Loan balance over time
| Total of 360 payments | $662,628 |
| Principal | $288,800 |
| Interest | $373,828 |
| Taxes | $0 |
| Insurance | $0 |
| HOA fees | $0 |
Amortization schedule
| Date | Principal | Interest | Tax, Ins. & HOA | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep | $257 | $1,584 | $0 | $288,543 |
| Oct | $258 | $1,582 | $0 | $288,284 |
| Nov | $260 | $1,581 | $0 | $288,025 |
| Dec | $261 | $1,579 | $0 | $287,763 |
| 2026 | $1,037 | $6,326 | $0 | $287,763 |
| Jan | $263 | $1,578 | $0 | $287,501 |
| Feb | $264 | $1,576 | $0 | $287,236 |
| Mar | $266 | $1,575 | $0 | $286,971 |
| Apr | $267 | $1,574 | $0 | $286,704 |
| May | $269 | $1,572 | $0 | $286,435 |
| Jun | $270 | $1,571 | $0 | $286,165 |
| Jul | $271 | $1,569 | $0 | $285,894 |
Reading your results
Monthly payment is the headline figure — principal and interest combined, plus any taxes, insurance, PMI and HOA dues you entered. This is the amount that leaves your account each month.
Principal and interest is the core loan payment, fixed for the life of a fixed-rate home loan. Early on most of it is interest; as the balance falls, more of each payment goes to principal.
Total interest is what the loan costs you on top of the amount borrowed. A shorter term or a lower rate cuts this number sharply — often by tens of thousands of dollars.
PMI end date, when private mortgage insurance applies, marks the month your balance reaches 20 percent equity and the PMI charge drops off, lowering your payment for the rest of the term.
The amortization schedule below lists every payment across the life of the loan, splitting each into principal and interest so you can see exactly how much of the home you will own after five, ten or twenty years.
Home loan FAQ
- How much is the monthly payment on a home loan?
- The payment depends on four numbers: the amount you borrow, the interest rate, the length of the loan and how the lender collects taxes and insurance. As a rough guide, every 100,000 dollars borrowed at a 7 percent rate on a 30-year term costs about 665 dollars a month in principal and interest, before property tax, homeowner insurance and any PMI are added on top. Enter your own figures above to see the exact number.
- What is included in a home loan payment?
- A typical payment has four parts, often called PITI: principal, interest, property taxes and homeowner insurance. Lenders usually collect the tax and insurance portions in an escrow account and pay those bills for you. Two extra items can appear: PMI, charged on conventional loans until you reach 20 percent equity, and HOA dues if your community has an association. This calculator lets you add all of them.
- What is the difference between a home loan and a mortgage?
- In everyday use the two words mean the same thing. A mortgage is technically the legal agreement that pledges the house as security for the money you borrow, while the home loan is the borrowed money itself. When people search for a home loan calculator or a mortgage calculator they are looking for the same tool, and this page uses the standard fixed-rate formula that applies to both.
- How much home loan can I afford?
- A common rule of thumb is that your total housing payment should stay under 28 percent of your gross monthly income, and all of your debt payments under 36 percent. Work backward from that number: pick a payment you are comfortable with, then adjust the price and down payment above until the monthly figure lands there. Remember to leave room for taxes, insurance and upkeep, not just principal and interest.
- Does a bigger down payment lower the payment?
- Yes, in two ways. A larger down payment means you borrow less, so principal and interest fall directly. Once your down payment reaches 20 percent of the price, it also removes PMI on a conventional loan, which can save another 30 to 100 dollars a month per 100,000 dollars borrowed. Raise the down payment field above and watch both the payment and the PMI end date change.
- How does the loan term change the cost?
- A shorter term such as 15 years raises the monthly payment but sharply cuts the total interest, because you are borrowing the money for half as long. A 30-year term keeps the monthly payment low but costs far more over the life of the loan. The amortization schedule below the results shows exactly how much interest each term would cost, so you can compare them side by side.
What this home loan calculator shows
Enter the purchase price, your down payment, the loan term and the interest rate, and the calculator returns the number that decides whether a house is affordable: the monthly payment. It also breaks that payment into principal and interest, adds any taxes and insurance you enter, and builds a complete amortization schedule so you can see how the balance falls over the years rather than guessing.
Change any field and the result updates immediately. That makes it easy to answer the questions that actually come up when you are shopping for a home loan: what happens to the payment if I put down 10 percent instead of 20, if the rate rises half a point, or if I choose a 15-year term instead of a 30-year one.
The four parts of a home loan payment
Lenders describe the monthly payment with the shorthand PITI — principal, interest, taxes and insurance:
- Principal — the slice of each payment that actually reduces what you owe. It starts small and grows every month.
- Interest — the lender’s charge for the loan, largest at the start when the balance is highest.
- Taxes — annual county property tax, usually collected monthly into an escrow account.
- Insurance — homeowner’s insurance, which every lender requires.
Two more items can join them: PMI, private mortgage insurance charged on conventional loans until you own 20 percent of the home, and HOA dues if your community charges them. Open the advanced options above to include each one and see its effect on the total.
Home loan types change the numbers
The same price can produce very different payments depending on the loan program:
- Conventional loans allow down payments as low as 3 percent but add PMI until you reach 20 percent equity.
- FHA loans accept lower credit scores and 3.5 percent down, in exchange for both an upfront and an annual mortgage insurance premium.
- VA loans, for eligible veterans and service members, can require no down payment and no monthly mortgage insurance at all.
- USDA loans support no-down-payment purchases in designated rural areas.
This calculator uses the standard fixed-rate formula that underlies all of them; adjust the down payment and PMI fields to model the program you expect to use.
From payment to a plan
A home loan is a commitment that can run three decades, so the difference between a comfortable payment and a stressful one is worth a few minutes of testing. Try a larger down payment to remove PMI from day one, compare a 15-year term against a 30-year one, and check current mortgage rates in your state before you talk to a lender. If you want the classic purchase view, the mortgage calculator runs the same math, and homeowners aged 62 and over can explore the reverse mortgage calculator instead.