Mortgage Payment Calculator: How Much Home Can You Afford?

By Geoff Walker
Calculators for Mortgages Columnist

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Mortgage payment calculator, loan payment calculator, and loan calculator, are different names for the same very useful tool. When you are considering using a mortgage loan to buy a home, there are all sorts of questions you need to think about, such as:

• What range of prices can I consider when I look for a new house?
• What will my monthly mortgage loan payments be for different interest rates?
• Will a longer or shorter loan term make a difference to my monthly payments?

To do the necessary calculations by hand is not easy. But with a mortgage payment calculator it is all done for you.

Mortgage Payment Calculator: How it Works.

The loan payment calculator requires the following information:

• The lowest and highest interest rates you are considering
• The lowest and highest loan amounts you might want to borrow
• The period over which you want to repay your mortgage loan

Once you have input those figures, you just click on the results button and instantly you will see a table of figures, like a tiny spreadsheet. Just use the scroll bars to move through the table and you will see the forecast monthly repayments for a range of amounts at different interest rates.

There is a range of mortgage deals available from various lenders, so use the loan payment calculator to experiment. Maybe a higher interest rate is right for you if you can borrow more. Maybe accepting a higher monthly payment, which reduces your mortgage faster, makes sense. You may even want to check the payment figures your mortgage company is quoting you. In all sort of ways, the mortgage payment calculator can help you take control of this major change in your finances.



About the Author
A freelance writer with degrees in arts and commerce, Geoff Walker has experience in corporate financial management, mortgages, and fund-raising.