Tagaccelerated payments

Posted February 6, 2020 Mortgage News

How much do you save with bi-weekly payments?

For years, we’ve been told to pay our mortgage bi-weekly. Magically, it will pay your mortgage off faster. Hmm, let’s put that to the test.

(SPOILER ALERT!) Around 10 years ago, I wrote an article showing some simple but effective math to explain this. I’m constantly getting emails from my readers asking me what they should do. Obviously, a topic worth taking another look at.

Let me also say, there is merit to paying bi-weekly… I’ll explain further on.

HISTORY OF BI-WEEKLY PAYMENTS

Back in the mid-’90s, there was a huge marketing blitz by the Big Banks that promoted making bi-weekly payments instead of the traditional monthly payments. The sales pitch was that you could save huge amounts of money and pay your mortgage off much faster, shaving 4 or 5 years off your amortization. Sound familiar? While offering some benefit, BI-WEEKLY PAYMENTS DON’T SAVE AS MUCH AS YOU MIGHT THINK!

And I’ll prove it… Here are the straight facts!

Continue reading “How much do you save with bi-weekly payments?”

Posted March 27, 2018 Case study

How can an extra $100 boost your mortgage?

When it comes to mortgages, $100 isn’t going to get you very far. But what if you paid an extra $100 a month towards your mortgage? It’s not a lot of money these days, but it can add up to some solid savings over time.

Let’s look at a $300,000 mortgage with a 2.89% rate and a 25-year amortization. At the end of five years, you’ve paid off an extra $6,444. The balance owing is $249,435. And the remaining amortization is 17 years and 9 months instead of 20 years. This also represents an interest savings of $11,423 over the life of the mortgage. Not bad!

Now let’s look at paying an extra $200 per month. At the end of five years, you’ve paid off an extra $12,888. The balance owing is $242,991. And the remaining amortization is 15 years and 11 months. This represents an interest savings of $20,708 over the life of the mortgage! Continue reading “How can an extra $100 boost your mortgage?”

Posted October 27, 20141 Comment Mortgage News

Bi-weekly payment myth…. it won’t pay your mortgage off faster.

Bi-weekly payments won’t pay your mortgage off faster. Yup, it’s true. Around 4 yrs ago, I wrote an article showing some simple but effective math to explain this. Recently, I’ve had several readers and clients ask me about bi-weekly payments.

I thought I’d repost that article as it seemed to get a lot of attention and answered a great many questions on what it really takes to pay your mortgage off faster.

Repost from July 2010….

Back in the mid 90’s, there was a huge marketing blitz by the Big Banks that promoted making bi-weekly payments instead of the traditional monthly payments. The sales pitch was that you could save huge amounts of money and pay your mortgage off much faster….save 4 or 5 years off your amortization…. Sound familiar? Well, BI-WEEKLY PAYMENTS DON’T REALLY SAVE AS MUCH AS YOU THINK!

And I’ll prove it…. here’s the straight facts! Continue reading “Bi-weekly payment myth…. it won’t pay your mortgage off faster.”

Posted April 27, 20131 Comment Money saving tips

What can $100 do when it comes to a mortgage?

When it comes to mortgages, $100 isn’t gonna get your very far. But what if you paid an extra $100/mth towards your mortgage? It’s not a lot of money these days but it can add up to some good savings.

We looked at a $300,000 mortgage with a 2.89% rate and a 25 year amortization. At the end of 5 years, the borrower had paid off an extra $6,444. The balance owing was $249,435. And their remaining amortization was 17 years and 9 months instead of 20 years. This also represented an interest savings of $11,423 over the life of the mortgage. Not bad.

Now let’s look at paying an extra $200 per month. At the end of 5 years, the borrower had paid off an extra $12,888 . The balance owing was $242,991. And their remaining amortization was 15 years and 11 months. This represented an interest savings of $20,708 over the life of the mortgage. Continue reading “What can $100 do when it comes to a mortgage?”

Posted July 8, 2010 Mortgage Tips

Do bi-weekly payments save you money?

And I’ll prove it…. here’s the straight facts!

Let’s use a $200,000 mortgage with a 25 year amortization, a 4.00% interest rate and a 5 year term.

MONTHLY PAYMENTS $1,052.04. MORTGAGE BALANCE AT END OF 5 YEARS $174,107.86.

Now let’s calculate bi-weekly payments and the balance remaining at the end of the 5 year term.

BI-WEEKLY PAYMENTS $485.55. MORTGAGE BALANCE AT END OF 5 YEARS $173,885.20

So you end up reducing your balance by only $222.66 over a 5 year period... Not much of a benefit…you really aren’t paying your mortgage off sooner.

You may have seen options by your Lender or Bank to pay an ACCELERATED PAYMENT. This simply means you increase the amount you pay every month… The normal acceleration formula is to make one more month’s worth of payments every year but spread it out over the 12 months… I’ll show you.

LET’S USE THE SAME MORTGAGE OF $200,000, 25 year amortization, 4.00% interest rate and a 5 year term.

ACCELERATED MONTHLY PAYMENT $1,139.71. MORTGAGE BALANCE AT END OF 5 YEARS $168,300.27.

You end up with a balance that is $5,807.59 lower at the end of 5 years…but don’t forget, you paid and extra month’s worth of payments every year during those 5 years, totaling $5,260.20. So the net benefit is really $547.39….

Now let’s look at ACCELERATED BI-WEEKLY PAYMENTS of $526.02….the MORTGAGE BALANCE AT END OF 5 YEARS IS $168,121.95.

The net benefit is a little better… $725.71…

BOTTOM LINE…. increase your payments and you’ll pay your mortgage off sooner…go with a bi-weekly ACCELERATED payment… it is a better choice.. bi-weekly or weekly payments are not a mysterious formula for paying your mortgage off sooner… It’s the INCREASED PAYMENT that helps you pay it off sooner…… After all, the best mortgage is no mortgage.