Pros and Cons of Paying Off Your Mortgage Early (2024)

FAQs

Pros and Cons of Paying Off Your Mortgage Early? ›

Paying off your mortgage early is a good way to free up monthly cashflow and pay less in interest. But you'll lose your mortgage interest tax deduction, and you'd probably earn more by investing instead. Before making your decision, consider how you would use the extra money each month.

The benefits of overpaying your mortgage

If you can afford to make extra payments, overpaying your mortgage means you pay less interest in the future and pay off your mortgage sooner. This means you could save a lot of money.

You can deduct the mortgage interest you paid during the tax year on the first $750,000 of your mortgage debt for your primary home or a second home. If you are married filing separately, the limit drops to $375,000.

Completing a mortgage payoff early could save you a bundle of money, not to mention years of not having a big payment hanging over your head each month, according to Dave Ramsey, financial guru, author and host of “The Dave Ramsey Show.”

O'Leary's Take on Paying Down Mortgages

According to him, your best chance for long-term financial success lies in getting out from under your mortgage by age 45. This is because by O'Leary's reckoning, most careers are halfway done by age 45.

Though you may be surprised – even disappointed – to see that your credit record doesn't look too much different after your last mortgage payment than it did beforehand, take heart: you've likely already reaped the benefits that come from consistent mortgage payments.

By reducing the length of time you spend making mortgage payments, you'll cut down the amount of interest you pay over the life of the loan. Depending on the loan amount, interest rate and original term, paying your mortgage off early could result in significant savings. Free up money for later in life.

How does paying off my house affect my taxes? ›

Should I pay off my mortgage early? There are both pros and cons to paying your mortgage off early. While you save on interest and have extra funds to use elsewhere, you will lose the federal mortgage interest tax deduction and could miss out on more lucrative investments.

Once debt is paid off, your self-confidence can make a fast turnaround. Some individuals even share their debt stories out of a renewed sense of confidence, according to Dlugozima. “You become more open about it because you've gotten through the other side,” said Dlugozima. “It's empowering.”

In a nutshell — yes. But let's be clear. We're talking about the interest portion of your mortgage payment that you make each month. The deduction doesn't apply to the mortgage principal, nor the down payment or mortgage insurance premiums (after tax year 2021).

Orman said she doesn't recommend this strategy if you're 35 and know you're going to move in three or four years. But she does believe that if you are older and your goal is to gain financial security and safety, paying off your mortgage as quickly as possible is a wise idea.

A: If you put extra resources toward a home loan, you'll no longer have access to that cash flow and that's one of the disadvantages of paying off a mortgage. That means it's important to establish an emergency fund first — generally three to six months of living expenses — for unexpected financial needs.

If you pay off your mortgage and debts before retiring, you could live on smaller portion of your preretirement income. Based on this rule, if your annual preretirement income was $100,000, you need $80,000 a year in retirement to cover your expenses.

It might make sense, for example, to put the money into paying off your mortgage early if you struggle with keeping money in the bank. Your home can be a forced-savings tool, and making extra mortgage payments can save you thousands of dollars in interest over time, plus help you build equity in your home faster.

It's typically smarter to pay down your mortgage as much as possible at the very beginning of the loan to avoid ultimately paying more in interest. If you're in or near the later years of your mortgage, it may be more valuable to put your money into retirement accounts or other investments.

Increasing your monthly payments, making bi-weekly payments, and making extra principal payments can help accelerate mortgage payoff. Cutting expenses, increasing income, and using windfalls to make lump sum payments can help pay off the mortgage faster.