In this episode, we’re talking about splitting up your mortgage payments. There is a lot of ideas and strategies out there on how to pay off your mortgage early, and one of the top questions we receive is around changing up your once per month payments, and breaking it up into bi-weekly mortgage payments. Does it help? Does it save you money? Let’s dig in break it all down.

What does Bi-Weekly payments mean?

First let’s just address the basics because we hear a lot of confusion around what bi-weekly means. Is it twice a week or every other week? So number one, a biweekly payment is making 26 mortgage payments in a year. So it means every 2 weeks. What that also means is that typically 2 months out of the year you will make 3 payments not 2, giving you the ability to add an additional mortgage payment to your balance every year. Just to be clear, this does not mean 26 full mortgage payments. This would be splitting your normal mortgage payment in half, and then paying that amount every 2 weeks. So if your mortgage payment was a thousand dollars for easy math per month, and you wanted to figure out what you would be paying bi-weekly, you would simply take the monthly mortgage payment of one thousand dollars and divide it in half. So your bi-weekly payment would be five hundred dollars every two weeks.

How do you make Bi-Weekly payments?

When you close your mortgage each mortgage company will have a different payment option for you to use. Some banks will offer the bi-weekly payments and others won’t. So make sure to check with your lender. Sometimes there are third party companies that will offer to set it up for you outside of your mortgage lender, so you can also look into that as well. Typically they will charge a fee, but it helps put it on autopilot so that you don’t have to manually make them. Lastly check with your bank. Some banks offer the ability to setup automatic payments to third parties, like your mortgage lender. The key though in any scenario is that you have to check and make sure, and this is the most important factor, that your additional payments get added directly toward principal.

How does Bi-Weekly Payments save you money.

This is the fun part. By squeezing in that extra monthly payment each year you get to pay additional money directly toward your principal thereby reducing the amount of interest you pay in the long term. Make sure to check out the video “Do Bi-Weekly Mortgage Payments Save You Money?” – and watch us go through calculators, and spreadsheets, where we break down the math and run through real world scenarios on how this method of payment structuring your mortgage can save you money.

If you have any questions about this or if you have any questions you’d like us to answer on our podcast, you can email your questions to team@azmortgagebrothers.com or give us a call at (602) 535-2171. Be sure to ask us for a free quote on your next mortgage. We’ll personally work with you and help you through the whole process.

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Thanks for listening and reading the Mortgage Brothers Show. Let us know if you have any questions you’d like us to answer on this podcast. You can email your questions to Tom@AZMortgageBrothers.com or Eddie@AZMortgageBrothers.com.

Be sure to ask us for a free quote on your next mortgage. We’ll personally work with you and help you through the whole process.

Signature Home Loans LLC does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only. You should consult your own tax, legal, and accounting advisors before engaging in any transaction. Signature Home Loans NMLS 1007154, NMLS #210917 and 1618695. Equal housing lender.

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