which brings you closer to owning your home.

Expert Tips to Pay Down Your Mortgage in 10 Years or Less

How To Pay Off Your Mortgage In 5 Years

Assuming your lender allows you to pay off your mortgage faster and that an early payoff is financially worthwhile, youll want to determine what the most realistic course of action will be based on your finances.

Many people who set the goal of paying off their mortgage in 5 years are a part of whats called the FIRE movement.FIRE stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early. These are aggressive plans to achieve financial independence, but they can be useful in helping a borrower with the means to do so reduce their debt faster.

So, how do you pay off your mortgage in 5 years?

There are a few steps that youll need to take in order to meet this goal. Regularly putting extra money toward your payments will prove to be worthwhile in the long run, but this should be done strategically. Lets take a look at the process.

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Refinance With A Shorter

A shorter term on the mortgage means it goes away sooner, but at the cost of a much higher monthly payment and perhaps some out of pocket closing costs. Examine the loan closely.

The monthly payment on a 30-year, $200,000 mortgage at 2.5% would be $790 a month.

The monthly payment on a 15-year, $200,000 mortgage at 2.25 % would be $1,310.

Thats another $520 a month to finish paying off your mortgage 15 years sooner.

The bottom line on this decision is the bottom line: Can you afford the higher monthly payment of a 15-year loan, or are you better off contributing extra each month when you can to a 30-year payment?

Switch Loans To A Lower Interest Rate

Review your loan and rate regularly, always make sure you are looking for better rates.

Non-bank lenders like loans.com.au can provide more affordable rates for home loans than banks due to fewer overheads

This means doing business costs less and those savings translate directly into lower interest rates and fees for customers.

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Reduce Repayments As A Last Resort

If your payments are too high, only reduce your fortnightly payments as a last resort.

Other options like extending your loan or paying monthly are also possible, but if you want to pay off your loan as quickly as possible, reducing your repayments is going to make it difficult.

The main strategy to avoid this is taking on a loan you can afford.

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Consider An Offset Account

An offset account is a savings or transaction account linked to your mortgage. Your offset account balance reduces the amount you owe on your mortgage. This reduces the amount of interest you pay and helps you pay off your mortgage faster.

For example, for a $500,000 mortgage, $20,000 in an offset account means you’re only charged interest on $480,000.

If your offset balance is always low , it may not be worth paying for this feature.

Increase Your Regular Payment Amount

What it is: You currently pay a set amount toward your mortgage on a regular schedule but what if you bumped up the amount of those payments? Even a small change can go a long way toward paying off your principal faster.

With TD, you can increase your payment as often as you like, as long as the total of all increases doesn’t exceed 100% of your original principal and interest payment. Thats double your normal payment amount. So, for example, if your original mortgage agreement has you paying $1,000 a month, you could pay up to $2,000 per month during your mortgage term.

For example, if you get a raise at work, you can set aside some of the increase in your pay cheque to go toward your mortgage.

How to do it: You can increase your mortgage payments by logging into EasyWeb Online Banking or by speaking to a TD Mortgage Specialist.

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Put Windfalls Toward Your Mortgage

Another great way to pay off your mortgage early is to make an extra payment toward principal if you get your hands on money you don’t have earmarked for something else. For example, you could use a tax refund, a government stimulus check, cash gifts you receive for your birthday, or a bonus from your job.

When you make these lump sum payments on top of your regular mortgage payment, you can put the entire amount toward paying off your loan balance. This can significantly speed up the time it takes to pay down debt — especially if you make lump sum payments on a regular basis.

Bonus Tips To Pay Your Home Loan Faster

Making extra repayments and opting for an offset account is on top of our mortgage brokers tips.

However, there are a few special mentions to help you pay off your mortgage faster:

• Buying an investment property Getting a loan to buy an investment property will surely give you more debt but if planned right, it can also help you pay off both your home loan and investment loan. Patience is the key as youll have to wait for the property to rise in value.
• Maximizing downpayment Downpayment in your home loan is basically the deposit you have to pay at the early stage of your mortgage. If you maximize your deposit amount, you can reduce the size of your home loan to make your repayments more manageable.
• Pay off expensive debts first The cost of debt depends on the interest rate, fees and if the tax is deductible or not. Paying off high-interest debts first will help you manage extra repayments on your home loan.
• Downsizing It basically refers to selling your old home and buying a smaller one. Most borrowers see this as a mortgage exit strategy when they reach the age of retirement. Downsizing can help you free up some extra cash and pay off your home loan sooner.
• Make P& I repayments Interest-only repayments mean that you only pay the interest on the amount that you borrowed. Hitting both principal and interest will help you better manage your repayments and end the term of your loan sooner.

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Consider A Larger Down Payment

Your down payment plays a big role in your mortgage payment calculations. The more you put down, the less you need to borrow. But your down payment affects more than that. Most conventional loans require one of two things 20% down or private mortgage insurance . If you put less than 20% down, your lender requires PMI as a form of insurance in case you default on your loan.

