Mortgage Payoff Club!!

[ender]

Yeah that'd be the plan :)

[dandypandys]

$12,800   eekkk no longer in the teens :)

[Farmgirl]

As of today we are down to $55,550.34.  That was on a $257K mortgage we took out in 2008.

It can be done.  There have been months (like recently) that we can only do the regular payment of $1611, but we have been working at it hard.  Our reasoning is that our small farm property (bought on the downside but not the bottom of the Great Recession) could be a hard sell if we decide we can't do the chores anymore.  And we wouldn't want to have to take the first offer that came our way because of the mortgage payments.

DH and I are looking to pay off the mortgage by year end.  Then I can renegotiate my current cube job to maybe a part time gig.  If my employer won't bite, then I walk and do my side hustles.

The end is in sight!

Very impressive - what is the interest rate on this property?  I have a hard time justifying to DH paying down the main house early even though it is our only remaining debt at 2.625% since we plan to sell it in about 5 years. (It's at $244K.) Our real problem is that when we see money in the checking account we spend it - and there are deferred maintenance items creeping up on us.

Couponvan:  We are at 4% on that note.  We were both self employed at the time we took it out and were lucky to get that!  But we are so close now, another re-fi isn't worth it for us.  Just get the dang thing gone!

[couponvan]

As of today we are down to $55,550.34.  That was on a $257K mortgage we took out in 2008.

It can be done.  There have been months (like recently) that we can only do the regular payment of $1611, but we have been working at it hard.  Our reasoning is that our small farm property (bought on the downside but not the bottom of the Great Recession) could be a hard sell if we decide we can't do the chores anymore.  And we wouldn't want to have to take the first offer that came our way because of the mortgage payments.

DH and I are looking to pay off the mortgage by year end.  Then I can renegotiate my current cube job to maybe a part time gig.  If my employer won't bite, then I walk and do my side hustles.

The end is in sight!

Very impressive - what is the interest rate on this property?  I have a hard time justifying to DH paying down the main house early even though it is our only remaining debt at 2.625% since we plan to sell it in about 5 years. (It's at $244K.) Our real problem is that when we see money in the checking account we spend it - and there are deferred maintenance items creeping up on us.

Couponvan:  We are at 4% on that note.  We were both self employed at the time we took it out and were lucky to get that!  But we are so close now, another re-fi isn't worth it for us.  Just get the dang thing gone!

We just knocked out our FIRE house loan at 4.6%, so I see why you wanted to get the 4% one done. At $50K no one will refi you anyway....We are now going to start building the kids' college funds with extra cash.

[wintertell]

Joining the thread! We are at $9997 with a payoff of $6354 in May.  Anticipating paying it off by this September. We started with a mortgage of just over 30k at 5.4% in July 2014. Can't wait to get rid of a payment!

We are at  7,392 for the end of June. That's a delta of 2,605 for June.

If the stars align for timely work reimbursements in August, we should be able to bump up the payoff from September to late August.

[SAfAmBrit]

Principal paid off so far

2012 - $3415
2013 - $3994
2014 - $8483
2015 - $38412 (yup got rid of all the debt and $10 000 windfall not expected)
2016 - $30706  so far

3/1 Remaining balance $87322. Projected pay off date 09/09/2017 - SO 51st birthday.

4/1 Remaining balance $81837

4/30 Remaining balance $76952 (I owed the tax man!)

5/29 Remaining balance $73836

6/30 Remaining balance $65388

Better month for us, everyone here is doing so well paying off or being close has fired me up to try harder. Thanks all!

[dandypandys]

We are at $8,900 now after i dropped 4k in from an art sale yayayayayay!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Nederstash]

It's really cool to see everyone's numbers dropping!

I'm on a 20-year fixed rate of 2.09% (includes monthly tax return) so I've hedged my bets on index funds. Still I would love nothing more than to completely own my own home, and not owe anybody anything. I'll probably kick an extra 10k a year off the mortgage, to scratch the itch. I don't like being in debt. And investing while in debt just feels kinda weird, no matter what the math says.

So don't take any crap from people who prefer investing over mortgage payments! It's a very personal choice and math is not the only variabel in the equation!

[FerrumB5]

You are 2.09% on 20 years?? How? I'm 3.625% on 20 yr. Please share details :)

[Money Badger]

Mrs. Indentured and I have the goal of payoff in 5 years on a $249k mortgage without gutting our current stash.   

Just mailed the December payment and the resulting balance as of 12/31/2015 will be (drum roll please):  $109,429.99!    Gonna be a challenge in 2016 to continue killing it due big ticket expenses coming, but will "git'r done" somehow.

