Taking out a mortgage
Pages in this list checked · How we check
Taking out a mortgage takes 6 of the pages on this site, not one. What it costs monthly, what it costs in total, and whether a lender will say yes. The payment is the easy figure; the amortisation schedule is the one that changes minds. Each page in the list computes its own figure from a published formula and prints the working, so the whole sequence can be checked rather than trusted.
- 1Mortgage Payment CalculatorMonthly principal and interest, with tax and PMICalculator
- 2Amortization CalculatorWhere every payment goes, month by monthCalculator
- 3Debt-to-Income Ratio CalculatorThe ratio a lender checks before anything elseCalculator
- 4Rent Affordability CalculatorWhat the same money buys as rent insteadCalculator
- 5Mortgage Payment by Interest Rate ChartThe payment across a range of ratesChart
- 6Extra Mortgage Payment ChartWhat an extra payment a month takes off the termChart
What goes wrong on this job
The payment is the easy number
Every lender computes the same monthly figure from the same three inputs. What differs is the total: on $400,000 at 6.5% over 30 years the payment is about $2,528, and the interest across the term is roughly $510,000 — more than the loan.
An extra payment early is worth several later
Interest is charged on the balance, so a payment made in year two removes interest for 28 remaining years. The same payment in year twenty removes it for ten. This is why the amortisation schedule changes minds and the payment figure does not.
The ratio a lender checks first
Debt to income, not the payment. Most conventional lending stops around 43% of gross monthly income across all debts, and that includes the car and the cards, not just the mortgage.
$400,000 at 6.5% over 30 years
| Figure | Value |
|---|---|
| Monthly principal and interest | ≈ $2,528 |
| Paid over the term | ≈ $910,000 |
| Of that, interest | ≈ $510,000 |
| Common DTI ceiling | 43% |
Typical figures for orientation. Every one is recomputed by the calculators above from the dimensions you actually have.
What the figures rest on
Every quantity above is computed by one of the calculators in the list, from these published standards.
- CFPB — understanding loan options and amortization
- Federal Reserve — consumer mortgage information
- US CFPB — when private mortgage insurance must be cancelled (Homeowners Protection Act)
- US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — how loan amortization works
- US CFPB — biweekly mortgage payment programs
- US CFPB — Qualified Mortgage definition: the General QM final rule replaced the 43% DTI limit with a price-based threshold
- Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-6-02 — debt-to-income ratios
- HUD Handbook 4000.1 — FHA single family housing policy
- US CFPB — what is a debt-to-income ratio
- HUD — affordability and cost-burden definitions
- CFPB — debt-to-income ratio guidance