Many people believe that because they have a 30 year mortgage, it will take 30 years to pay it off. Some have been enticed by gimmicks (that cost thousands of dollars) purported to help speed up their home pay-off using some “little known” and “magical” formula. The truth is there is one way to pay your mortgage off earlier – by paying extra money toward the principal balance and less money toward interest.
Here’s an example:
- $150,000 mortgage balance
- 4.5% interest rate
- 30 year mortgage
- $760 principal & interest payment
If one were to pay $200 extra per month toward principal ($960/month), the mortgage would be paid off in 19 years 8 months (a full 10 years sooner)!
If an extra $790 per month were applied toward principal (1,550/month), the mortgage would be paid off in 10 years flat.
Use our “Early Pay-Off Calculator” to calculate the difference extra principal payments or interest rate reductions would make!
5 Ways To Pay Off House Earlier
- Refinance to a interest rate
- Rent out a room and use the rent to pay toward principal
- Use tax refund to reduce principal
- Use a bonus to reduce principal
- Eliminate PMI and use the money to apply toward principal
I applied this technique and paid off my house in 6 years flat, and you can read every month of my journey by clicking THIS LINK.