Finance

Early Mortgage Repayment Calculator

Calculate how much interest you save by repaying your mortgage early, and choose between reducing the monthly payment or shortening the term.

Early mortgage repayment consists of returning part of the outstanding capital to the bank before the term stipulated in the contract. This reduces the outstanding debt and therefore future interest. The two main options are: reducing the monthly payment (keeping the original term) or shortening the total mortgage term (keeping the same payment). Most experts recommend shortening the term because the total savings in interest are significantly greater.

This calculator shows you in detail how much you would save in each scenario, including the early repayment fee applicable under Spanish Law 5/2019 for fixed and variable mortgages. Enter the outstanding balance, interest rate and months remaining, and you will get a clear comparison between continuing with the original plan or making an early repayment.

Your current mortgage
Early repayment

Current payment

869,94 €

New term

18a 2m

Interest saved

9123,67 €

Estimated fee

15,00 €

Comparison
Without repaymentWith repayment
Monthly payment869,94 €869,94 €
Remaining term20a 0m18a 2m
Remaining interest58.785,50 €49.646,83 €
Outstanding balance150.000,00 €140.000,00 €
Indicative fee: Variable mortgage: 0.15% (first 3 years) or 0.25% (years 4–5), 0% from year 6. Fixed mortgage: 2% (first 10 years), 1.5% from year 11 (Law 5/2019). This calculator applies the current maximum as a reference.

Calculations are indicative. The exact fee may vary depending on the specific terms of your mortgage contract.

Reducing the payment or the term: how it works

When you repay early you hand over capital that is deducted directly from the outstanding debt, and from there you can choose between two effects. If you reduce the payment, the term stays the same and the monthly amount falls, easing your monthly budget but you keep paying interest for the same number of years. If you reduce the term, the payment stays the same and what shortens is the number of remaining instalments, so you stop paying interest in the loan's final years. Since interest is calculated on the outstanding capital over time, eliminating whole years of debt saves considerably more than slightly lowering each monthly payment.

Worked example

Start from a €150,000 mortgage at 3% over 25 years, with a monthly payment of about €711 and a total interest cost of roughly €63,400. If you repay €10,000 at the start and choose to reduce the payment, the monthly amount falls to about €664 and total interest savings come to around €4,200. If instead you choose to reduce the term, you keep the €711 payment but finish 29 months earlier, and interest savings rise to about €10,600. With the same contribution, reducing the term saves more than twice as much here.

Effect of repaying €10,000 (€150,000 mortgage at 3% over 25 years)

OptionInterest saved
Reduce payment≈ 4.200 €
Reduce term≈ 10.600 €

How to interpret the result

Reducing the term saves more interest almost always, but reducing the payment gives more room in your monthly budget, which is valuable if your income is variable or you anticipate significant short-term expenses. A common middle strategy is to reduce the term while your finances are comfortable and switch to reducing the payment if difficulties arise. Bear in mind two practical factors as well: repaying early is more profitable the sooner you do it, because in the first years most of the payment is interest, and it is unwise to drain your emergency fund to repay, since getting that money back later would mean taking out a new loan, almost certainly more expensive than the mortgage.

Frequently asked questions

Reducing the term saves more in total interest because the capital generates interest for less time. Reducing the payment gives more monthly liquidity but less savings. If you have financial room, reducing the term is usually optimal.

It is worthwhile when your mortgage interest rate exceeds the return you would get by investing that money. With high rates (≥ 3.5%), early repayment is usually better than conservative savings products. With low rates, investing may be preferable.

The main residence acquisition deduction only applies to mortgages taken out before 1 January 2013. If your mortgage is later than that date, there is no income tax deduction for repayments.

Law 5/2019 on real estate credit contracts set clear caps. On variable-rate mortgages, the compensation cannot exceed 0.25% of the amount repaid during the first 3 years, or 0.15% during the first 5, depending on what was agreed, and is zero thereafter. On fixed-rate mortgages, the limit is 2% during the first 10 years and 1.5% afterwards. In addition, the lender can only charge the fee if it can demonstrate an actual financial loss, and it can never exceed that loss. For mortgages signed before 2019, the caps in force at the time of signing apply.

The comparison boils down to contrasting your mortgage rate with the net return you expect from the investment. If your mortgage is at 3% and you expect 6% from investing, mathematically investing wins, though you must deduct savings taxation (between 19% and 30%), which cuts that 6% to just over 4.5% net. Early repayment, by contrast, offers a certain, tax-free return equal to your loan's rate. With mortgages above 4% repaying usually pays off; below 2.5%, investing does. In between, your risk tolerance and the value you place on owing less come into play.

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