Monthly, Semi-monthly, biweekly, weekly, and then toss in accelerated options. The frequency in which you can schedule your mortgage payments is relatively robust. But which option makes the most sense when your goal is to be mortgage-free faster?
First, let’s recap how payments are calculated
Monthly – 1 payment per month
Semi-Monthly – 2 payments a month, commonly done on the 1st and 15th of the month.
(Monthly payment x 12 = yearly payments / 24 = Semi Monthly payment)
Bi-weekly – Payment made every 2 weeks. Keep in mind some months will require 3 payments.
(Monthly payment x 12 = yearly payments / 26 =Bi weekly payment)
Weekly payment – Payment made every week.
(Monthly payment x 12 = yearly payments / 52 =Weekly payment)
Simply selecting bi-weekly payments or weekly payments will save you a couple of hundred dollars on interest, but where you’ll see the real savings is by selecting an accelerated option.
Your accelerated bi-weekly payments are half of what a monthly payment would be
(Monthly payment / 2 = Accelerated bi-weekly). A simple switch to an accelerated option can save you approximately 3.5 years off of your mortgage. The interest savings alone is almost
$2,000 on a $400,000 mortgage. That may not seem like a lot of interest savings, but don’t forget these loans are often 25 years long. Your total interest over the life of your mortgage could be hundreds of thousands of dollars. Save the interest where you can, when you can, and when it’s reasonable to do so.
So what if accelerated payments are too much for your budget? That’s fine. I’m happy to hear you know your budget and want to stick to it. Start with something easy. Round that
$1,179.20/month payment up to $1,200.00 or any nice round number you’re comfortable with. Even the smallest prepayments make a difference over the life of your mortgage.
