Interest on a $300,000 Mortgage

On a $300,000 loan at 6.5% over 30 years, you will pay about $382,000 in total interest — more than the amount you borrowed. This is the hidden cost of a 30-year loan.

The full picture

Your total repayment would be about $682,000 on a $300,000 loan. Interest is front-loaded: in year one, most of each payment goes to interest, not principal.

Cutting the interest

Switch to a 15-year term and total interest drops to about $170,000. Add one extra payment a year and you save tens of thousands more.

See it for yourself

Our calculator's amortization chart shows exactly how much of each payment is interest versus principal, month by month.