Hi all...   Getting back on the wagon after dealing with other distractions...  Normal amortization has us at $107,814 as of July 1st.   Under $100K by end of 2016 is the new goal.

[rjbf65]

I'll join.

Started June 2014 at 71k.

It's currently $55k.  Goal is to finish it off by next June.   Have 20k in cash that would finish it off by then.  We are currently investing 15% as well.   Basically doing the Dave Ramsey plan.

Currently down to $51,500.  Hoping to get under $50K a month from today.

Down to $49660.  Was able to throw an extra $1555 at it this time.  Budgeting to be able to throw an extra $2500 next month.

$46,950 -- a $2,710 reduction this month.  October should be a little better with the magic of the 3 paychecks for me this month.  Should be under $40K by end of the year.

$41,843 -- a $5,107 reduction this month.  The 3rd paycheck was big this time.  Would love to be able to do that every month!  My goal for end of November is to get under 40K.  Once I'm at the $40K mark, I'll have about equal amounts of cash in the bank and mortgage balance.  Still also maxing out 2 Roth IRA's which speaks for $917 per month.  It is always tempting to stop the Roth or to throw a bunch of the available cash at it.  I think I'll just stay the course of throwing all the extra cash that was left over after the month at it.  Once the mortgage is gone, all towards investing.

$38,922 -- $2,921 reduction this month.  More travel and eating out this month, as well as property taxes and insurance slowed us down a bit.  But we are at the goal of being under $40K balance!  It's going down at a pretty good pace that I'm happy with!  We will have some Christmas expenses coming up this month but it shouldn't be all that bad.  My target is to hope to be under $37K at the end of December.

$35,898 -- $3,024 reduction this month.  Received a small bonus from work to more or less cancel out Christmas spending.  Also had to replace the wife's windshield.  Would love to be down to under $33K after January is up.  Have quite a few things on the horizon.  We are expecting our first child in late May.  With that we are planning on upgrading the vehicle fleet some.  While going from 3 vehicles to 2.  Just looking for more room and reliability.  Need to have the ability of hauling a child, 2 dogs, and luggage for trips to see our parents.  We have been on the mustachian side of things when it comes to vehicles.  Our 3 vehicles combined might be worth about 9 or 10K.  My goal is to have a paid for house as well as having atleast 1 newer vehicle also paid for by the time the baby arrives.  We are now at the position of having more cash than mortgage balance.  Really looking forward to knocking it out asap!  Another thing about having it paid off by the end of May is I'll finally be eligible to contribute to my 401K starting in July.  Would be wonderful to max out a 401K in just the remaining half of the year!

$32,026 -- a $3,872 reduction this month.  I always have to wait until the 5th or 6th of each month to process my extra payment.  I'm one of those weird ones that pay things as soon as I get the notice instead of holding on to the money for as long as possible.  If all goes well February and March have the potential to be good debt reduction months.  Tax refund in February hopefully and a 3 paycheck month in March.  We will be doing some vehicle upgrading with a new baby on the way but I will do everything I can to keep that cost to a minimum.

$31,609 --  a $417 reduction... I only made the normal payment this month and putting the agressive paydown on hold.  Some big possible life changes on the horizon and I want to have as much cash in the bank as possible just in case.  After the dust settles is when I'll finish it off.

$31,190 -- $419 reduction .. Another minimum payment.  Will be spending about $15K out of pocket upgrading the worn down vehicle fleet and adding room for the new baby next month.  Hope to finish off the mortgage by the end of 2016 or before.  Looking forward to getting the baby home and healthy and pressing reset on the paydown plan that we were doing so well at before.

$30,770 -- $420 reduction.  Spent about $22K to upgrade vehicles. Facepunch worthy I guess.  Now we are just waiting for the arrival of the baby!  I also switched from maxing out 2 Roth's to doing 15% in my 401K since I just became eligible.  This will give us a couple hundred more per month to throw at the mortgage.  Hopefully its paid off at the end of the year.  If not, it may be by my 33rd birthday in March.

$30,349 -- $421 reduction in May -- Minimum Payment but our baby was born and is healthy!

$26,954 --- $3,395 reduction for June -- Back on the paydown train!  Feels good to throw a good chunk at it again!

[Neustache]

Gonna start this back up again.  Current goal is to get to 90K by the end of 2016. 

Starting Mtg Sept 2013:  $123,500

Today:  $98,504


It's fun to be back on this thread again!

