Mortgage Payment Calculator

The figure a mortgage calculator gives you is principal and interest — the loan itself. What leaves your bank account each month is usually larger, because lenders escrow property tax and homeowners insurance alongside it, and add private mortgage insurance when the deposit is under 20%. That bundle is known as PITI, and it is the number to budget against. A payment quoted at $1,800 can easily settle at $2,300 once tax and insurance land on top.

Inside the principal-and-interest part, the split shifts every month. Interest is charged on the outstanding balance, which falls slowly at first, so early payments are overwhelmingly interest. On a 30-year loan at 6.5%, roughly three quarters of year one goes to interest and barely a quarter touches the balance. The crossover — the month where principal finally exceeds interest — arrives around year 18. That asymmetry is why selling after five years returns so little equity, and why an overpayment made early is worth several made late.

Rate and term pull in opposite directions. A shorter term raises the monthly payment and slashes total interest; a longer one does the reverse. Moving a $400,000 loan at 6.5% from 30 years to 15 raises the payment by roughly half but cuts total interest by well over half, because the balance simply has less time to accrue. Decide the term on what you can comfortably service in a bad year, not a good one — you can always overpay a 30-year loan, but you cannot unwind a 15-year commitment.

Exploring government-backed mortgage options? If you are planning a low down payment or have an average credit score, compare payments with our specialized FHA Loan Calculator (starting at 3.5% down with 2026 HUD MIP rates) or our VA Mortgage Calculator for zero-down military loans.