Three Tips to Pay Off Your Mortgage Fast

Think you can't pay off your mortgage faster? It is easier than you might think to find the extra cash to pay down mortgage debt using these debt reduction strategies.

Mortgage Payoff Tip 1: Round up

Whatever your mortgage payment is, round up to the nearest $50 amount. So if your monthly mortgage payment is $868.00 per month, round it up to $900.00. Over the course of a year, you will have put an extra $384 toward your mortgage's principal without feeling much of a money pinch since it is only an extra $32 per month. Be sure to denote the principal payment on your remittance so the funds are applied to your mortgage loan appropriately. To get the most benefit for this method, pay extra as early on in your mortgage as you can afford to do so since early mortgage payments are heavy on interest and light on principal paid toward your loan balance.

Mortgage Payoff Tip 2: Apply windfall money toward principal

If it is near impossible to make additional payments toward paying down your mortgage loan, consider holding an annual yard sale to raise extra cash to apply toward the loan. Better yet, hold a sale twice a year and apply the sale proceeds toward your mortgage debt to pay off the loan even faster. Since items placed in yard sales are no longer needed or wanted, the money raised by the sale is an unexpected income boost, which doesn't factor into household finances and budgets anyway.

Mortgage Payoff Tip 3: Credit card cash back rewards

Paying even one extra payment per year will knock years off the life of a mortgage loan. Does your credit card offer cash back rewards? Make a point of requesting the cash back balance by check and use it to pay down principal. Since cash back is earned on credit card charges, arrange to have utilities, car insurance and other bills charged to your credit card to build your cash back balance faster. For customers who do not carry a balance on their credit card, this method equates to free money that can be used to pay off mortgage debt.