Mortgage Calculator

Work out the whole payment

Set the price, the deposit, the rate and the term, and the payment appears as you type. The fields underneath are the ones most calculators leave out: property tax, buildings insurance, mortgage insurance, association dues, and anything you plan to overpay.

Change the deposit and watch the mortgage insurance appear and disappear at the 20% line. Put something in the extra field and the payoff date moves. Everything runs in your browser — nothing is uploaded, stored or logged.

What a mortgage payment is actually made of

A mortgage payment is not one thing. In the US it usually has four parts, known together as PITI:

Principal — the slice that reduces what you owe.
Interest — the lender’s charge on what you still owe.
Taxes — property tax, collected monthly and paid to your local authority.
Insurance — buildings insurance, and mortgage insurance if your deposit was under 20%.

Only the first two repay the loan. The other two are collected into an escrow account and passed on by the lender when the bills fall due.

This distinction is the single most common surprise for a first-time buyer, and it is why the number a lender quotes is often not the number that leaves your account.

The calculator above shows all of it — the loan payment, the tax, the insurance and the mortgage insurance — and the breakdown table names each part so you can see which one is doing the damage. If you only want the loan half of the arithmetic, the loan calculator does that for any amount, rate and term.

How much escrow adds

Take a $300,000 home with 20% down, so a $240,000 loan at 6.5% over 30 years, property tax at 1.1% of value and $1,500 a year of buildings insurance.

Principal and interest — $1,516.96
Property tax — $275.00
Insurance — $125.00
Total payment — $1,916.96

Escrow adds 26% on top of the loan payment. With a smaller deposit, PMI would push it higher still.

Property tax rates vary enormously — well under 0.5% in some states and over 2% in others — so this is the part of the calculation most worth checking locally rather than assuming.

The rate matters more than almost anything else

$300,000 over 30 years:

At 5% — $1,610.46 a month, $279,767 in interest.
At 6% — $1,798.65 a month, $347,515 in interest.
At 7% — $1,995.91 a month, $418,527 in interest.
At 8% — $2,201.29 a month, $492,466 in interest.

One percentage point — 6% to 7% — costs about $197 a month and $71,000 over the term.

Which puts the effort of shopping around in proportion. Getting three or four quotes is a few hours of work for a five-figure difference, and it is almost certainly worth more than any other decision in the process. Compare on APR rather than the headline rate, since APR includes the lender’s fees.

15 years against 30

$300,000 at 6.5%:

30-year — $1,896.20 a month, $382,633 in total interest.
15-year — $2,613.32 a month, $170,398 in total interest.

The shorter term costs $717 more a month and saves $212,000 over the life of the loan.

Neither choice is simply better. The 30-year buys flexibility: a lower required payment, with the option to pay extra whenever you can. The 15-year enforces the discipline and pays substantially less. A common middle path is to take the 30-year and overpay voluntarily — which gets you most of the saving while keeping the lower payment as a safety net if your circumstances change.

Interest comes first

An amortizing loan front-loads interest heavily, because interest is charged on what you still owe and at the start you owe nearly all of it.

On a $200,000 30-year loan at 6%, the first twelve payments retire 1.2% of the balance. The crossover — the first payment where more goes to principal than to interest — does not arrive until year 19 of 30. Across the full term, 53.7% of everything repaid is interest.

Two consequences worth planning around:

Extra payments early are worth far more than late ones. A dollar off the principal in year one avoids interest for 29 years. On a 30-year loan, one extra monthly payment a year removes roughly four to six years from the term — four at 4%, six at 7%.

Equity builds slower than the calendar suggests. Five years into a 30-year loan you have repaid under 7% of it, not the 17% the years imply. Combined with buying and selling costs, that is why moving again within a few years often loses money even in a rising market.

PMI

Private mortgage insurance protects the lender if you default. It protects you from nothing, and it is normally required when your deposit is under 20%.

It typically runs 0.3% to 1.5% of the loan a year, which on $240,000 is $60 to $300 a month for no benefit to you.

In the US there are two end dates, and the difference between them is worth money.

At 78% the lender must cancel without being asked — but that date is fixed by the original amortization schedule. Paying extra does not move it, however fast you actually repay.

At 80% you may request cancellation, and that one is judged on what you actually owe. Overpayments do bring it forward, sometimes by years, and an appraisal can help if the property has appreciated.

So the earlier date is the one you have to ask for. The calculator shows both, and what the gap between them costs. Diarize the request; it does not happen on its own.

What you can afford is not what you will be lent

Lenders assess against ratios — commonly that the housing payment stays under about 28% of gross income, and all debt payments under about 36%. Those are underwriting limits, not advice, and being approved for a number is not evidence that the number is comfortable.

Costs the ratios ignore: maintenance (a common rule of thumb is 1% of the property value a year), utilities that are usually higher than in a rental, any service or association charges, and the closing costs of 2–5% due at purchase.

The useful test is not whether the payment fits, but whether it still fits alongside saving, and after a bad month.

Nothing on this page is financial advice. Mortgage rules, tax and insurance vary by country and by state, and a lender’s own figures are the ones that count.

Frequently asked questions

What is PITI?

The four parts of a typical US mortgage payment: Principal, Interest, Taxes and Insurance. Only the first two repay the loan; the other two are collected by the lender into an escrow account and paid on your behalf. They routinely add 20–30% on top of the loan payment, which is why a quote of "principal and interest" understates what leaves your account.

Why is my payment higher than the loan calculator says?

Because a loan calculator gives you principal and interest only. Property tax, buildings insurance, and mortgage insurance if your deposit was under 20%, are all added on top — often several hundred a month.

Is a 15-year mortgage better than a 30-year?

It costs far less in total and far more each month. On $300,000 at 6.5%, a 15-year term is $2,613 a month against $1,896 — but $170,000 in interest against $383,000. The 30-year buys flexibility; the 15-year buys the house sooner. Neither is wrong.

How much does one percentage point actually cost?

More than most people expect. On a $300,000 30-year loan, going from 6% to 7% adds about $197 a month and roughly $71,000 over the term. Shopping the rate is usually worth more than any other single decision in the process.

What is PMI and how do I get rid of it?

Private mortgage insurance protects the lender, not you, and is normally required when your deposit is under 20%. It typically costs 0.3–1.5% of the loan a year. In the US it must be cancelled automatically once the balance reaches 78% of the original value, and you can usually request removal at 80%.

Should I pay extra toward the principal?

It is one of the most effective things you can do, because interest is charged on the outstanding balance and early payments avoid the most of it. On a 30-year loan, one extra monthly payment a year takes roughly four to six years off the term. Check first for an early-repayment charge, and make sure the lender applies it to principal.

When can I stop paying PMI?

There are two dates, and only one happens by itself. At 80% loan-to-value you may request cancellation, and that is judged on what you actually owe — so overpayments bring it forward. At 78% the lender must cancel unasked, but that date is fixed by the original schedule and paying extra does not move it. The calculator shows both, because the gap between them is money you get back only by asking.