Mortgage Amortization Calculator
Generate a complete year-by-year amortization schedule for your mortgage. See exactly how much goes toward principal and interest each year, and track your remaining balance over time.
Amortization Schedule
Year-by-year breakdown · Principal vs interest · Remaining balance
| Year | Principal Paid | Interest Paid | Total Paid | Balance |
|---|
Understanding Mortgage Amortization
Amortization is the process of paying off a loan through regular payments over time. With a standard mortgage, each payment is the same amount, but the split between principal and interest changes every month. Early payments are mostly interest; later payments are mostly principal.
Why Amortization Matters
Understanding your amortization schedule helps you make strategic decisions — like when extra payments have the most impact, how much equity you’re building each year, and at what point your balance drops below 80% of the home’s value (which allows PMI removal).
15-Year vs 30-Year Amortization
A 15-year mortgage builds equity much faster and pays far less in total interest — often 50% less over the life of the loan. However, monthly payments are higher. Use this calculator to compare both terms side by side.
How to Read Your Amortization Schedule
Each row in the schedule above shows how a single year’s worth of payments is split between principal and interest, along with your remaining loan balance at the end of that year. Because interest is calculated on the balance that is still owed, the interest portion of your payment is highest at the start of the loan and shrinks every year, while the principal portion grows by roughly the same amount.
This table is useful for more than just curiosity. If you are considering an extra payment strategy, comparing your balance in a given year against the extra payment calculator can show you how much faster you would reach a lower balance, or when you might cross the 80% loan-to-value threshold that allows conventional PMI to be removed.
The schedule also resets whenever you refinance, since a new loan starts its own amortization curve from year one. If you refinance several years into your current mortgage, comparing your existing remaining balance and years left to a fresh amortization schedule on the new loan can help you see whether the new terms actually save you money over the time you plan to keep the loan.
Keep in mind that this schedule assumes consistent, on-time payments with no extra principal added and no changes to your rate, which makes it a useful baseline for comparison even though your actual results will vary if you make extra payments, refinance, or your rate adjusts on a non-fixed loan.
Many homeowners also reference their amortization schedule when estimating mortgage interest for tax purposes, since the interest paid each year is shown separately from principal. A tax professional can confirm how that applies to your specific situation.
If you switch loan terms, for example moving from a 30-year to a 15-year schedule, generate a fresh amortization table for each option and compare the total interest column at the very last row. That single number often makes the long-term tradeoff between a higher monthly payment and years of saved interest much easier to see.
For a general definition of how loan amortization works, see the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s glossary entry on amortization.
