Remaining Mortgage Balance Calculator

How it works

The balance on an amortizing mortgage does not fall at a steady rate. Early payments are mostly interest, so the principal balance drops slowly at first and much faster later.

The remaining balance has two parts. Take the original loan grown by interest, then subtract every payment made so far grown the same way:

• L — the original loan amount
• i — the monthly interest rate (APR ÷ 12)
• k — the number of payments already made
• M — the scheduled monthly payment

That formula is the same amortization math your lender runs. A mortgage calculator that prints every row of an amortization schedule lands on the same figure for month k. This one skips ahead to the month you care about.

Two inputs move the answer more than the rest. The interest rate decides how much of each payment goes to interest rather than principal. The years paid decide how far into the mortgage you already are.

With the defaults above, a $320,000 loan at 7% over 30 years still owes about $301,221 after 5 years of payments. So only about $18,779 of principal is gone, roughly 6% of the loan.

That is far less than you have handed over. The rest went to interest, which is why early equity builds slowly.

Put your own loan amount, rate, term and years paid into the calculator to see where your mortgage stands today.

✓ Every result is checked against independent reference math. See how we test the calculators →

How to use this calculator

1. Enter the original loan amount, not what you think you owe today.
2. Add the interest rate from your mortgage note as an annual percentage.
3. Set the full term in years, usually 30 or 15.
4. Enter how many years of payments you have made so far.
5. Read the remaining balance, then compare it with your latest statement to check your inputs.

A worked example: five years into a $320,000 loan

Picture a $320,000 mortgage taken out at 7% on a 30-year term, now five years in. The monthly payment of $2,129 has been leaving your account like clockwork, yet the payoff quote from your servicer still reads $301,221.

That feels slow because it is. Over those first five years only $18,779 of principal has actually come off, roughly 6% of the loan, since early payments are mostly interest. The other side of every $2,129 check went to the bank as the cost of borrowing, not toward what you owe.

Term length is where this really bites. Had you signed a 15-year loan instead, your balance today would sit at $247,721 rather than $301,221, a $53,500 difference in equity built over the same five years. Enter your own loan amount, rate, and years paid to see exactly where your balance stands right now.

Why does your remaining mortgage balance matter?

This one number feeds into most of the big decisions about a house.

• Selling or refinancing: your payoff is the principal balance plus a little accrued interest. That figure sets how much cash a sale leaves you, or how big the new loan needs to be.
• Dropping mortgage insurance: once the balance falls below 80% of the home value, you can usually ask the lender to cancel private mortgage insurance (PMI).
• Deciding on extra payments: seeing how little principal is gone in the early years is often what makes extra payments feel worth the money.
• Borrowing against the house: a home equity line or a second mortgage is sized from the value left after the first loan. That balance caps what a bank will lend.
• Planning the budget: knowing the balance and the payoff date tells you when this debt stops taking a share of your monthly budget.

Balance is not the same as equity

Your mortgage balance and your equity sound like one idea, but they answer different questions. The balance is what you owe the lender, and it comes straight from the loan terms. Equity is what you actually own, so the home’s current value matters too.

Your downpayment was the starting equity, and every payment since has added to it. Those two routes do not work the same way, though.

Each scheduled payment reliably lowers the debt. The value side of your home equity moves with the local real estate market instead.

Both routes count toward dropping PMI. Private mortgage insurance can come off once equity reaches 20%, whether you paid the loan down or real estate values rose. The Ask CFPB pages explain how to request that.

A sale settles on equity, not on the balance. The mortgage is repaid first out of the proceeds, and what is left after fees and closing costs is the money you walk away with. Your loan-to-value ratio is that same comparison written as a percentage.

How do extra payments change the number?

This calculator assumes you paid exactly the scheduled amount every month. Add anything extra and your real mortgage balance drops below the figure shown here. That gap widens with every year.

Each extra dollar of principal comes off the balance that all future interest is charged on, so it keeps saving you money month after month.

• Early extras matter most: a dollar of extra principal in year one avoids far more future interest than the same dollar in year twenty.
• The effect compounds: a lower balance means less interest next month, so more of your regular payment reaches principal too.
• Statements tell the truth: if you have made extra payments, trust your lender's current principal balance over any estimate built on a perfect schedule.
• Recasting is an option: after a large lump sum, some lenders will re-amortize the mortgage to a lower payment on the reduced balance, if you ask.
• Check for a prepayment penalty: a few loans charge a fee for repaying a large share early, and that fee can cancel out the interest you saved.

If the goal is a date rather than a dollar figure, your mortgage payoff date moves closer with every extra dollar of principal.

How do I estimate my balance without a statement?

You do not need a lender statement to get a close read on what you owe. The original loan terms and the time you have been paying are enough. From those, the math this calculator runs fixes the balance exactly.

That makes it useful for quick planning. You can check where the mortgage will stand in a few years, or rebuild a number you have misplaced.

• Use the original terms: enter the loan as it started, not today's balance, along with the full term and the years paid so far.
• Fixed rate only: the estimate assumes a steady interest rate and a level payment, which fits fixed-rate mortgages and little else.
• Leave escrow out: your monthly bill may also cover property taxes and homeowner’s insurance, but the payment in this formula is principal and interest alone.
• Treat it as an estimate: rounding, a missed payment or an extra one means the exact payoff can drift from the clean calculation.

Entering the wrong monthly payment is the most common mistake, and the principal and interest payment is the figure you want.

What a payoff quote adds on top

Ask a lender to close out the mortgage and the figure they send back is larger than the principal balance shown here. A payoff quote is a bill for everything owed on the day the loan ends.

• Interest since your last payment: interest accrues daily, so a payoff dated the 20th carries about three weeks of it.
• A release or wire fee: many lenders add a small charge for clearing the lien and sending the documents.
• A prepayment penalty: rare on modern mortgages, but worth checking the note before you assume there is none.
• Escrow settles separately: money held for property taxes and insurance is refunded after closing rather than netted off the balance.
• Any second mortgage: a second mortgage or home equity line has its own payoff, and the house is collateral for both.

Quotes also expire. The borrower owes extra interest for every day past the date on the letter, so time the request to the closing.

Does this work for every type of mortgage?

The calculation assumes one rate and one payment for the whole term. That describes fixed-rate mortgages well and other loans poorly.

• Adjustable-rate mortgages: once an adjustable-rate loan resets, both the payment and the balance move away from this estimate.
• Interest only mortgage terms: during an interest only period no principal is repaid, so the debt sits at the original loan amount.
• Refinancing restarts the clock: a refinance replaces the old debt with a new mortgage, so count the years paid from the new closing date.
• A second loan runs alone: a second mortgage has its own rate, term and payment, and has to be tracked separately from the first.

To see the whole path rather than one month, a full amortization schedule lists the balance after every payment.