One popular strategy for accelerating the payoff of a mortgage is to make bi-weekly payments. Under the bi-weekly plan, you'll make payments to your lender every two weeks instead of monthly, and each payment will be half of your monthly payment. One important thing to note here is that this method will result in you making 26 payments each year, which are two more than you would make if you made a payment on the 1st day of the month and middle of the month, so you'll have to budget accordingly. By making bi-weekly mortgage payments, you'll make an extra monthly payment each year, which will reduce your amount owed. By making payments every other week, you'll also save a bit on interest charges for the outstanding loan balance that would normally still be there until the end of the month. To make sure you get the full benefit of this payment method, be sure to notify your lender to apply any extra payments to the principal balance of your loan.
Use this calculator to determine a bi-weekly mortgage payment.