[pdxmonkey]

Jan. 2015 - ~100k
Oct. 2015 - ~$67500
Dec.3, 2015 - ~$60k
Feb. 5, 2016 - $52,108.53
March 7, 2016 - 49,774.21
April 11, 2016 - 48,700 to go. Had to pay taxes this month.

May - failed to report in
June - $42,853.69 to go.

Wow. I didn't realize I was still at 48700 at the beginning of April. I think I turned up some leftover cash that month after taxes were paid, then made a decent sized payment in May as I get paid monthly and the April pay month had 5 weeks in it (this happens 4 times a year) resulting in a larger than usual check.

July - $41,597.20

Lower payment month, but still above the minimum. Reeled in the final payoff @minimum payments date by 1 more month. November 2020 at the absolute latest now and in reality any date that I choose to drain money from my taxable investments. At present the rule is still early paydown can only be done with income earned that month.

[Money Badger]

pdxmonkey,  Nice job staying on track only using "opex" income.   $60K in 18 months is a good burn it down rate!

[dandypandys]

$8,165.58 left after regular monthly payment   ooooh!!!

[asauer]

Yes!!!  We're now in the 50's!  At 57,400!

[hooch]

Joining the thread.

At $53,095.  Paying an extra $1,100 per month.  Current plan is July 2019 payoff.

[Nederstash]

You are 2.09% on 20 years?? How? I'm 3.625% on 20 yr. Please share details :)

The rate is 3.6%, interest is deductible. I'm in the Netherlands, tax rate is 42%, so I'm getting 42% of the 3.6% back every month. That leaves me to pay 2.09% :)

[KodeBlue]

Current balance $1733.00!

[BlueHouse]

Current balance $1733.00!

Oh my gosh, how do you contain yourself?  If I were that close, I'd be selling off anything I could get my hands on just to pay that off!  Hopefully the last few payments just increase your satisfaction.
Congratulations and great work! 

[freeatlast]

I am so hoping to pay off my mortgage in 2 years.  I want to thank everyone on this site that encouraged me to not scratch the itch I had to buy a new (albeit used) car! THANK YOU.  Because I have fought that temptation, I am way more on track!

30 year mortgage at 3.625%

Original mortgage July 2012: $262,000 (I live in a HCOL area and this is actually pretty low for where I am)

July 2015: $237,000

December 2015 - got serious about this goal - made a huge line chart to watch my progress - that visual aid has really helped!

Today : $174,000

I want to be done by the time I am 50 (2 - 3 years) ... I know that is late by this board's standards :) I have two paid for rental properties and one other with a mortgage.  Once I pay my house's mortgage, the rental is next :) My plan is to live on rental income with no mortgage no later than when I am 53 :)

Good luck everyone!

[pdxmonkey]

Wow. You paid off 63k in a year while still having hefty interest making it harder to do. And you only got serious in the last 6 months. I'd say you're off to a good start for getting to your goal

[birdman2003]

Last month I paid off my mortgage (sold my house) and this week I get a new mortgage (new house).  Interest rate is 2.5% for the first 5 years.  Hoping to have it paid in full before the rate goes up.

[ender]

A journey of a thousand miles begins today.

Going to be slower than many of you all. But.. we'll do it, eventually. Right now if we put an extra $495/month against the mortgage we'll pay it off in 15 years...

[dandypandys]

7,365.58 left to pay!

:)

[pdxmonkey]

A journey of a thousand miles begins today.

Going to be slower than many of you all. But.. we'll do it, eventually. Right now if we put an extra $495/month against the mortgage we'll pay it off in 15 years...

I originally got a 30 yr mortgage and was hoping to pay it in 15. As rates went down I refinanced into a 15 year and my salary went up. The nice thing about buying and getting a mortgage is that your payment stays the same and inflation hopefully drives your salary higher. It's now looking like I'll get things paid closer to 9-10 years from the original 30 year loan vs the original hope of 15. It's easier to pay more extra on the mortgage now and also save a higher % in savings at the same time all these years later. You might be pleasantly surprised that your 15 year plan turns into something shorter.

As for those that say you/I shouldn't be paying early... I treat my home equity similar to a "bond" in my portfolio in that I don't expect the equity to go away and I am getting only a small return (mortgage % - tax breaks) of something less than 2%. As such I have no bonds in my actual portfolio. This is fine for me at the moment as I would only be using bonds for long term stability vs needing short term access to money. I'm likely losing out on some long term gains by not investing directly, but at the benefit of a smoother climb in net worth. If there's any chance of catastrophe wiping you to a negative number where you would need to file bankruptcy prepaying is probably a bad plan if you are not maxing your retirement accounts. 401k and IRA are protected during bankruptcy.

