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Enter your home price, down payment, loan term, and interest rate to instantly see your estimated monthly mortgage payment along with a full breakdown of costs.
LTV = (Loan Amount ÷ Home Price) × 100. Lenders use this ratio to assess risk. An LTV above 80% typically requires PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance), which adds to your monthly cost. Aim for 80% or below to avoid this expense.
Let's walk through a real scenario. You're buying a $450,000 home with 10% down ($45,000), leaving a principal of $405,000. At a 6.5% annual interest rate with a 25-year amortization:
That means you pay roughly as much in interest as you borrowed. This is why your interest rate and amortization period are the two most powerful levers in reducing your lifetime mortgage cost.
A fixed-rate mortgage locks in your interest rate for the full term (typically 1–5 years). Your payment never changes, making budgeting simple. The trade-off is that fixed rates are usually slightly higher than variable rates at the time of signing.
A variable-rate mortgage moves with the lender's prime rate. When rates fall, you pay less; when they rise, you pay more. Historically, variable rates have cost borrowers less over time, but they carry more uncertainty. If you have a tight budget or low risk tolerance, fixed is often the safer choice.
Lenders don't offer everyone the same rate. Several factors influence the rate you're quoted:
Putting down 20% or more is a significant milestone in Canadian home buying. Below 20%, your mortgage is classified as "high-ratio" and you must purchase CMHC mortgage default insurance. This insurance protects the lender — not you — and costs 2.8% to 4.0% of your loan amount, added directly to your mortgage balance. On a $400,000 mortgage at 5% down, the CMHC premium is $15,200. Reaching 20% down eliminates this cost entirely.
Switching from monthly to accelerated biweekly payments is one of the simplest ways to pay your mortgage off faster. With monthly payments you make 12 payments per year. With accelerated biweekly payments you make 26 half-payments — the equivalent of 13 full monthly payments. That extra payment each year goes directly to principal. On a $400,000 mortgage at 6.5% over 25 years, switching to accelerated biweekly payments can shave roughly 3 years off your amortization and save over $40,000 in interest.
An open mortgage lets you repay any portion of the principal at any time without penalty. This flexibility comes at a cost — open mortgages carry significantly higher interest rates (often 1–2% more than closed). They make sense only if you expect to sell or fully pay off the mortgage within months.
A closed mortgage offers lower rates in exchange for restrictions on prepayments. Most closed mortgages allow annual lump-sum prepayments of 10–20% of the original mortgage amount and payment increases of 10–20% — enough flexibility for most borrowers while still delivering the rate benefit.
This free mortgage calculator is the essential finance calculator for anyone buying a home. Enter your home price, down payment, interest rate, and loan term to instantly calculate your monthly mortgage payment, total interest paid over the life of the loan, and view a full year-by-year amortization schedule. It is the most straightforward finance calculator online for home buyers at any stage of the process.
The monthly interest calculator within this tool breaks down every payment to show how much goes toward principal versus interest. Use the interest rate calculator feature to compare different rates and see how even a small rate difference affects your total cost. This finance calculator online helps you make smarter decisions before you sign.
A monthly mortgage payment uses the formula M = P[r(1+r)^n]/[(1+r)^n−1]. P is your principal (loan amount), r is your monthly interest rate (annual rate ÷ 12), and n is your total number of payments (years × 12). For a $405,000 loan at 6.5% over 25 years, this works out to approximately $2,740 per month.
The amortization period is the total time to pay off your mortgage in full — typically 25 or 30 years. The mortgage term is the length of your current lender contract, usually 1 to 5 years. At the end of each term you renew and renegotiate your rate, but your amortization period keeps counting down.
In Canada, the minimum is 5% for homes under $500,000, and 10% on the portion above $500,000 up to $999,999. In the US, conventional loans can require as little as 3%. However, putting down less than 20% triggers mandatory mortgage default insurance (CMHC in Canada, PMI in the US), adding to your cost.
Yes, meaningfully. On a $450,000 home, increasing your down payment from 10% ($405,000 loan) to 20% ($360,000 loan) at 6.5% over 25 years reduces your monthly payment by about $244 and saves over $73,000 in total interest. You also eliminate mortgage insurance premiums, which can add another $10,000–$15,000 to your borrowing cost.
A missed payment usually triggers a late fee, and the missed amount accrues interest. After 3 or more consecutive missed payments, most lenders can begin foreclosure or power-of-sale proceedings. Contact your lender before you miss a payment — most have deferral or hardship programs that can help you avoid lasting damage to your credit and home ownership.
Yes. Open mortgages allow unlimited prepayments at any time with no penalty. Closed mortgages typically allow annual lump-sum prepayments of 10–20% of the original principal and payment increases of 10–20% without charge. Exceeding these limits triggers a prepayment penalty — usually 3 months' interest or the interest rate differential (IRD), whichever is greater.
Your credit score is one of the biggest factors lenders use to set your rate. Borrowers with scores above 750 typically qualify for the best available rates. Scores between 620 and 680 may still qualify but often at rates 0.5–1.0% higher. On a $400,000 mortgage over 25 years, a 1% higher rate adds roughly $80,000 in total interest — a compelling reason to improve your score before applying.
Mortgage insurance (CMHC in Canada, PMI in the US) protects the lender — not you — if you default. It is required whenever your down payment is less than 20% of the purchase price. In Canada, the CMHC premium ranges from 2.80% (10–19.99% down) to 4.00% (5–9.99% down) of the insured loan amount, added to your mortgage balance and amortized over the life of the loan.