Paying one additional mortgage payment each year, whether in a lump sum or monthly increments, can lower a 30-year loan down to 18 years. If you pay more than one extra payment, the number of years will decrease even more.
Since this additional payment will be applied only to the principal and not the interest, you end up saving thousands and thousands of dollars once the home is paid off! And it also lowers the total amount of interest the borrower will pay, because it lowers the principal and length of time it will take to pay off the loan. So you save twice with each overpayment. Make sure you have pre-payment privileges in order to save.
By Julia from Boca Raton, FL
I have been re-reading Possum Living by Dolly Freed. Her number one thrift tip is to have your house paid for.
Set your sights high. Know what you want, and then use every ounce of your being to get what you want. A number of years ago, my hubby and I decided to buy a house. We found the perfect house for us.
I am sending weekly mortgage payments to my lender and sent a request in writing instructing them how much to apply to principal, interest and escrow. They accept my payment but hold it in a suspense account until I call when the next payment is due and tell them to apply it. Every time I call they tell me they do not accept partial payments, yet they hold my money without applying it.
I do this to make it easier to budget weekly, and was hoping to apply money to the principal to get the amount down weekly. Is it legal for them to hold my money in a suspense account even thought I have instructed them how to apply it? Can they refuse these payments legally? My mortgage payment is always on time and up to date. Can you help?Most mortgage companies will not accept weekly or bi-monthly payments unless you sign up and pay them for the privilege. You are lucky they hold the partial payments in a suspense account. Many put the partial payment in the escrow. If you check the fine print in your mortgage paperwork, the monthly payment is covered.
If you wish to pay down the principle faster, add $10 or more to your monthly payment, designating it as extra principle. The will work much better than weekly payments and the mortgage company will accept it without problems.
Oh my goodness... You know, i had thought about doing this before i went to online banking. I had never thought about them not taking the extra payments.
Thanks for the replies. Unfortunately, I guess I did not make myself clear. The mortgage company does not have a "sign up and pay" privilege. As for adding $10 to the monthly payment, I could certainly do that. The point is that it is MUCH easier budgeting out 1/4 of the monthly payment per week than trying not to spend that amount each week, holding onto it to pay the entire amount on the 1st. As for online banking suggestion that is exactly how I am paying right now! The problem is the mortgage company putting the payments in the suspense account instead of appling them to the next months payment.
Most banks and mortage companies will except bi monthly payments when it is applied to the principle.In your post you say you want the mortage company to apply your payment to taxes and interest as well.That may be your problem.When appling extra money to the mortage it should be applied to the principle only.Trying to pay extra money on taxes and interest is costing you money.Also it should be applied just once a month not every week.For example you send in your regular payment on the 1st of the month then a second payment 2 weeks later.I would call back your mortage company and tell or ask them how they want you to make just principle only payments once a month.
We have the same budgeting stratagy, but instead of sending off each check we write weekly, we have a "holding" drawer (or it could be an envelope) where we keep the written checks, and then send them all at one time each month. This will save you postage too.
You could see if they'd let you re-do your mortgage with payments on a weekly basis. My guess would be not, because intrest is generally calculated on a monthly basis. Your mortgage is a contract, and if you want to change it, you might have to go through the process of getting a new mortgage.
It would be better for you to put money each week into some type of savings account... and then pay your mortgage once a month, since your mortgage company wont accept early payments.. At least that way you will be getting interest on your money and also, putting the money aside so you dont spend it.. I use ING, inc... an online bank. I just got a message that any money I put into my account before Apr (I think) I will get 4.75% interest on the savings account.
PLEASE read this article on bi-weekly mortgage payments. tinyurl.com/
Have you ever heard of the envelope system? This is what my husband and I do every week. We have an envelope for every bill and expense that we have including one for Savings, Emergency, etc. We cash his check every week and put our designated money into it's own envelope. Once you've run out of money in, say your food envelope then you can't go get anymore groceries for that week, if the money is in your mortgage envelope then you can't use it for gas, etc. Hope this helps
Hello!
I am a banker from Northern MN.
Many mortgage companies and independent companies offer a accelerated mortgage payment program, where you make a bi-weekly pmt rather than a monthly payment. With these companies, the also "hold" your money until they have received 1 months worth of payments and then apply it to the mortgage.
You would be far better off putting the money into a savings account and then writing one check per month, or still write the checks each week and put them aside and send in all of the checks when your mortgage payment is due.
Depending on the type of mortgage that you have, it may have a clause in the mortgage document stating that they will only apply your payments on the 1st day of the month!
Many may say that the mortgage company is trying to make a ton of interest off of your money. While that may be true in some instances, most of the time it is an accounting issue and system issue that will only allow the payments to be posted at a certain time of the month. It is also a accounting NIGHTMARE to have hundred of thousands of payments coming in at different times of the month!
Hope this helps!
SAndy
If you are in good standing on your Mortgage payments, many banks will put you on Bi-Saver payments which means that you pay one half of your monthly mortgage payment every two weeks.
I want to know if there is a way to pay off your mortgage faster. I live in Canada.
Little Princess
To really cut years off your mortgage, make an extra payment a year but do it this way. Say your mortgage payment is 1200/month. Divide that by 12 ($100) and add that above and beyond that monthly payment.
You can pay your mortgage payments bi-weekly, rather than monthly. Two more payments a year adds up a lot of savings over several years. I shaved several years off my mortgage by doing this.
I am 48 years old and have 3 boys (16, 13, 7) and a wonderful husband. I have so badly wanted to "get it" when it comes to living frugally, but I get caught up in suburban life and credit line mortgages. Expenses such as music lessons, soccer teams, vacations, clothes, healthy organic foods, restaurants etc. have kept me from our goal of paying off our mortgage, car loan, etc.
I would love to hear about any stories where families have started living frugally "late in the game" and have achieved success. I want the best for my boys regarding school and opportunities as I am sure every parent feels. Thank you to everyone for your support and thank you to this site for providing inspiration.
By jjawt from BC
If your mortgage payment is $1200 per month and you normally pay it on the 1st of the month, start paying $600 on the 1st of the month and then on the 15th of the month pay the additional $600.
Reduce the amount of interest you pay on your mortgage payments by simply adding additional principle dollars to the payments you make each month. You don't have to do this every month; you could do it once or twice a year if you receive bonuses or a tax refund.
