Estimate how quickly you can pay off your home equity loan or HELOC by making extra payments.
Your estimated repayment time is:
Understanding Your Home Equity Repayment
A home equity loan or a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) allows you to borrow against the equity you've built in your home. While these can be valuable tools for major expenses like renovations, education, or debt consolidation, understanding how to pay them off efficiently is crucial to minimizing interest costs and becoming debt-free faster.
This calculator helps you visualize the impact of making extra payments beyond your minimum monthly obligation. By paying down the principal faster, you can significantly reduce the total interest paid over the life of the loan and shorten the repayment period.
How the Calculator Works:
The calculation simulates your loan's amortization month by month. For each month, it:
Calculates the interest accrued on the current balance.
Adds the minimum monthly payment and any extra payment to determine the total payment for the month.
Subtracts the interest portion of the payment from the total payment to find the principal reduction.
Updates the remaining loan balance.
This process repeats until the loan balance reaches zero. The total number of months is then converted into years and months to show your estimated repayment timeline.
Key Inputs:
Home Equity Loan/HELOC Balance: The current outstanding amount you owe on your home equity product.
Annual Interest Rate: The yearly interest rate charged on your loan. This is crucial as higher rates mean more interest accrues, and faster principal repayment becomes more impactful.
Current Minimum Monthly Payment: The lowest amount your lender requires you to pay each month. This typically covers interest and a small portion of the principal.
Extra Monthly Payment: Any additional amount you plan to pay each month above your minimum. This is the key variable to accelerate repayment.
Interpreting the Results:
Estimated Repayment Time: This tells you how many years and months it will take to pay off your loan balance with your specified extra payments.
Total Paid: The sum of all minimum and extra payments made over the loan's life.
Total Interest Paid: The total amount of interest you will pay by the time the loan is fully repaid.
Why Make Extra Payments?
Paying even a small extra amount consistently can make a substantial difference:
Saves Money: Reduces the total interest paid over time.
Shorter Loan Term: Allows you to become debt-free much faster.
Reduces Risk: Lessens the risk associated with carrying debt, especially if interest rates were to rise (for variable-rate HELOCs).
Frees Up Equity: Once paid off, that equity is fully yours again, available for future needs.
Use this calculator to experiment with different extra payment amounts and see how aggressive you can be to reach your financial goals sooner!
function calculateRepayment() {
var loanAmount = parseFloat(document.getElementById("loanAmount").value);
var interestRate = parseFloat(document.getElementById("interestRate").value);
var minimumPayment = parseFloat(document.getElementById("minimumPayment").value);
var extraPayment = parseFloat(document.getElementById("extraPayment").value);
var resultDiv = document.getElementById("result");
var repaymentTimeSpan = document.getElementById("repaymentTime");
var totalPaidSpan = document.getElementById("totalPaid");
var totalInterestSpan = document.getElementById("totalInterest");
// Input validation
if (isNaN(loanAmount) || loanAmount <= 0 ||
isNaN(interestRate) || interestRate < 0 ||
isNaN(minimumPayment) || minimumPayment <= 0 ||
isNaN(extraPayment) || extraPayment < 0) {
alert("Please enter valid positive numbers for all fields. Extra payment can be zero.");
resultDiv.style.display = 'none';
return;
}
var monthlyInterestRate = interestRate / 100 / 12;
var currentBalance = loanAmount;
var totalPaymentsMade = 0;
var totalInterestPaid = 0;
var months = 0;
var totalPaidAmount = 0;
// Ensure total monthly payment is at least enough to cover interest and principal reduction
var totalMonthlyPayment = minimumPayment + extraPayment;
if (totalMonthlyPayment 0) {
// This scenario often means the minimum payment itself isn't enough to cover interest,
// or the extra payment is too small. For simplicity in this calculator, we proceed,
// but a real-world scenario might require a higher minimum or alert the user.
// We will ensure totalMonthlyPayment is at least the minimum payment.
if (extraPayment 0) {
var interestAccrued = currentBalance * monthlyInterestRate;
// Prevent interest from accumulating if the payment doesn't even cover it
if (totalMonthlyPayment 0) {
// If the total payment is less than the interest accrued, the loan will never be paid off with these parameters.
// This can happen if the minimum payment is too low, or if the extra payment is negative.
// Let's assume the minimum payment is indeed the minimum, and extra can't make it worse.
// If minimumPayment + extraPayment is still less than interest, the loan grows.
// For this calculator, we'll alert and stop.
if (interestAccrued > totalMonthlyPayment && currentBalance > 0) {
alert("Warning: With the current minimum payment and extra payment, the loan balance may not decrease due to interest accrual. Please increase your total monthly payment.");
resultDiv.style.display = 'none';
return;
}
}
var principalPaid = totalMonthlyPayment – interestAccrued;
// Ensure principalPaid is not negative (should be handled by previous check, but as a safeguard)
if (principalPaid < 0) {
principalPaid = 0;
}
// If principalPaid is very close to zero and balance is still positive, it indicates an issue or a very long payoff.
// We need to ensure progress. If the balance is still significant and principal paid is negligible,
// it might suggest an issue with minimum payment vs interest.
if (principalPaid 0) {
// If balance is very small and payment covers interest, we might overpay.
// Adjust the final payment to exactly clear the balance.
var finalPayment = currentBalance + interestAccrued;
if (finalPayment > totalMonthlyPayment) { // If the exact amount needed is more than we planned to pay
// This condition implies the loan might still be growing if the planned payment is insufficient.
// Let's ensure the balance is cleared by taking the remaining balance + interest.
principalPaid = currentBalance; // Pay off the remaining principal
totalInterestPaid += interestAccrued; // Add the interest for this final month
totalPaidAmount += finalPayment; // Add the final payment
currentBalance = 0; // Loan cleared
} else {
principalPaid = finalPayment – interestAccrued; // This should be the remaining balance
totalInterestPaid += interestAccrued;
totalPaidAmount += finalPayment;
currentBalance = 0; // Loan cleared
}
} else {
currentBalance -= principalPaid;
totalInterestPaid += interestAccrued;
totalPaidAmount += totalMonthlyPayment;
}
// Ensure currentBalance does not become negative due to floating point inaccuracies
if (currentBalance 10000) { // 10000 months is over 833 years
alert("Calculation exceeded maximum iterations. Please check your input values. The loan may not be repayable with the given payments.");
resultDiv.style.display = 'none';
return;
}
}
// Adjust totalPaidAmount if the last payment was smaller
if (currentBalance === 0 && totalPaidAmount > loanAmount + totalInterestPaid) {
totalPaidAmount = loanAmount + totalInterestPaid;
}
var years = Math.floor(months / 12);
var remainingMonths = months % 12;
repaymentTimeSpan.textContent = years + " years and " + remainingMonths + " months";
totalPaidSpan.textContent = "Total Amount Paid: $" + totalPaidAmount.toFixed(2);
totalInterestSpan.textContent = "Total Interest Paid: $" + totalInterestPaid.toFixed(2);
resultDiv.style.display = 'block';
}