Where your mortgage payment actually goes
The payment never changes. What it buys does - almost all interest at the start, almost all house at the end. The halfway line is where that flips.
Where your mortgage payment actually goes: the interactive part
Share of each payment
Years from today
This chart as text
- Loan repaid: 14% at the start, 38% halfway, 99% at year 30.
- Interest paid: 86% at the start, 62% halfway, 1% at year 30.
- Each band is that period's share of the total, so the two always sum to 100%.
Monthly payment is $2,654.69. Total repaid is $955,687. Interest paid is $535,687, On top of the amount borrowed.
Assumptions and limits
- Assumption: The rate is fixed for the whole term and every payment arrives on time.
- Assumption: Interest is charged on the balance left at the start of each month.
- Limit: No property tax, insurance, fees or overpayments - only the loan itself.
- Limit: A real lender rounds the final payment to the cent; this one closes exactly.
The payment is level. The split is not.
Interest is charged on what you still owe, and at the start you still owe almost everything. So the first payment is mostly rent on the money and barely touches the debt. Every month the balance is a little smaller, so the interest slice is a little smaller, so more of the same payment goes to the house. The chart shows each payment cut in two; the dashed line is where the two halves swap places.
Why a shorter loan feels so different
Shortening the term raises the payment, and almost all of the extra goes straight at the balance. That drags the crossing forward sharply: the debt starts shrinking early, which shrinks the interest, which shrinks it faster still. It is the same compounding as a savings account, running in your favour for once.
Set Length of the loan to 15 years and look at Interest paid. The monthly payment rises by about 40%, and the total interest falls by more than half.
Check your understanding
On a 30-year loan at 6.5%, when does more than half of a single payment finally go to the debt?
Pick one to check yourself.