# How to make simple (?) mortgage payment comparisons

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-simple-mortgage-payment-comparisons/607210>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 23, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-simple-mortgage-payment-comparisons/607210 "2011-12-23T20:23:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-simple-mortgage-payment-comparisons/607210/1 "2011-12-23T20:23:09Z")

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We have a $230,000 principal balance on our mortgage.  
The interest rate is 5 percent.

We’re trying to figure out the long-term effects of a few different things—making a large payment (e.g. $50,000) towards the principal, making higher monthly payments, and making bi-monthly payments.

I’ve seen a few calculators on the net that seem to answer the questions individually, but not the cumulative effects of doing all three.

As a complication, the higher payment amount we’re planning on making is related to our household budget. We figure we can easily pay $2,700 per month in mortgage—if we’re comparing the do-nothing scenario to the $50,000 (voluntary) balloon payment, the amount of the monthly extra payment will vary.

Is there a calculator out there that I’ve missed? A simple Excel template?  
Thanks,

Rhythm

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**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-simple-mortgage-payment-comparisons/607210/2 "2011-12-23T20:45:30Z")

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I use [this one](http://www.drcalculator.com/mortgage/). Pretty sure it does everything you ask it to do.

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**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-simple-mortgage-payment-comparisons/607210/3 "2011-12-23T20:45:51Z")

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I posted a link to a great Excel spreadsheet here a few years ago. Do a search under my user name and mortgage and you should be able to find it.

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**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-simple-mortgage-payment-comparisons/607210/4 "2011-12-23T20:46:38Z")

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I just made my own on an Excel sheet. Not real hard to do.

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**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-simple-mortgage-payment-comparisons/607210/5 "2011-12-23T21:01:05Z")

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OK, I’m pretty sure [this](http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=xtrapmts&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB0QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mtgprofessor.com%2FSpreadsheets%2FXtrapmts.xls&ei=zuv0TtGuOpGGiQK2lMmmDg&usg=AFQjCNEbFSdBxKMLS7jUhONRwxrUpXLsqg) is it (direct link to spreadsheet).