Paying down a mortgage - not a debate about whether it makes sense

[Anonymous]

We have decided we would like to pay down our mortgage. I know people will debate for days about whether that is a good decision, but we would like to be debt-free so that's what we're doing. We have 27 years/$350k+ left on the mortgage, so this will be a slow process. Would love to hear from people who have done/are doing this to see how long it took you and/or when you started feeling like you were making a dent in it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have decided we would like to pay down our mortgage. I know people will debate for days about whether that is a good decision, but we would like to be debt-free so that's what we're doing. We have 27 years/$350k+ left on the mortgage, so this will be a slow process. Would love to hear from people who have done/are doing this to see how long it took you and/or when you started feeling like you were making a dent in it.

I have heard making the payments every two weeks instead of every month can make a significant impact. You need to discuss this with the mortgage company though. Any additional payment you make should be applied towards the Principal and this should be pinned down in writing by the mortgage company.

[Anonymous]

We do weekly payment and any tax return $ on it.

[Anonymous]

https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/mortgages/should-you-make-biweekly-mortgage-payments/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/mortgages/should-you-make-biweekly-mortgage-payments/

The 13th payment should go to pay off Principal only.

[Anonymous]

We’re doing the same thing. I figured out when I would like to be finished paying the mortgage by and ran an online calculator to see how much it would be a month. For us, every 100k cuts off 5 years.

[Anonymous]

Paying every two weeks means you are paying 13 months per year and that is what accelerates the payoff. Just pay additional principal every payment and you will speed up payoff. There is no reason to formalize this with the bank so it is more flexible than changing to biweekly payments.

[Anonymous]

We pay an extra $500 each month to principal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We pay an extra $500 each month to principal.

This is what we do (different amount) we are knocking off amost ten years off the 30 year loan as a result.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have decided we would like to pay down our mortgage. I know people will debate for days about whether that is a good decision, but we would like to be debt-free so that's what we're doing. We have 27 years/$350k+ left on the mortgage, so this will be a slow process. Would love to hear from people who have done/are doing this to see how long it took you and/or when you started feeling like you were making a dent in it.

Just wanted to cheer you on. Being mortgage free is a great feeling, even if it might not fit everyone's definition of financially savvy. It's hard to put a price on freedom! We did this years ago when rates were a little higher, first refinancing from a 30 to a 15 year loan. That accelerated things but was still a manageable payment, then we paid the 15 year mortgage off a few years early. In today's market, people are rightfully holding onto their mortgages in the 3-4 % range, but that's not what we were dealing with 15-20 years ago.

[Anonymous]

We lay an extra 75-200 a month depending and put windfalls towards paying it down.

[Anonymous]

We pay an extra $500 to principal monthly for a mortgage payment that is about $4800, so a bit over 10% more.

[Anonymous]

We have a 15 year mortgage, pay extra, and pay biweekly. 9 years in, we are half paid off.

[Anonymous]

We locked in a 15 year mortgage at 2.5% when we were 35. We are comfortable with pay off at age 50.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We locked in a 15 year mortgage at 2.5% when we were 35. We are comfortable with pay off at age 50.

So neither of you or PP before you are paying your mortgages down. Cool story?