Tracking mortgage payoff progress
Frequently Asked Questions
Straight answers to the questions we hear most.
A Home Equity Loan is a lump-sum loan with a fixed interest rate and fixed monthly payments, functioning like a second mortgage. A HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit) is a revolving line of credit with a variable interest rate, allowing you to borrow, repay, and borrow again up to your credit limit, similar to a credit card.
You can find easy-to-use DTI calculators on most major financial and mortgage websites, including ours! These tools automatically do the math for you once you input your monthly income and debt figures.
An amortization schedule is a table that shows the breakdown of each monthly mortgage payment throughout the life of the loan. It details how much of each payment goes toward paying down the principal balance versus how much goes toward paying interest. Early in the loan, a larger portion of each payment goes toward interest.
A cash-out refinance replaces your primary mortgage with a new, larger one. A home equity loan (or a Home Equity Line of Credit, HELOC) is a second, separate loan that you take out in addition to your existing first mortgage. A cash-out refi often has a lower interest rate, while a HELOC offers more flexible access to funds.
The amount you save depends on your loan amount, interest rate, and the size and frequency of your extra payments. For example, on a 30-year, $300,000 loan at 4% interest, an extra $100 per month could save you over $27,000 in interest and allow you to pay off the loan nearly 5 years early.
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