There's a simple trick to reduce the repayment period of your mortgage and save you thousands of dollars in interest: Make additional payments that are applied to your principal. People use different methods to accomplish this goal. Paying a single extra full payment one time per year is perhaps the simplest to arrange. If you can't pay an extra whole payment all at once, you can divide that payment by 12 and write a check for that additional amount monthly. Another option is to pay half of your payment every other week. The result is you make one additional monthly payment each year. Each of these options produces different results, but each will significantly reduce the length of your mortgage and lower your total interest paid.
It may not be possible for you to pay extra every month or even every year. But you should remember that most mortgage contracts allow additional principal payments at any time. You can take advantage of this provision to pay extra on your mortgage principal any time you get some extra money.
If, for example, you receive a surprise windfall four years into your mortgage, you could pay this money toward your mortgage loan principal, which would result in significant savings and a shorter payback period. For most loans, even this modest amount, paid early enough in the loan period, could offer big savings in interest and duration of the loan.
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