[motiv8ed]

Wow, after reading these posts, I had to join. Current Balance is: $119,781 Hopefully I will be able to stay motivated and join the club.

Still chucking along. Decided to go with a mixed approach to paying off the mortgage. Mainly because I'm not sure if we will be moving in the near future. Not sure if it's the best way to go, but it's what we are going with now.
1. Pretty much the plan is pay off the 30 yr mortgage like its a 15 yr.
2. Start a mortgage payoff fund in a brokerage account.

Current Mortgage Balance is: $116,828.23
Current Mortgage Payoff Fund Balance: $11,881.76
Balance Left: $104,946.47

Approaching the 5 figure mark, hopefully this provides some extra motivation.

Mortgage Balance:$115,225.42
Payoff Fund:$15,769.88
What's Left:$99,455.54

Finally joining the 5 figure club also. I'm very excited to enter this part of the journey. Im shooting for a balance of $85k at the end of the year, $80k would be even better.

[KodeBlue]

made the last payment this morning! woo-hah!

[SAfAmBrit]

Congrats KodeBlue. <<<happy dance>>>

[KodeBlue]

thanks! it feels great. :)

[nnls]

made the last payment this morning! woo-hah!

Congratulations!

[wintertell]

Joining the thread! We are at $9997 with a payoff of $6354 in May.  Anticipating paying it off by this September. We started with a mortgage of just over 30k at 5.4% in July 2014. Can't wait to get rid of a payment!

We are at  7,392 for the end of June. That's a delta of 2,605 for June.

If the stars align for timely work reimbursements in August, we should be able to bump up the payoff from September to late August.

The stars and the hustle aligned so that we just paid off our mortgage today!!! WAHOOO!!

[dandypandys]

Joining the thread! We are at $9997 with a payoff of $6354 in May.  Anticipating paying it off by this September. We started with a mortgage of just over 30k at 5.4% in July 2014. Can't wait to get rid of a payment!

We are at  7,392 for the end of June. That's a delta of 2,605 for June.

If the stars align for timely work reimbursements in August, we should be able to bump up the payoff from September to late August.

The stars and the hustle aligned so that we just paid off our mortgage today!!! WAHOOO!!

Joining the thread! We are at $9997 with a payoff of $6354 in May.  Anticipating paying it off by this September. We started with a mortgage of just over 30k at 5.4% in July 2014. Can't wait to get rid of a payment!

We are at  7,392 for the end of June. That's a delta of 2,605 for June.

If the stars align for timely work reimbursements in August, we should be able to bump up the payoff from September to late August.

The stars and the hustle aligned so that we just paid off our mortgage today!!! WAHOOO!!

Well done you guys!!!

[dandypandys]

We are at $6,715.58 now!
Next payment out comes in 5 days so will be under 6k and then I am sending off for the final payment coupon thingy and paying it all off !! Excited.

[pdxmonkey]

Jan. 2015 - ~100k
Oct. 2015 - ~$67500
Dec.3, 2015 - ~$60k
Feb. 5, 2016 - $52,108.53
March 7, 2016 - 49,774.21
April 11, 2016 - 48,700 to go. Had to pay taxes this month.
May - failed to report in
June - $42,853.69 to go.
July - $41,597.20

Lower payment month, but still above the minimum. Reeled in the final payoff @minimum payments date by 1 more month. November 2020 at the absolute latest now and in reality any date that I choose to drain money from my taxable investments. At present the rule is still early paydown can only be done with income earned that month.

After paying everything else I put another $475 towards things in early July. Today I made my August payment and its a pretty decent one.

August 2016 - $39,000

[SAfAmBrit]

Principal paid off so far

2012 - $3415
2013 - $3994
2014 - $8483
2015 - $38412 (yup got rid of all the debt and $10 000 windfall not expected)
2016 - $43750  so far

3/1 Remaining balance $87322. Projected pay off date 09/09/2017 - SO 51st birthday.

4/1 Remaining balance $81837

4/30 Remaining balance $76952 (I owed the tax man!)

5/29 Remaining balance $73836

6/30 Remaining balance $65388

7/29 Remaining balance $60825

Getting excited, I don't know why but the $50's has always been a milestone and the next payment will get us there. Congrats Dandypandys - I look forward to getting to where you are.

[Neustache]

Gonna start this back up again.  Current goal is to get to 90K by the end of 2016. 

Starting Mtg Sept 2013:  $123,500

Today (July 5th):  $98,504


It's fun to be back on this thread again!

8/1/2016:  $95,504

Won't see much progress next month as we are paying off the credit cards from our trip.   Asked the hubby if he wanted 3K on the mortgage or in the IRA, he voted mortgage so here it is.  I have until April to fill up our 2016 IRA's.

