Estimate the monthly payment and total interest on a 30-year fixed mortgage.
Estimate your monthly principal and interest.
A 30-year mortgage spreads payments over 360 months, which keeps the monthly payment lower and makes a home easier to afford each month. The trade-off is more total interest, since you owe the balance for longer.
On a $320,000 loan at 6.5%, the payment is about $2,023 a month and total interest is roughly $408,142. A 15-year loan would cost about $2,788 a month. See the 15-year mortgage calculator.
If you can, extra payments toward principal shorten the loan and cut interest. Check with your lender how extra payments are applied.
The lower monthly payment gives more flexibility, and you can still pay extra when you can.
Not on a fixed-rate loan, which this calculator assumes.