Payment calculators are easily found on the web. Figuring out which one suits your needs is only a little bit harder and mostly a matter of understanding the output. Simple mortgage calculators generally ask you for a proposed interest rate, loan amount, and term (length of the loan), and the output is your estimated monthly payment. The mortgage calculator featured on this web site does a little bit more. In addition to your monthly payment calculation you are provided with what is called an amortization table.

Payment calculators can provide a great deal of functionality that may be of interest to you. For example, if you are calculating your new monthly payment on your loan you might also add in extra monthly payments into the calculation. Some homeowners who are able and willing decide to double their mortgage payment for a single month out of every year. If you have a mortgage that does not charge early repayment fees, this is a great way to shorten the term of your mortgage and pay less in interest over the life of the loan.

Debt consolidation loan payment calculators allow you to enter as many as a handful of your debts and a proposed new interest rate for the new combined loan. The advantage of debt consolidation is that you can reduce many separate monthly payments to a single bill every month. This makes your finances more manageable and makes it easier to pay on time. An additional reason to do a debt consolidation is to get cash out. Taking additional loan money at the time you consolidate your debt may actually increase your monthly payments. However, if you are in desperate need of money and you don’t want to rack up bills on yet another high interest credit card, your rates can be far better if you do it at the time you do your debt consolidation.

Refinancing payment calculators are an easy way to see how long you will need to stay in your home to recoup the costs of refinancing. This calculation is called a break-even analysis. If your break even time is longer than you intend to stay in your home, this means that the amount you save monthly thanks to the new lower interest rate will not surpass the amount you spent on refinancing charges before you move. This is an important consideration but less of an issue for homeowners who do not expect to move in the next 10 years.