Bi-Weekly Payment Calculator
See how bi-weekly payments can make it easier to pay off loans fast.
A bi-weekly payment schedule is one of the simplest (and least known) ways to eliminate debt quickly. It sounds a little counterintuitive, but you make two extra payments yearly. As a result, you can eliminate your debt faster and save money on interest charges. This is most commonly seen with mortgage debt.
How bi-weekly payments work
- With a monthly payment schedule, you make 12 payments in a year.
- When you go to a bi-weekly payment schedule, the payment amount is about half of what you pay monthly.
- HOWEVER, you make 26 payments in a bi-weekly payment schedule in a year (52 weeks, divided by 2).
- So, while your payments are roughly half of what you pay on a monthly schedule because you make 26 payments instead of 24, you wind up paying more debt off every year.
Paying off your debt faster means fewer months where the lender can apply interest charges. Since interest is added at the end of every month, debt restructuring means fewer months where interest charges are tacked onto your total bill.
Why bi-weekly payments are effective
Think about it – every year you use a bi-weekly schedule, that’s one less month of added interest on your loan or that line of credit. That can be a significant difference on loans like your mortgage. For a 4-year auto loan, you could finish paying the total amount off in the first few months of that last year. With a mortgage, you could save years on the payoff, saving you thousands on added interest.
The calculator below is designed to help you assess the value of moving to a bi-weekly payment schedule on a loan. Just enter the current balance on the loan and the remaining term (the number of months to final payoff). If this is a good option, call your lender to see if they’ll allow you to adjust your payment schedule.
