Paying off mortgage quicker

The only reason to refinance for longer period than you intend to pay it off is for the safety net factor. Typically 15 year interest rates are much lower than 30 year rates.

Bankrate.com has some calculators you can use.

I did similar, had a 30 year and paid at a 15 year rate, then refinanced to 15 year rate, paid extra each month, paid off in 7 years total.

quote:

---

Typically 15 year interest rates are much lower than 30 year rates.

---

I think it's kind of a tossup now, but a couple of years ago at the rock bottom it made no sense to go the 15.

Reason was that after including the interest deduction the 15 year rate was lower than the rate of inflation. You don't want to pay extra to reduce it below inflation.

I recently moved to a 15 year mortgage because I got almost an entire % lower interest rate....

I pay about $30 a month extra (brought it to a round number) and pay bi-monthly. I think my schedule has me paying it off in about 12 years.

I will say I'm with GMFS, and you can schedule payments very easy with them, including overpayments to go to principal.