How To Calculate Your Monthly Mortgage Payment: A Guide

You may be thinking about purchasing a house or refinancing the one you’re already in. This decision brings with it a number of questions: What kind of interest rate can I get? What kind of payment should I expect? How much money can I save by paying off the loan before the end of the term?

In this article, we’ll show you how to calculate your mortgage payment by breaking down the formula for you. We’ll also show you how the variables that go into the equation work, reviewing some ways in which you might save some money and feel better prepared for the future. Lastly, we’ll walk you through a few different calculators and their uses.

Your monthly mortgage payment breaks down into a variety of financial components, including your loan amount, interest rate, loan term and other factors. Let’s take a look at what you can expect.

Loan Amount

If you’re buying a home, you’ll want to put in the price of the homes you’re looking at and subtract your down payment. If you’re far enough along, you may be able to also add any costs being built into the balance. For a refinancing (sometimes referred to as a "refi"), include the expected balance after you close.

Interest Rate

While it’s largely dependent on market factors outside of your control, your interest rate has a huge impact on what your monthly mortgage payments will be. Remember, the majority of your mortgage payments at first will go toward paying interest.

When calculating your payment amount, you’ll want to look at the base rate and not the annual percentage rate (APR). You use the lower base mortgage rate because your monthly payment doesn’t reflect closing costs. Knowing APR is still useful, but the context of the overall cost of the loan as opposed to monthly expenses is key.

Loan Term

This is how long you have to pay the loan off. Longer terms, like a 30-year mortgage, mean smaller payments, but more interest paid. Shorter terms, like a 15-year mortgage, have the opposite properties – larger payments, less interest paid.

Mortgage Insurance

If you make a down payment of less than 20%, you’ll have to pay private mortgage insurance (PMI) on a conventional loan. This payment is based on a percentage of the loan amount and protects the lender in case you default. The rate is based on the following:

• Down payment or equity amount
• Credit score
• Loan type
• Occupancy

You can request removal on a one-unit primary residence once you reach 20% equity in most cases.

Certain government-backed options like Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) loans and those from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have mandatory upfront and annual mortgage insurance or guarantee fee payments that may last for the life of the loan – depending on the loan type and down payment amount or existing equity. Depending on your down payment amount, mortgage insurance premiums may be built into the calculations.

Property Taxes

Since property taxes are often built into your mortgage payment, having a fairly accurate estimate will help you get a better picture of cost. Regardless of whether you have an escrow account, these need to be accounted for as a cost of ownership.

Homeowners Insurance

Mortgage lenders will require you to carry homeowners insurance to protect their investment. If you have an escrow account, the overall premium is split into monthly payments. Even if you don’t, you still need to include this as a homeownership expense.

Homeowners Association (HOA) Fees

These aren’t typically included in your monthly mortgage, even if you have an escrow account. However, it’s important to factor in these monthly and annual fees. The homeowners association (HOA) fees also impact what you can qualify for when you’re looking to purchase or refinance a home.

There are two ways to go about calculating a monthly mortgage payment. You can go old-school and figure it out using an equation, or you can use a mortgage payment calculator.

Use The Formula

As mentioned above, the easiest way to come to your mortgage payment is to use a mortgage calculator. However, having a basic understanding of the formula can give you an idea of how changing variables impacts the other parts of the equation. Let’s take a quick look.

M = P [ I(1 + I)^N ] / [ (1 + I)^N − 1]

This formula will help you calculate your mortgage payment based on the loan principal and interest before taxes, homeowners insurance and HOA fees. If it looks a little intimidating, though, you’re probably not alone – let’s break it down variable by variable so it’s easier to understand:

• M = Monthly payment: This is what you’re solving for.
• P = Principal amount: This is the loan balance, or what you’re trying to pay off.
• I = Interest rate: Remember, you’ll want to use the base interest rate and not the APR. Additionally, because the mortgage interest rate you’re charged is an annual interest rate that represents the interest that’s supposed to be paid over the whole year, you want to divide this by 12 to get the monthly interest rate.
• N = Number of payments: This is the total number of payments in your loan term. For instance, if it’s a 30-year mortgage with monthly payments, there are 360 payments.

Having your own formula set up also gives you the opportunity to compare different payment scenarios, including interest-only payments versus fully amortizing loans.

As mentioned before, this covers principal and interest, but you can add in taxes and insurance once you know them to get to your total monthly payment. A lender will qualify you using these four payment factors, sometimes shortened to the acronym “PITI”. Where applicable, HOA fees are added in, and the acronym becomes “PITIA,” with the “A” standing for “association dues.”

Use A Spreadsheet

There are some special situations where a spreadsheet formula might be useful. For instance, mortgage calculators tend to assume a fixed-rate mortgage. If you have an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) where the rate changes over time, you can set up an amortization table using the PMT function in Microsoft Excel and change the formula so that the rate and time remaining reflect the new terms once the interest rate adjusts.

Use A Mortgage Calculator

Generally, you’re better off using a mortgage calculator to calculate your mortgage payment because it’s difficult to input the formula properly in a regular calculator.

Using a mortgage calculator takes the guesswork out of the formula and can help you calculate your mortgage payments much faster. There are several types of mortgage calculators, so it’s important to understand the purpose of each one so that you can be sure you’re using the right one for your needs.

There are a few types of mortgage calculators that can prove helpful depending on your situation. Let’s go over the basics on each of them, before digging a little deeper into the information you’ll need to make the most use of each calculator.

1. Purchase Calculator

If you’re looking to buy a new home, our purchase or Home Affordability Calculator can help you run the numbers.