In other news...we are selling the rental next spring!  Well, we will try, at least.  Ha!  If we can get it sold, we should have 20-40K in equity that we will dump on this house.   That will be fun, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up that it will sell that quickly for the price I want.  We owe about 56K on it now, will owe 52K when we try to sell.  I'd love to sell it for around 100K but we'll see what the market is like at that time. 

[Highbeam]

I'll join in. I have a 15 year mortgage, 3% rate, with a balance of 198147 on a home valued by Zillow to be 335000 so I calculate 115747 in equity. For various reasons, I am no longer able to itemize on my taxes so no mortage interest deduction benefit.

House payoff fund is at 126325 today.

Remaining balance to payoff the loan is then 198147-126325 = 71822.

I am saving up the payoff money in an after tax brokerage account with the intent of paying it off lump sum style. This, to me, sounds a lot better than dumping that money into the mortgage as I go which would lock those funds away but give me no relief on monthly cashflow requirements.

I expect to payoff the house when the house payoff fund exceeds the remaining balance by 20,000 or so. This for special income taxes and to keep the brokerage account in the "admiral" class. I see paying off the mortage the same way as I see having children. Not a wise financial move but with significant emotional value.

Love to read the success stories of you folks.

[rjbf65]

I'll join.

Started June 2014 at 71k.

It's currently $55k.  Goal is to finish it off by next June.   Have 20k in cash that would finish it off by then.  We are currently investing 15% as well.   Basically doing the Dave Ramsey plan.

Currently down to $51,500.  Hoping to get under $50K a month from today.

Down to $49660.  Was able to throw an extra $1555 at it this time.  Budgeting to be able to throw an extra $2500 next month.

$46,950 -- a $2,710 reduction this month.  October should be a little better with the magic of the 3 paychecks for me this month.  Should be under $40K by end of the year.

$41,843 -- a $5,107 reduction this month.  The 3rd paycheck was big this time.  Would love to be able to do that every month!  My goal for end of November is to get under 40K.  Once I'm at the $40K mark, I'll have about equal amounts of cash in the bank and mortgage balance.  Still also maxing out 2 Roth IRA's which speaks for $917 per month.  It is always tempting to stop the Roth or to throw a bunch of the available cash at it.  I think I'll just stay the course of throwing all the extra cash that was left over after the month at it.  Once the mortgage is gone, all towards investing.

$38,922 -- $2,921 reduction this month.  More travel and eating out this month, as well as property taxes and insurance slowed us down a bit.  But we are at the goal of being under $40K balance!  It's going down at a pretty good pace that I'm happy with!  We will have some Christmas expenses coming up this month but it shouldn't be all that bad.  My target is to hope to be under $37K at the end of December.

$35,898 -- $3,024 reduction this month.  Received a small bonus from work to more or less cancel out Christmas spending.  Also had to replace the wife's windshield.  Would love to be down to under $33K after January is up.  Have quite a few things on the horizon.  We are expecting our first child in late May.  With that we are planning on upgrading the vehicle fleet some.  While going from 3 vehicles to 2.  Just looking for more room and reliability.  Need to have the ability of hauling a child, 2 dogs, and luggage for trips to see our parents.  We have been on the mustachian side of things when it comes to vehicles.  Our 3 vehicles combined might be worth about 9 or 10K.  My goal is to have a paid for house as well as having atleast 1 newer vehicle also paid for by the time the baby arrives.  We are now at the position of having more cash than mortgage balance.  Really looking forward to knocking it out asap!  Another thing about having it paid off by the end of May is I'll finally be eligible to contribute to my 401K starting in July.  Would be wonderful to max out a 401K in just the remaining half of the year!

$32,026 -- a $3,872 reduction this month.  I always have to wait until the 5th or 6th of each month to process my extra payment.  I'm one of those weird ones that pay things as soon as I get the notice instead of holding on to the money for as long as possible.  If all goes well February and March have the potential to be good debt reduction months.  Tax refund in February hopefully and a 3 paycheck month in March.  We will be doing some vehicle upgrading with a new baby on the way but I will do everything I can to keep that cost to a minimum.

$31,609 --  a $417 reduction... I only made the normal payment this month and putting the agressive paydown on hold.  Some big possible life changes on the horizon and I want to have as much cash in the bank as possible just in case.  After the dust settles is when I'll finish it off.

