Frequently asked questions
These cover how this tool differs from the other mortgage calculators, how much extra payments really save you, and when recasting or refinancing is the better move.
FAQ
How is this different from the other two mortgage calculators?
All three share the same underlying math, but they answer different questions. The main mortgage calculator is for shopping: you enter a home price and down payment and get a full PITI breakdown with taxes, insurance, PMI, and HOA. The amortization calculator is for inspecting a loan you already know the amount of: it shows the full payment-by-payment schedule from day one. This payoff calculator is for people who already have a mortgage and want to know what extra payments would actually save them — it starts from your current balance and remaining term, and the hero of the page is the interest-saved and time-saved number, not the monthly payment.
FAQ
How much can extra payments actually save me?
More than most people expect. On a typical 30-year mortgage, every dollar of extra principal saves you all the interest that dollar would have accrued over the rest of the loan. An extra $200 a month on a $300,000 balance at 6.75% can shave five to six years off the term and save well into the tens of thousands in interest. The exact numbers depend on your balance, rate, and remaining term — which is what this calculator is for. Enter your own figures and the savings card shows the result immediately.
FAQ
Should I pay extra principal or refinance to a shorter term?
It depends on two things: whether rates have moved in your favor, and how disciplined you want the payment to be. Refinancing to a shorter term usually gets you a slightly lower rate and locks in a higher mandatory payment, which forces you to pay down faster. Paying extra principal on your existing loan gets you the same payoff math without closing costs, without re-qualifying, and with the flexibility to stop any time. If your current rate is already low, extra principal is almost always the cleaner move. If rates have dropped significantly since you closed, a refinance to a 15 or 20-year term is worth running the numbers on separately.
FAQ
Is a mortgage recast better than making extra payments?
A recast is when you make a large lump-sum principal payment and then ask your lender to re-amortize the remaining balance across the original term. Your monthly payment goes down, but the payoff date stays the same. Making extra payments (without recasting) keeps your monthly payment the same and shortens the payoff date instead. Both save the same amount of interest on the lump sum itself. Choose a recast if you want lower monthly cashflow; choose extra payments if you want to be done sooner. Recasts typically cost a small lender fee and are only offered on conventional conforming loans.
FAQ
Does this tool work for any fixed-rate amortizing loan?
Yes. The math is identical for any fixed-rate amortizing loan — auto loans, personal loans, student loans, home equity loans. Enter your current balance, rate, and remaining term as you would for a mortgage and the savings numbers and schedule will be correct. The labels say 'mortgage' because that's what most people are searching for, but nothing in the calculation is mortgage-specific.
FAQ
Is anything I enter here stored or sent anywhere?
No. Everything runs in your browser. The savings, schedule, and totals are computed locally, the page makes no network requests for the calculation, and nothing you type is logged, stored, or transmitted to Everyday Tools Hub or anywhere else. The CSV download is generated and triggered entirely client-side.