Yes — there’s a simple mortgage trick that can potentially cut years off your mortgage without making a huge change to your monthly budget:
The “13th Payment” Trick
Instead of making only your regular mortgage payments, make the equivalent of one extra monthly payment each year.
For example, if your mortgage payment is $2,500/month:
- Normal yearly payments: $2,500 × 12 = $30,000
- Add one extra payment: $2,500
- Total paid during the year: $32,500
That extra $2,500 goes toward reducing your mortgage balance. A lower balance means you pay less interest over the remaining life of the mortgage.
Even easier: split the extra payment
You don’t necessarily need to find $2,500 all at once.
Divide it by 12:
$2,500 ÷ 12 = $208.33
So you could add about $208 to every monthly payment.
You’re effectively making one additional mortgage payment every year.
Another powerful trick: accelerated biweekly
If your lender offers accelerated biweekly payments, you make half of your monthly payment every two weeks.
There are 52 weeks in a year:
26 half-payments = 13 monthly payments
That’s effectively one extra monthly payment each year.
The important part
Before doing this, check your mortgage agreement for its prepayment privileges. Canadian mortgages often have limits on how much you can pay extra each year without a penalty.
For your MortgageSmartHub website, this could actually become a great calculator:
“How Much Faster Can I Pay Off My Mortgage?”
Users enter:
- Mortgage balance
- Interest rate
- Remaining amortization
- Monthly payment
- Extra monthly payment
Use This Mortgage early payoff Calculator