$31,190 -- $419 reduction .. Another minimum payment.  Will be spending about $15K out of pocket upgrading the worn down vehicle fleet and adding room for the new baby next month.  Hope to finish off the mortgage by the end of 2016 or before.  Looking forward to getting the baby home and healthy and pressing reset on the paydown plan that we were doing so well at before.

$30,770 -- $420 reduction.  Spent about $22K to upgrade vehicles. Facepunch worthy I guess.  Now we are just waiting for the arrival of the baby!  I also switched from maxing out 2 Roth's to doing 15% in my 401K since I just became eligible.  This will give us a couple hundred more per month to throw at the mortgage.  Hopefully its paid off at the end of the year.  If not, it may be by my 33rd birthday in March.

$30,349 -- $421 reduction in May -- Minimum Payment but our baby was born and is healthy!

$26,954 --- $3,395 reduction for June -- Back on the paydown train!  Feels good to throw a good chunk at it again!

$26,523 --- $431 reduction for July -- made the minimum payment only.  Had over $2100 in hospital related expenses due to the baby born in May.  We had $4 left over for the month and it's not worth logging in to the system to move that over.  Feel blessed to be able to absorb the hospital bills in our normal cash flow.  Hoping for a good August.  Then September should be good with 3 paychecks.  Have $14K sitting in a checking account at my old bank that I plan to use to finish it off.  So about $12K away from being able to do that. 

[Gardo]

Found this thread. 

I started back on Jul 1, 2009 with a mortgage principal of $255K.  So a total of 7 years of payment now.  I am still paying for my "sin" of having a 5.5% interest during the first 21 months before pulling the trigger on refinancing to 4%. 

The cost of this "sin" right now is $5,240.  This was arrived at by calculating if I had a fixed 4% on 15 years.  Without any overpayment and just straight fixed payment monthly, the interest projects to a total of $59,325 for 7 years. 

Since I had a "sin" of 21 months, my actual total interest paid the past 7 years was $64,565.   So the difference between actual and projected interest payment stands at an overpayment of $5,240.

I have been paying additional principal but was only able to start late due to me prioritizing other higher interest debts (credit card, car loan, etc.).  I currently stand $35K ahead of the fixed projection for 15 years.  So, I am excited to see in the coming months and years the fruit of the additional payments in the form of payment for my "sin" and eventually, an actual savings on interest payments. 

My principal balance is $122K. 

[dandypandys]

I have $5977.52 left and ordered the payoff coupon so will be paying it off Sept 1st woohooooooo!

[Gardo]

Found this thread. 

I started back on Jul 1, 2009 with a mortgage principal of $255K.  So a total of 7 years of payment now.  I am still paying for my "sin" of having a 5.5% interest during the first 21 months before pulling the trigger on refinancing to 4%. 

The cost of this "sin" right now is $5,240.  This was arrived at by calculating if I had a fixed 4% on 15 years.  Without any overpayment and just straight fixed payment monthly, the interest projects to a total of $59,325 for 7 years. 

Since I had a "sin" of 21 months, my actual total interest paid the past 7 years was $64,565.   So the difference between actual and projected interest payment stands at an overpayment of $5,240.

I have been paying additional principal but was only able to start late due to me prioritizing other higher interest debts (credit card, car loan, etc.).  I currently stand $35K ahead of the fixed projection for 15 years.  So, I am excited to see in the coming months and years the fruit of the additional payments in the form of payment for my "sin" and eventually, an actual savings on interest payments. 

My principal balance is $122K.

I was thinking about how I paid additional of $35K and yet faces $5,240 deficit and it just feels odd. 

Then it struck me.  I wasn't comparing it correctly.  I arrive at such decision when I thought about exaggerating and said, "If I pay it off today all my debt, that would still leave me with the $5,240 deficit, which does not make sense."  The solution was not to compare on time paid (i.e., 7 years so far) but on mortgage balance (i.e., $122K). 

So the correct comparison of interest paid are :

a) Projected interest paid through $122K balance : $70,600.
b) Actual interest paid through $122K balance : $64,800.

This now brings me from deficit to a surplus savings of $5,800!!!!!!!!!!!

[jerseymark]

My wife and I have been paying down our mortgage since we "bought"(I don't feel like it is our house until we own it without mortgage) the house in December 2009.  Went from 30 yr to 15 yr mortgage after a refinance in 2014.  Now following a plan with our extra savings in the following steps:
1. Keep emergency fund
2. Max 403B match(
3. Max Roth IRA for both of us(11K/year)
4. All additional to extra mortgage payments.

