Bi-Weekly Mortgage Payments

A Bi-Weekly mortgage essentially means you pay your mortgage every two weeks instead of once a month. A

bi-weekly mortgage payment plan is a great way to not only increase the equity in your home, but also pay off your home mortgage approximately 6 to 8 years earlier than the standard 30 years.

How It Works:
This strategy adds one payment more per year to your mortgage loan, which at first does not seem like much; however, the savings are substantial over the length of your loan.

Making mortgage payments every two weeks pays off your mortgage in approximately 23 years instead of the standard 30 years. For example, if your mortgage payment is $1,600 a month, you might pay $800 every two weeks instead of $1,600 a month, resulting in 26 payments in a year. If your bi-weekly payment equals half your monthly payment, this would be equivalent to making 13 monthly payments.

Advantages:

• Your mortgage payments will be set up electronically to come from your bank account every two weeks. You can reduce mail delays and will not have to worry about late fees.
• Your mortgage is paid off 6 to 8 years early.

Disadvantages:

• The cost of setting up a bi-weekly mortgage can be expensive. Your lender or a mortgage servicing company sets up the program and charges you an enrollment fee and some even charge on every transaction.
• You need to stay in your home a good length of time for you to fully benefit from bi-weekly payments. While the extra money you pay towards your mortgage will increase your equity, perhaps that money would be better spent going into a high interest bearing savings or retirement account.

DIY (Do-It-Yourself)
You do not have to enroll in a formal bi-weekly mortgage program to reap the benefits of paying your home off early. You can simply pay an extra one-twelfth of your mortgage payment each month and designate that amount to go directly towards the principal only and not the interest.

Use your tax refund or bonus to make one extra payment each year on your account and make sure the lender credits that payment directly to your principal.