Mortgage Calculators

Buying a home, step by step with these calculators

A mortgage decision is really several smaller decisions stacked together: how much to put down, what the monthly payment becomes, whether a government program fits, and whether extra payments are worth it. This page gathers the calculators for each of those steps. The Mortgage Calculator covers a standard purchase with taxes, insurance, PMI, and HOA. The FHA and VA calculators cover those loan programs. The HELOC calculator covers borrowing against equity you already own. The Down Payment calculator checks the loan amount and PMI, and the Extra Payment calculator shows what extra payments save. The Mortgage Rates page tracks current US average rates, updated weekly, so the other calculators start from a realistic rate.

The calculators work best in an order. Start with the Down Payment calculator to see the loan amount a given down payment leaves behind, then run the Mortgage Calculator on that loan amount to see the full monthly payment. Check the Mortgage Rates page before typing a rate, since a rate a point too high or too low moves the payment more than most fees do. Use the Extra Payment calculator only then, since extra payments are a decision about a loan you already understand. The FHA and VA calculators are not extra steps in that chain. They are parallel versions of the payment calculation for buyers who qualify for those programs, with program costs such as MIP or the funding fee built in.

Choosing between them comes down to which question you are asking. A standard purchase with a conventional loan belongs in the Mortgage Calculator. A buyer using an FHA loan belongs in the FHA calculator, and an eligible veteran or service member belongs in the VA calculator, which has the funding fee financed and no PMI. A homeowner who already owns equity and wants to borrow against it belongs in the HELOC calculator, which is about a credit limit and draw versus repayment payments rather than a purchase. A buyer still deciding on the down payment belongs in the Down Payment calculator first, because the down payment sets the loan amount everything else is computed from.

The down payment is where the numbers change fastest. Take a $400,000 home. With 10 percent down, the down payment is $40,000 and the loan is $360,000. At 6.5 percent over 30 years, principal and interest alone are $2,275.44 a month, and a down payment below 20 percent usually means PMI on top of that. With 20 percent down, the down payment is $80,000 and the loan is $320,000, and principal and interest fall to $2,022.62 a month, a difference of $252.82 a month before PMI is even counted. The same loan shows why extra payments matter: paying an extra $200 a month on the $360,000 loan finishes it in 287 months instead of 360 and cuts total interest from $459,160.16 to $350,243.31, saving $108,916.85. Run both versions of your own numbers before deciding, because the cheaper monthly payment and the cheaper loan are not always the same choice.

One warning applies to every calculator on this page. The monthly payment is not just principal and interest. Taxes, insurance, HOA dues, and PMI where they apply all sit on top of it, and the Mortgage Calculator includes them for exactly that reason. A payment that looks comfortable as principal and interest alone can become uncomfortable once the full stack is added. For how each payment splits between interest and principal over the life of the loan, the mortgage amortization guide explains the schedule the Mortgage Calculator produces.