There's a trick to reduce the repayment period of your mortgage and save thousands of dollars in interest: Make extra payments which apply toward your principal. You can pay more on principal in various ways. Making one additional payment once per year is likely the easiest to arrange. If you can't pay an extra whole payment all at once, you can split that large amount into 12 smaller payments and pay that additional amount monthly. Finally, you can pay a half payment every two weeks. These options differ a little in lowering the final payback amount and reducing payback length, but each will significantly reduce the length of your mortgage and lower your total interest paid.
Some folks just can't make any extra payments. Keep in mind that almost all mortgages will permit you to make additional payments to your principal at any time. You can take advantage of this provision to pay extra on your mortgage principal any time you come into extra money. If, for example, you were to receive a surprise windfall just a few years into your mortgage, you could pay this money toward your loan principal, resulting in huge savings and a shortened loan period. For most loans, even this small amount, paid early enough in the mortgage, could offer huge savings in interest and in the length of the loan.
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