Mortgage Payment Calculator

Free Mortgage Payment Calculator

Our free mortgage payment calculator helps you estimate your monthly principal and interest payment on a fixed-rate home loan. Just enter your loan amount, interest rate, and term to see your monthly payment, total interest paid, and a full year-by-year amortization schedule.

How to Use the Mortgage Payment Calculator

1. Loan amount: Enter the amount you plan to borrow (home price minus your down payment).
2. Interest rate: Enter the annual interest rate your lender quoted (for example, 6.5 for 6.5%).
3. Term: Choose the length of the loan, from 10 to 30 years.
4. Calculate: See your monthly payment, total interest, and amortization schedule instantly.

What's Included in a Mortgage Payment?

This calculator shows the principal and interest (P&I) portion of your mortgage payment. Your full monthly housing payment may also include:

• Property taxes — often escrowed by your lender.
• Homeowners insurance — protects your home and is usually required by the lender.
• PMI — private mortgage insurance if your down payment is under 20%.
• HOA dues — if your home is in a homeowners association.

Why Your Interest Rate Matters

Even a small change in your mortgage rate has a big impact. On a $300,000 30-year fixed loan, dropping your rate from 7% to 6% saves about $200 per month and more than $70,000 in total interest. That is why many borrowers consider a mortgage buydown or paying discount points to lower their rate.

Worked Example: $350,000 Loan at 6.5% for 30 Years

Here is how your monthly payment and total interest change across common loan terms on a $350,000 loan at 6.5% interest:

Shortening the term from 30 to 15 years raises your payment by about $842/month but saves nearly $247,000 in interest. Use the calculator above to plug in your own numbers and see the full amortization schedule.

How Amortization Works

A mortgage is amortized, meaning each fixed monthly payment covers both the interest accrued that month and a portion of the principal. Early in the loan, most of your payment goes to interest because the balance is at its highest. Over time, as the balance shrinks, more of each payment goes to principal. On a 30-year loan at 6.5%, it takes roughly 15 years before the principal portion of each payment exceeds the interest portion.

This is why making extra principal payments early in the loan has an outsized effect — every dollar of principal you pay down early saves interest for the remaining life of the loan. Even one extra payment per year on a 30-year loan can cut the term by about 5 years.

Lowering Your Monthly Payment

If your calculated payment is higher than you would like, you have several options:

• Extend the term: A 30-year term costs more in total interest but lowers the monthly payment versus a 15-year.
• Buy discount points: Pay upfront to permanently lower the rate. Use our points calculator to see the break-even.
• Use a temporary buydown: Lower the rate for the first 1-3 years with a 2-1 or 3-2-1 buydown.
• Refinance later: If rates drop, refinancing into a lower rate can reduce your payment. Use our refinance calculator to see if it pays off.

Mortgage Payment Glossary

Principal

The amount you borrowed. Each monthly payment reduces the principal balance until it reaches zero at the end of the term.

Interest

The cost of borrowing, calculated each month as the annual rate divided by 12, multiplied by the remaining principal balance.

P&I (Principal and Interest)

The portion of your mortgage payment that repays the loan. It does not include taxes, insurance, or HOA — the full payment is often called PITI (Principal, Interest, Taxes, Insurance).

Amortization

The process of spreading loan repayment over a set term through fixed monthly payments, with the principal/interest split shifting over time.

Fixed-rate mortgage

A loan where the interest rate stays the same for the entire term, so the P&I payment never changes. This calculator is designed for fixed-rate loans.