Our interest rate is only 2.9% so:
I know #4 could be to invest in a taxable account instead or put a little more towards 403B(could do 5k more per yr).  However, my 403B is not a great plan and has some additional fees.  It is also taxed where we live(NJ) since NJ does not recognize 403Bs like 401Ks.  With regard to taxable investments - I would rather get the guaranteed 2.9%, all investment accounts are in stocks so in my mind - the home is like a fixed income investment.  I have gone back and forth about this a few times and I always come back to the following question:  Would I take out a home equity loan at 2.9% interest to invest the money? or another way - Would I finance a car at 2.9% or pay cash?  The answer is no and cash for car every time...

[Simpli-Fi]

I'll join in. I have a 15 year mortgage, 3% rate, with a balance of 198147 on a home valued by Zillow to be 335000 so I calculate 115747 in equity. For various reasons, I am no longer able to itemize on my taxes so no mortage interest deduction benefit.

House payoff fund is at 126325 today.

Remaining balance to payoff the loan is then 198147-126325 = 71822.

I am saving up the payoff money in an after tax brokerage account with the intent of paying it off lump sum style. This, to me, sounds a lot better than dumping that money into the mortgage as I go which would lock those funds away but give me no relief on monthly cashflow requirements.

I expect to payoff the house when the house payoff fund exceeds the remaining balance by 20,000 or so. This for special income taxes and to keep the brokerage account in the "admiral" class. I see paying off the mortage the same way as I see having children. Not a wise financial move but with significant emotional value.

Love to read the success stories of you folks.

I struggle with this...I'm curious what the savings calculation is, you chop off the end of the mortgage interest but that's the lowest portion.  You earn money for low fees with admiral shares...but there seems to be a middle ground in there that should reduce interest and principle and earn money and still make the same pay off date; with just less liquidity.

Paying money for not having money is the one thing that kills me!  Money making me money doesn't offset that feeling for me since I don't have enough money to offset the interest in currently paying.

[tightwaddy]

$39,741

Payoff by year's end!

[boarder42]

I'll join in. I have a 15 year mortgage, 3% rate, with a balance of 198147 on a home valued by Zillow to be 335000 so I calculate 115747 in equity. For various reasons, I am no longer able to itemize on my taxes so no mortage interest deduction benefit.

House payoff fund is at 126325 today.

Remaining balance to payoff the loan is then 198147-126325 = 71822.

I am saving up the payoff money in an after tax brokerage account with the intent of paying it off lump sum style. This, to me, sounds a lot better than dumping that money into the mortgage as I go which would lock those funds away but give me no relief on monthly cashflow requirements.

I expect to payoff the house when the house payoff fund exceeds the remaining balance by 20,000 or so. This for special income taxes and to keep the brokerage account in the "admiral" class. I see paying off the mortage the same way as I see having children. Not a wise financial move but with significant emotional value.

Love to read the success stories of you folks.

I struggle with this...I'm curious what the savings calculation is, you chop off the end of the mortgage interest but that's the lowest portion.  You earn money for low fees with admiral shares...but there seems to be a middle ground in there that should reduce interest and principle and earn money and still make the same pay off date; with just less liquidity.

Paying money for not having money is the one thing that kills me!  Money making me money doesn't offset that feeling for me since I don't have enough money to offset the interest in currently paying.

the interest is the same throughout the mortgage its a percentage.  and if you're going to pay down your mortgage this is the lowest risk way to do it. making small payments over time and slowly decreasing it is a high risk decision in the event you lose your stream of income long enough that you have no way to pay your house and you get foreclosed on ... the bank doesnt care if you're paying down a 30 year loan at a 10 year pace.  if with 1 year left to pay down you lose all money and cant pay your mortgage you lose your house.  OTOH if you are doing as highbeam is doing and the same situation happens you have much more easily liquidable capital to continue paying your mortgage and living expenses for a longer time. If you really want to pay it down do it this way.  i know the math is lost on some about why you shouldnt, and i know some people understand it and choose to emotional paydown ... but the lowest risk way to pay down your mortgage is to lump sum pay it off not bit by bit.

[mathjak107]

just don't leave yourself to low on cash by paying off the house .

it can be pretty miserable being house rich and cash poor . you can't spend the living room at the grocery .

once the money is in the house there really is no way to get it out without loans  . trying to access it is no different then taking any other kind of loan , you now need the money to make the payments .

even a reverse mortgage is still a loan you owe . you just agree to give them the house if you or your heirs can't pay off the loan .

[asauer]

Down to $49,900 from $57,500 last month.  We have about 6 months to go and honestly, I'm tired.  I'm hoping we can gut it out down the home stretch.  There's nothing giant that we want to buy but we've been hitting this hardcore for 5 years.  I'm just ready to move on to something else.