Using this calculator, you can do two things: You'll either be able to figure out how much cash you need for a down payment, or you can work things the other way and figure out how much you can afford based on your down payment as well as your monthly income. There's also a credit estimate, which is important in determining what products you might qualify for.

Here’s what’s typically included in a home purchase calculator:

• Sale price: This is the purchase price of the home. If it’s higher than your region’s loan limit, you might need a jumbo loan, which could also factor in your decision.
• Down payment: This is among the biggest limiting factors of how much you can afford. Depending on the type of loan you’re trying to qualify for, you could need a down payment as low as 3% or as high as 25%. A higher down payment may also help you secure a lower interest rate.
• Estimated credit score: Your estimated credit score gives lenders a look at your qualifications as a borrower. The higher your score, the better your history and typically, the better your rate.
• Income: Along with the down payment, your income is also a huge factor in helping determine how much you can afford. In general, it’s a good idea to spend no more than three times the combined income of all borrowers on the loan on a house.
• Other debt: The less debt you have before taking on a mortgage, the more you can afford in terms of your house. This may have an impact on your interest rate, depending on the type of loan you’re getting.
• ZIP code: The property’s ZIP code can help a lender to know exactly what the expected real estate taxes and homeowners insurance premiums might be in the area. Depending on the sophistication of the calculator, this might also be used to get a more accurate picture of closing costs.
• HOA fees: If you’re looking at a property that’s subject to HOA fees, you should add these into your calculated payment along with anything you know about taxes and insurance.

2. Refinance Calculator

What if you’re not looking to move to a new place, but instead looking to refinance your current home? There’s a calculator for that, too. The first question a refinance calculator will ask you is what your goal is with a refinance. For example, you might wish to lower your existing loan payment, pay off your mortgage faster or take cash out.

It’s also useful to know how much you owe on your existing mortgage, and an estimate of your home value. This helps with determining how much equity you have if you want to take cash out. We also have a Home Equity Calculator that helps you determine how much cash you can convert.

Ultimately, refinance calculators help you determine whether a new mortgage loan makes sense. Let’s run through them:

• Value estimate: Although this usually has to be confirmed by an appraisal or other home valuation method, knowing your home’s estimated value gives you a starting point to help determine how much equity you have in your home in combination with your existing mortgage balance, if any.
• Credit score: As with a purchase, the higher your credit score, the better. This is true both in terms of loan options and the opportunity for lower interest rates.
• Mortgage balance: Together with your home value estimate, your current mortgage balance is used to determine how much equity you have for the purposes of loan qualification as well as to figure how much cash you can take out.
• Other debt: As with a purchase calculator, your other debt is important in a refinance transaction because it helps get to an accurate estimate of your overall debt-to-income ratio (DTI) and what you might qualify for.
• How long you’ll stay in your home: Your time in the home will help you calculate the breakeven point and determine whether it’s worth it for you to do the refinance. For instance, if it takes you 2 years to break even, you know you have to stay in the home longer than that for the refi to make sense.
• ZIP code: Your ZIP code is useful in a refinance calculator for helping determine what your closing costs might be. Title insurance and appraisals still come into play under certain circumstances on a refinance.

3. Amortization Calculator

An amortization schedule shows you how much of your payment goes toward paying off principal and how much goes toward interest for any given payment you make. At the beginning of a loan, more of your payment goes toward paying interest than paying down your principal. The opposite is true at the end of the loan.

This can be helpful since you can pay extra on your monthly mortgage payment and have that amount applied to your loan’s principal balance. By doing so, you can pay down the principal faster to save on the interest payment.

The purpose of any mortgage amortization calculator is to show you just how much interest and how many months of payments you can save by putting some more money onto your principal payment.

The amortization calculator asks you to input the following:

• Your current loan amount
• The length of your loan
• Your interest rate
• The state you live in

You can also see what the effect of a one-time, monthly or yearly additional payment would be on your number of monthly payments or interest.

The results show a sample monthly payment (excluding taxes and insurance) and the interest you would pay. If you’ve chosen to add an additional payment, it shows you how much interest and how many months of payments you could save by putting extra money toward paying down your principal. There’s also a graph that breaks down how much of your payment goes toward principal and how much goes toward interest.

Whether you use the formula or a mortgage calculator, calculating your potential mortgage payment should help you feel more informed on how to get a mortgage and your budget for buying a home, or to decide whether to move forward with a refinance. It all depends on your lifestyle and personal goals.

Here are some of the questions a mortgage calculator can answer:

• Your ideal loan term: A mortgage calculator can help you determine whether you’d benefit from a shorter or longer loan term. Shorter terms mean higher monthly payments with less interest. Longer terms flip this scenario, meaning more interest is paid, but the monthly payment is lower.
• The best home loan option for you: Any good calculator will help determine what might be a good loan product for you based on what you might qualify for. You’ll usually see several options available to you through your lender.
• Whether the home is too expensive: Another thing a mortgage calculator is very good at is determining how much house you can afford. This is based on factors like your income, credit score and your outstanding debt.
• Determining the right down payment amount: A purchase calculator can help you determine the down payment you need. There are minimum down payments for various loan types, but even beyond that, a higher down payment can mean a lower monthly payment and the ability to avoid mortgage insurance.
• Whether you should rent versus owning a home: When deciding whether to rent or buy, you have to know how much you need for a down payment. You should also determine whether owning a home will be cheaper or require you to pay more when looking at the monthly cost of homeownership. A mortgage calculator can help you determine this.

An important part of the home buying process for buyers is knowing how much house they can afford. One way to help ensure you won’t be in over your head is to calculate your potential mortgage payment using figures like the sale price of the home, the amount of your down payment and your interest rate.

If you’re ready to take this next step, and begin the home buying process, you can start your mortgage application online with Rocket Mortgage^® today.