Should I pay off my mortgage early?
If you’ve got some extra cash, should you use it to pay down your mortgage?
Jeff Ostrowski has closely covered two nationwide housing booms and one devastating bust. Before joining Bankrate in 2020, he spent more than 20 years writing about real estate, business, the economy and politics. He previously worked as a reporter at the Palm Beach Post and the South Florida Business Journal.
From 2019 through 2025, Jeff served on the board of the nonprofit National Association of Real Estate Editors. He twice has won gold awards in the group’s journalism contest. His Bankrate coverage of housing affordability was also honored with a Best in Business award from the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing.
When he’s not working, Jeff enjoys surfing, biking and traveling, usually with a surfboard or bike.
Jeff is the author of How to Buy a Home in a Miserable Market, available in paperback and e-book on Amazon.
When you’re applying for a mortgage, shop around and do your homework — informed borrowers can save thousands of dollars over the life of their loan. Don’t fixate on finding the absolute perfect option, though, or timing your loan to a low point for mortgage rates. If you’re borrowing now, mortgage rates could go down in the future. Avoid worrying about all those things that are both out of your control and impossible to predict.
If you’ve got some extra cash, should you use it to pay down your mortgage?
The current average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage is 6.38, The average rate for the benchmark 15-year fixed mortgage is 5.67 percent, and the average rate on a 5/1 ARM is 5.57 percent.
Mortgage rates drop in hopes of a Fed rate cut
The current average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage is 6.24, The average rate you'll pay for a 15-year fixed mortgage is 5.47 percent, and the average rate on a 5/1 ARM is 5.50 percent.
Here’s how PMI removal works.
The current average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage is 6.37, The average rate for a 15-year fixed mortgage is 5.58 percent, and the average rate on a 5/1 ARM is 5.62 percent.
The current average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage is 6.32, The average rate for a 15-year fixed mortgage is 5.53 percent, and the average rate on a 5/1 ARM is 5.57 percent.
Understanding mortgage rate movements could save you money.
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