Paying consistent extra payments toward your loan principal will yield enormous savings. Borrowers can pay more on principal in various ways. Paying 1 extra payment once every year is likely the simplest to keep track of. If you can't afford to pay an additional whole payment in one month, you can split that large amount into 12 smaller payments and write a check for that additional amount monthly. Finally, you can pay a half payment every two weeks. These options differ slightly in lowering the total interest paid and shortening payback length, but each will significantly reduce the duration of your mortgage and lower the total interest paid over the duration of the loan.
Some borrowers can't manage extra payments. Keep in mind that most mortgage contracts will permit you to pay extra on your principal at any time. You can take advantage of this rule to pay extra on your mortgage principal when you get some extra money.
For example: several years after moving into your home, you receive a huge tax refund,a very large inheritance, or a non-taxable cash gift; , investing a few thousand dollars into your mortgage principal will reduce the duration of your loan and save a huge amount on interest paid over the life of the loan. Unless the mortgage loan is quite large, even a few thousand dollars applied early in the loan period can yield huge savings over the duration of the loan.