If you increase the size of your down payment, you could avoid the extra cost of PMI and reduce your loan amount or term. The money you would be spending on PMI could be used to make extra payments on your loan, helping pay your mortgage off sooner.

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Ways To Pay Off A Loan Early

If you’re like most Americans, you owe money toward a large loan. Whether that means carrying thousands of dollars in credit card debt, having a hefty mortgage in your name or making car loan payments each month, loan debt is part of your life. This means you’re looking at hundreds of dollars in interest payments over the life of the loan. There’s also the mental load of knowing you owe perhaps tens of thousands of dollars and that you’ll be paying back the loan for years to come.

It can all get kind of depressing-but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Did you know there are simple, but brilliant, tricks you can employ to lighten the load? With a carefully applied technique, you can pay off your mortgage, auto loan, credit card debt and any other debt you’re carrying quicker than you thought possible. These tricks won’t hurt your finances in any dramatic way, but they can make a big difference to the total interest you’ll pay over the life of the loan and help you become debt-free faster.

You can free up more of your money each month, use your hard-earned cash for the things you want instead of forking it over in interest and live completely debt-free sooner than you’d dreamed. It’s all possible!

A note of caution before we explore these tricks: Check with your lender before employing any approach, as some loan types have penalties for making extra or early payments.

The Monthly Interest Payment

The interest portion of the monthly payment declines over time as principal is paid down. It is calculated by multiplying the interest rate by the remaining principal balance . Note that the interest rate shown in Column 3 is an annual interest rate and must be divided by 12 to arrive at the periodic interest rate.

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Below Are Some Handy Tips For Paying Off Your Mortgage Faster So You Can Enjoy Your Home Even More

If youre looking for home finance it pays to talk to a Loan Market mortgage adviser who can help you understand what your home loan options are as well as set up your savings scheme with the right bank for you.

1. Make extra repaymentsBoth consistent and ad-hoc additional repayments such as bonuses and tax returns work to reduce the principal on your mortgage faster. The earlier in the loan term you begin making additional repayments, the greater the benefit in terms of time and money saved.

2. Make your first repayment on settlement dateYour first home loan repayment will generally fall due one month after settlement. Making your first repayment on your settlement date reduces the principal before the first lot of interest accrues on the amount you have borrowed.

3. Make extra repayments right from the startRegular additional repayments made right from the beginning of your loan term will have a much greater effect on the overall time and cost of your loan than starting five or ten years into the loan. Even if you are already more than five years into your loan term, you can still make a considerable saving by starting to make additional repayments now.

6. Pay loan fees and charges up frontPay establishment fees, legal fees and Lenders Mortgage Insurance up front rather than capitalising them into your loan. This will save your thousands of dollars in interest over the loan term.

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Reduce The Amount Of Debt You Have

Mortgage debt is a significant undertaking, especially if you have additional debt from student loans, credit cards, etc. By paying off your mortgage early, youll reduce a substantial portion of your debt and free up more funds to make your other monthly payments. The faster you pay off all your debts, the sooner youll achieve financial freedom.

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Should You Pay Off Your Mortgage Early Or Refinance

Do you want to pay off your mortgage faster because youre worried about how much youre spending on interest?

If youre simply concerned about your mortgage interest rate, consider refinancing to a lower rate and maybe a shorter term instead of making extra payments on your existing mortgage.

But if you already have a competitive interest rate and an ideal loan term, you probably dont need to refinance. You may be tempted to pay less interest by paying off your mortgage faster.

As you make your decision, consider whether you could earn more investing in securities than youd save by paying down your mortgage balance more quickly. Investing that money in a taxpreferred IRA could offer more financial peace of mind than owning your home outright sooner.

Any kind of investing can be risky. Check with a personal financial advisor before making any big moves if youre not sure about the risks youre taking.

Will Your Mortgage Company Let You Pay It Off Early

When you pay off your mortgage faster, you pay less interest, and your mortgage company makes less money off your loan. For this reason, not all mortgage companies permit their clients to pay off their loans earlier than stipulated in their contract. So, before you make any grand plans, double-check that your lender will, in fact, allow you to pay off your mortgage faster.

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Benefits Of Paying Off Your Mortgage Early

Owning a home without a mortgage is financially liberating. Here are just a few of the key benefits:

• You save money. By paying off your mortgage you eliminate interest costs. This lowers your monthly expenses and reduces the total cost to own your home.
• No interest is better than a mortgage tax deduction. If you keep the mortgage to get the tax deduction then you’re paying $1 to the bank to get a $0.25 tax deduction . You’re still out $0.75. If you pay off the mortgage, you pay $0.25 in taxes and have $0.75 in your pocket.
• You will gain the flexibility of using what had been the mortgage payment to invest in retirement or save toward other financial goals. Imagine! Not only will you avoid paying mortgage interest, but you’ll be making money in higher-yielding accounts!