In an ideal world, paying off your mortgage would be quick and easy. But unfortunately for most of us it’s going to take years, and the ideal is getting it paid off before retirement. There’s many tips out there for mortgage payment help that urge you to do one thing or another. But there’s an easy solution that can actually take years off the term of your loan.
The Problem
No matter what home loan you have, budgeting monthly payments is one of the most important financial decisions you have to make. Not only does it play into your credit score, it also secures the longevity of your home. Most often, people try to budget their payback schedule with the hopes that their house will be paid off before retirement. If you’re wanting to cut down the term of your loan and are not sure how, here is a fairly practical and easy mortgage payment help tip to do that.
The Solution
Have you ever heard someone say if you have a huge project, to simply break it up into small tasks and tackle them one-by-one? Well, that’s what you can do with your mortgage to. Break the payments up into smaller, more frequent payments that you can tackle easily.
It’s called bi-weekly payments. We strongly encourage you to look into rearranging your payments and, instead of paying once a month, pay once every two weeks. This might take a minute to figure out, but if it’s possible to put this into your budget it will drastically change your long-term payment situation. This means more money for you and your family in the long run.
If you plan on paying your mortgage every other week instead of once a month, not only will you be breaking it up and not paying a large sum at once, but you’ll be adding a few payments on a year.
Example
Not totally clear on how this works? Let’s look at some sample numbers and work through the math:
If Mary’s mortgage payment is $2,000 a month and she makes a half payment every two weeks, that’s $1,000 every two weeks. That equals 26 half payments, or 13 full payments. That results in one additional payment per year, which over time will add up to bring a 30-year term down to 22.5 years. That means Mary will be free from paying a mortgage 8 years sooner than planned. It will also save her thousands of dollars in interest by doing so.
A lot of our customers have set up their payments on automatic deduction. This way, you know that every other Friday his payment will be made. Another option is to make a payment out of your tax refund. Many people budget the money they are getting back to incorporate an additional mortgage payment, which brings down the term and cuts the interest over time that is being paid.
The Payoff
Although there is nothing wrong with lump sum payments, it is better in the long run to pay incrementally, and it’s also a good practice. Since the goal of most people is to pay off their house before retirement, this is one method to get you there.
If you would like to see how this breaks down for your budget specifically, or if you have questions, don’t hesitate to call or come into the office and we can work through the numbers with you. It’s not as daunting as it seems and it really pays off in the long run.
Takeaway
Looking at how much is left on your mortgage can sometimes be daunting and intimidating. But if you put it into smaller, more frequent payments it’s manageable and can be paid off sooner. That’s the type of mortgage payment help we like to see! If you want to talk to us about refinancing your mortgage or any other mortgage payment help, contact us today!