[pdxmonkey]

I'll join in. I have a 15 year mortgage, 3% rate, with a balance of 198147 on a home valued by Zillow to be 335000 so I calculate 115747 in equity. For various reasons, I am no longer able to itemize on my taxes so no mortage interest deduction benefit.

House payoff fund is at 126325 today.

Remaining balance to payoff the loan is then 198147-126325 = 71822.

I am saving up the payoff money in an after tax brokerage account with the intent of paying it off lump sum style. This, to me, sounds a lot better than dumping that money into the mortgage as I go which would lock those funds away but give me no relief on monthly cashflow requirements.

I expect to payoff the house when the house payoff fund exceeds the remaining balance by 20,000 or so. This for special income taxes and to keep the brokerage account in the "admiral" class. I see paying off the mortage the same way as I see having children. Not a wise financial move but with significant emotional value.

Love to read the success stories of you folks.

I struggle with this...I'm curious what the savings calculation is, you chop off the end of the mortgage interest but that's the lowest portion.  You earn money for low fees with admiral shares...but there seems to be a middle ground in there that should reduce interest and principle and earn money and still make the same pay off date; with just less liquidity.

Paying money for not having money is the one thing that kills me!  Money making me money doesn't offset that feeling for me since I don't have enough money to offset the interest in currently paying.

the interest is the same throughout the mortgage its a percentage.  and if you're going to pay down your mortgage this is the lowest risk way to do it. making small payments over time and slowly decreasing it is a high risk decision in the event you lose your stream of income long enough that you have no way to pay your house and you get foreclosed on ... the bank doesnt care if you're paying down a 30 year loan at a 10 year pace.  if with 1 year left to pay down you lose all money and cant pay your mortgage you lose your house.  OTOH if you are doing as highbeam is doing and the same situation happens you have much more easily liquidable capital to continue paying your mortgage and living expenses for a longer time. If you really want to pay it down do it this way.  i know the math is lost on some about why you shouldnt, and i know some people understand it and choose to emotional paydown ... but the lowest risk way to pay down your mortgage is to lump sum pay it off not bit by bit.

This is true. If you get foreclosed on you still lose the whole house and have no say in the amount the house gets sold for. You COULD get some cash back from your equity, but it seems unlikely. I could lump sum the rest of mine right now if I wanted to liquidate some taxable investments, but I'm using income earned to pay it down. Worst case scenario when I didn't have the lump sum what I would have received in unemployment benefits would have more than covered my mortgage + utilities + taxes + car/home insurance + food. That would get me through half a year 26 weeks before I had to touch my emergency cash which would last me ~6 months or so. I'd very likely have a job long before then and that's assuming no changes to my food budget or turning the heat or a/c down even further to save money. Being a single earner I never want to be in a situation where required outflows would be greater than inflows even in the case I got laid off and I bought a house sized to meet that goal.

[Neustache]

This is true. If you get foreclosed on you still lose the whole house and have no say in the amount the house gets sold for. You COULD get some cash back from your equity, but it seems unlikely. I could lump sum the rest of mine right now if I wanted to liquidate some taxable investments, but I'm using income earned to pay it down. Worst case scenario when I didn't have the lump sum what I would have received in unemployment benefits would have more than covered my mortgage + utilities + taxes + car/home insurance + food. That would get me through half a year 26 weeks before I had to touch my emergency cash which would last me ~6 months or so. I'd very likely have a job long before then and that's assuming no changes to my food budget or turning the heat or a/c down even further to save money. Being a single earner I never want to be in a situation where required outflows would be greater than inflows even in the case I got laid off and I bought a house sized to meet that goal.

This is where we are, pretty much.  I already have some money saved up (80K), and we are adding 30K a year to that pile.  Unemployment for one of us would cover our mortgage/taxes/insurance plus utilities.  We would need to cover food and health insurance plus misc things.  We would be able to cover that with our savings, but more than likely, one of us would have a job and we both would not be unemployed at the same time.  Shoot, if we were both unemployed, then we'd probably be able to live off both unemployment benefits until one of us found a job.  Benefits would be around $2500 a month for us.  That's our practically our FIRE number anyways! I think we would have 20 weeks of benefits.   

Most people here, I hope, are saving a decent sum first and then paying down the mortgage with money that could be saved but they are choosing to use it for the mortgage.  Paying down the mortgage is higher risk, I'll grant that.  But having a large (to non-MMMer's) savings stash, and low expenses overall, we are in a better position to do it.  Also, my balance is so low (95K) that it's just not going to take us long to knock it out.  Especially if we sell our rental and get our equity out of that next spring (hopeful!).