Biweekly Mortgage Payment Calculator

How to Calculate Biweekly Mortgage Payments With This Calculator

To calculate the impact of biweekly mortgage payments, enter the following information.

1. Original loan amount: Enter the original amount of your mortgage (not the outstanding balance).
2. Original loan term: Use the dropdown to select the original loan term (10, 15, 20, 25 or 30 years).
3. Interest rate: Enter your mortgage interest rate.
4. Remaining loan term: Enter the remaining loan term in years and months.

When you click the Calculate button, you'll see these results:

• Biweekly payment: The amount you'll pay every two weeks
• Total paid: The total amount of principal and interest you'll have paid when your loan is paid off
• Total interest: The total amount of interest you'll pay over the life of the loan
• Payoff time: How long it will take to pay off your mortgage with biweekly payments
• Payoff time savings: How much faster you'll pay off your mortgage by making biweekly payments
• Savings on interest: How much interest biweekly payments will save you over the life of the loan

Learn more: Why Paying Your Mortgage Biweekly Can Save You Money

What to Consider Before Making Biweekly Mortgage Payments

Making biweekly mortgage payments helps pay off your mortgage faster, saving money on interest, but it's not right for everyone. To decide if biweekly mortgage payments make sense for you, consider the following.

• Mortgage interest rate: Biweekly payments can mean considerable savings if you have a high interest rate. However, if your mortgage interest rate is low, investing your extra money might be a smarter move than putting it toward extra payments. Although investment returns aren't guaranteed, the S&P 500 has returned an average of 10.3% annually over the past 20 years, according to Vanguard.
• Credit card debt: Credit card interest rates are much higher than mortgage interest rates. It usually makes more financial sense to put extra cash toward paying off high-interest credit card debt than toward extra mortgage payments.
• Other financial goals: If you don't have a solid emergency fund and aren't maxing out your retirement accounts, you may want to focus on those goals before making biweekly mortgage payments. Also consider whether other financial objectives, such as saving for your children's college funds, matter more to you than paying off your mortgage early.
• Lender rules: Not all lenders allow biweekly mortgage payments. If yours doesn't, consider dividing your monthly mortgage payment by 12 and adding that amount to each monthly bill. This won't save you as much on interest as biweekly payments, but will still speed up your payoff time.
• Possible penalties: If your lender charges a prepayment penalty for paying your mortgage off early, you'll need to compare the potential savings from biweekly payments to the cost of this fee. Your loan documents should state whether there's a prepayment penalty and how it's calculated.

If you'd like to try making biweekly mortgage payments, review your budget (or consider making a biweekly budget) for extra money you could put toward your mortgage without compromising your other financial goals. For instance, you may be able to reduce nonessential expenses or find ways to make more money.

Learn more: Should I Pay Extra on My Mortgage Each Month?

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Factors That Affect Your Mortgage Payment

The primary factors that determine your mortgage payment are principal, interest, taxes and insurance (also known as PITI). Some of these costs are typically paid from an escrow account your lender controls, but some homeowners choose to pay costs including taxes and insurance on their own.

• Principal: The money you borrow to buy a home. Each mortgage payment is applied toward principal and interest. A larger percentage goes toward interest at the beginning of the loan; as your loan amortizes, a larger percentage starts going toward principal.
• Interest: Your mortgage interest rate and whether you have a fixed-rate or adjustable-rate mortgage affect your monthly payments. A fixed-rate mortgage has the same interest rate throughout the term. An adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) has a fixed rate for an initial period; then interest rates can rise or fall depending on your loan terms.
• Taxes: Your mortgage payments may include a prorated amount for property taxes. Your lender usually keeps these funds in an escrow account and uses the money to pay your property taxes when they're due.
• Insurance: Your mortgage lender will require carrying homeowners insurance to protect the home. As with property taxes, funds for your home insurance premiums may be kept in an escrow account and paid by your mortgage company.
• Private mortgage insurance (PMI): A mortgage for more than 80% of your home's value may require private mortgage insurance, which protects the lender if you don't pay back your loan. The cost of PMI is typically included in your mortgage payment.

If you use an escrow account, your mortgage payments may change if your taxes and insurance premiums change, even if you have a fixed-rate loan.

Learn more: What Are the 4 Parts of a Mortgage Payment?

How to Make Biweekly Mortgage Payments

If your lender allows biweekly mortgage payments, you can typically make them the same way as your monthly payment: online, by mail, or using autopay or online bill pay. Your mortgage payment portal might have an option to autopay biweekly, or you may need to contact the lender to set up the payments. Also find out if there are any extra fees, such as payment processing fees, for biweekly payments.

Whatever method you use to make biweekly mortgage payments, it's important to ensure that the extra payments are applied to your loan principal. Some lenders put any payment overage into your escrow account, which won't reduce your principal. Ask the lender if extra funds are automatically applied toward principal or if there's anything you need to do to make this happen.

Tip: Not ready to commit to biweekly mortgage payments? Try making extra principal payments anytime you receive a windfall, such as a tax refund or a bonus at work.

The Bottom Line

If your budget allows, making biweekly mortgage payments can help you pay your mortgage off faster, build home equity and reduce the total interest you'll pay. However, be careful not to spread your resources so thin that you fall short on other financial goals.

As you assess your finances, remember to pay attention to your credit. Good credit can help you qualify for favorable rates and terms on mortgage refinancing and other kinds of credit. You can check your Experian credit report and FICO^® Score^Θ for free to see what factors could be affecting your credit score and how you can improve your credit.