The Best Mortgage Payoff Calculator and Mortgage Interest Calculator: Yahoo vs Bankrate vs Dave Ramsey Mortgage Calculator
Thirty years of debt can feel like a pretty big weight on one’s shoulders, even if that debt is a necessary step to get you and your family into the home of your dreams.
The rise in home foreclosures gives testament to the fact that many people simply don’t understand the financial burden that a thirty-year mortgage can entail.
Changes in interest rates, insurance fees, taxes, and other hidden charges in mortgages can all add up to cause financial stress for a homeowner.
Learning how to calculate mortgage payments is an important and necessary step for anyone considering taking out a home loan.
Though the bank or financial institution that is financing your mortgage may be able to help you understand some of the terms and conditions of your home loan, it is also important for you, as the borrower, to do your own research.
A simple mortgage calculator, easily found online, can be a powerful tool to help you comprehend the ins and outs of your mortgage. But with so many simple mortgage calculators out there, how do you know which is the best and most useful for your own situation?
In this brief article, AdvisoryHQ will look at how to use these calculators and the importance of learning how to calculate mortgage payments. We will then go on to review some of the top simple mortgage calculators online.
This review will evaluate the following calculators so that you can find the mortgage payoff calculator best-suited to help you manage the terms of your mortgage:
- Mortgage calculator with PMI
- Mortgage calculator with taxes and PMI
- Mortgage interest calculator
- Dave Ramsey mortgage payoff calculator
- Yahoo finance mortgage calculator
- Bankrate.com mortgage calculator
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The Uses and Importance of Learning How to Calculate Mortgage Payments
After going through the checkout line at the grocery store, most of us look over our receipt to make sure we weren’t charged extra for something we didn’t purchase.
If we take the time to worry about our grocery bill, we should also take the same responsibility and control over learning how to calculate our mortgage payments.
Entrusting hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt to a bank is simply not a smart financial decision. Like any business, banks want to make money and will usually set up mortgage terms that will end up costing you more in the long run.
A mortgage interest calculator is a simple tool that will help you discover how much you will end up paying in interest over the term of your mortgage.
While the bank may not offer you a lower interest rate 15-year mortgage, through a mortgage payoff calculator, you may be able to determine that you can afford the higher monthly payments on a shorter-term mortgage, thus escaping from your debt more quickly and saving thousands of dollars in interest payments.
Furthermore, since many banks won’t fully explain the different fees and charges associated with a mortgage, such as primary mortgage insurance (PMI) and other state and federal taxes, finding a simple mortgage calculator with taxes and PMI can help you recognize how much of your monthly payment goes towards principal, interest, insurance, taxes, and other charges.
A mortgage calculator with PMI may help you eventually decide to pay off your primary mortgage insurance in a one-time payment and thus make sure that your monthly mortgage payments go more toward paying off the principle and interest on your mortgage.
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Different Simple Mortgage Calculators
There are a number of important uses associated with a simple mortgage calculator, but which one should you use? Should you place trust in the well-known name of the Yahoo mortgage calculator or instead choose to use a more complex tool, such as the bankrate.com mortgage calculator or Dave Ramsey mortgage calculator?
Below, you’ll find the benefits and disadvantages of six of the top mortgage payoff calculators and mortgage interest calculators on the web.
- Mortgage Calculator with PMI
Primary mortgage insurance is a form of protection for the bank or financial institution that is financing your mortgage. The financial crisis of 2008 was, in part, caused by a large number of people who defaulted on mortgages – mostly due to bad lending practices by the banks.
Since that time, more and more banks require borrowers to pay primary mortgage insurance as a way to insure the bank, should you default on your mortgage? While primary mortgage insurance rates can vary from place to place, a mortgage calculator with PMI can help you understand how much you’ll be paying in PMI.
Zillow.com is one of the leaders in the online real estate industry. It also provides a quality mortgage calculator with PMI that you can find here. One of the best perks of this online tool is that you can choose to include your mortgage calculations with primary mortgage insurance and without it.
If you are able to make at least a 20% down payment on your mortgage, most banks will waive your primary mortgage insurance. With the Zillow mortgage calculator with PMI, you are able to see your monthly payment burden both with and without PMI, thus allowing you to make an economic decision regarding the down payment you will make on your mortgage.
- Mortgage Calculator with Taxes and PMI
For any mortgage, there are bound to be a number of taxes and additional fees included. Many simple mortgage calculators won’t include a calculation for these taxes or other fees.
Since taxes, primary mortgage insurance, and other charges and payments can add quite a bit to your monthly mortgage payment, it is important to find a mortgage calculator with taxes and PMI.
One of the best mortgage calculators with taxes and PMI is offered by usmortgagecalculator.org. With this online tool, you can easily discover how much you’ll be paying in taxes, insurance, and other fees over the life of your mortgage.
For example, for a $350,000 house including a 12% down payment, 5% interest rate, and 1.25% property tax rate per year, you can expect to pay over $175,000 in taxes, PMI, and fees over the life of your 3-year mortgage.
This mortgage calculator with taxes and PMI is a useful aid for potential homeowners to understand that your overall debt burden not only includes principal and interest but also insurance, taxes, and fees.
Another quality feature of this mortgage calculator with taxes and PMI is that you can add any other “extra” payments that may make your individual mortgage unique. These extra payments can be calculated as bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly payments.
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- Mortgage Interest Calculator
Many people are interested in learning about how to calculate the potential tax deductions that you can receive from the interest paid on your mortgage. Bankrate.com offers a mortgage interest calculator that will allow you to determine how much you could save in income taxes.
Since the interest paid on your mortgage is tax-deductible if itemized on your tax return, this Bankrate.com mortgage calculator is an important tool for folks who are set on doing all they can to lower their tax burden. We will review another more complete bankrate.com mortgage calculator below.
- Dave Ramsey Mortgage Calculator
The Dave Ramsey mortgage calculator is one of the best tools you can find online to help you completely understand and better manage your mortgage payments.
The Dave Ramsey mortgage payoff calculator comes in two different formats: the simple Dave Ramsey mortgage calculator and the advanced version of the Dave Ramsey mortgage calculator.
These two versions can be utilized by people who are looking for the most basic information and for those who want to calculate every nickel and dime that will go into their mortgage payment. The simple Dave Ramsey mortgage payoff calculator is best-suited for folks who want a quick calculation without having to research too many complex numbers.
Dave Ramsey Mortgage Calculator
The advanced version of the Dave Ramsey mortgage calculator can be found here and allows you to calculate everything from the payoff time and interest paid on your loan to an accelerated payoff schedule and the interest paid on an accelerated schedule.
For people who are obsessed with trying to pay off their mortgage as quickly as possible, the Dave Ramsey mortgage calculator even allows you to calculate how much quicker you could pay off your loan if you gave up comforts such as coffee, restaurants, lunch out, etc.
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- Yahoo Mortgage Calculator
The Yahoo mortgage calculator is one of a number of personal finance calculators offered by the Internet giant. The Yahoo finance mortgage calculator can be found online and is a great tool for helping you discover the details related to your monthly payment.
The Yahoo mortgage calculator is also one of the only online calculators to include a calculation for annual hazard insurance – another important fee you need to take into account.
While the Yahoo finance mortgage calculator is less detailed than other options, it offers a reliable and trustworthy calculation of property taxes, insurance, and other fees.
According to the Yahoo mortgage calculator website, “The loan amount, the interest rate, and the term of the mortgage can have a dramatic effect on the total amount you will eventually pay for the property. Further, mortgage payments typically will include monthly allocations of property taxes, hazard insurance, and (if applicable) private mortgage insurance (PMI). Use our mortgage calculator to see the impact of these variables along with an amortization schedule.”
- Bankrate.com Mortgage Calculator
The bankrate.com mortgage calculator is perhaps the most complete real estate calculator you can find. Compared to other options on the Internet, such as the Dave Ramsey mortgage calculator and Yahoo mortgage calculator, the bankrate.com mortgage calculator is unique in that it includes offers from real lenders that take into account the conditions of your calculated mortgage.
The bankrate.com mortgage calculator, then, will not only help you understand the breakdown of your mortgage costs but will also provide you with up-to-date quotes from online lenders.
Furthermore, there are a number of more specific bankrate.com mortgage calculators that you can find here. You can choose from a mortgage calculator that offers an amortization schedule, a mortgage payoff calculator, a mortgage APR calculator, and a number of other options. The bankrate.com mortgage calculators offer a variety of different levels of complexities so that every potential homeowner can find the best option for his or her individual needs.
How a Simple Mortgage Calculator Can Help You Take Control of Your Home Loan
Learning to calculate mortgage payments is an important part of financial literacy that every homeowner needs to learn.
Whether you choose the bankrate.com mortgage calculator, Yahoo mortgage calculator, Dave Ramsey mortgage calculator or other more generic simple mortgage calculators, discovering the specific terms and conditions of different mortgage options can help save you thousands of dollars in the long run.
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