15 Year Home Equity Loan Payment Calculator

Where a 15 year term sits in the range

A 15 year home equity loan turns a lump sum into 180 equal payments at a rate that stays put for the life of the loan. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau describes the shape of the product in its plain language explainer on home equity loans: money borrowed against the equity in the house, paid out at once, usually at a fixed rate, with the home on the line if the borrower stops paying.

Fifteen years is the middle of the usual menu. A ten year loan forces a bigger payment, a twenty or thirty year loan lowers the payment and stretches the interest. On 40,000 dollars at 9.25 percent the four common terms look like this: 512.13 a month over ten years, 411.68 over fifteen, 366.35 over twenty and 329.07 over thirty. Total interest runs 21,455.71, 34,101.84, 47,923.22 and 78,465.26 in the same order.

The 15 year payment lands 100.45 below the ten year figure and 45.33 above the twenty year one, which is why the term gets picked so often: it cuts the interest bill far below a twenty or thirty year schedule without pushing the payment up to the ten year level. The rate in every example here is illustrative, chosen to keep the arithmetic easy to follow. Real pricing comes from the lender's rate sheet, and the input box accepts any figure you have been quoted.

Pricing deserves its own question. The CFPB guide to loan terms notes that shorter terms often come with lower rates, by as much as a full percentage point on a first mortgage, because the lender carries less duration risk. Home equity pricing follows the same logic in general, though each lender publishes its own sheet. A 15 year quote can therefore beat a 20 year quote on both the rate and the total interest, which is the case for asking for two quotes rather than one.

The formula the calculator runs

One equation produces the payment:

M = P x [ r(1 + r)^n ] / [ (1 + r)^n - 1 ]

Here M is what leaves your account each month, P is the sum borrowed, r is the yearly rate divided by 1200, and n counts the payments, which is 180 on a fifteen year loan. At 9.25 percent r works out to 0.0077083. A zero rate cancels the interest term and leaves P split evenly across the months.

Rate changes move the payment by less than most people guess, but they move the total interest by more. Keeping 40,000 dollars on a 180 month schedule, a drop to 8.75 percent gives 399.78 a month and 31,960.30 of interest, while a rise to 9.75 percent gives 423.75 and 36,274.11. One percentage point of rate, from 8.75 to 9.75, is 23.97 a month and 4,313.81 over the term.

Extra principal is handled separately, because the formula only describes the scheduled payment. The calculator repeats the month by month arithmetic instead: interest is the balance times r, the rest of the payment plus your extra amount cuts the balance, and the loop stops when the balance reaches zero. That is the only honest way to answer what an extra 100 dollars does, since each overpayment changes the interest owed in every month that follows.

Worked example: 40,000 dollars at 9.25 percent

Take 40,000 dollars at 9.25 percent over 180 months. The monthly rate is 0.0925 divided by 12, or 0.0077083, and the formula returns a payment of 411.68.

Month one is mostly interest. The 40,000 balance at 0.0077083 produces 308.33 of interest, and only the remaining 103.34 touches principal, which is why the balance after the first payment is still 39,896.66. Month 180 is the mirror image: interest has shrunk to 3.15 and principal is 408.53.

Interest adds up to 34,101.84, or 46.0 percent of the 74,101.84 that leaves your account over fifteen years. Rounding the payment to 411.68 costs 56 cents against the exact figure, since 411.68 times 180 is 74,102.40 and the unrounded payment times 180 is 74,101.84.

Worked example: 75,000 dollars plus 100 dollars a month

Now a larger balance with an overpayment attached, the case the extra field is built for. A 75,000 dollar loan at 8.75 percent runs 180 months at 749.59. Interest over the full term is 59,925.57, and the first payment splits into 546.88 of interest and 202.71 of principal.

Add 100 dollars a month toward principal and the schedule shortens without the required payment changing. The loan closes in 143 months, which is 11 years and 11 months, and total interest falls to 45,677.61. The saving is 14,247.96, and 37 scheduled payments never happen.

The saving is not linear, which is the part worth understanding. The first 100 dollars of extra principal removes interest from month 181 backward, and each later overpayment removes less, because fewer months of interest remain for it to offset. Paying 100 dollars extra in month 170 saves almost nothing in interest, while the same 100 dollars in month 5 saves close to the full rate for fifteen years.

An amortization schedule makes the shape visible: 180 rows, each one showing the interest slice shrinking, the principal slice growing, and the remaining balance falling behind them. Ask the servicer for the file after closing, open it in a spreadsheet, and you can test any overpayment plan before committing to it. Autopay plus a fixed extra amount on the same date each month keeps the plan boring, which is what a fifteen year payoff should be.

Biweekly payment plans are the other common way to shorten the schedule. Half the payment leaves every two weeks, which is 26 half payments, or 13 full payments, in a year instead of 12. The extra full payment lands on the balance once a year and pulls the payoff date forward by roughly a year on a schedule this length. The arithmetic is close to paying an extra twelfth each month, and the extra field above models that version without any enrollment paperwork or servicing fee.

What the payment leaves out

The figure in the results box is principal and interest. Property taxes and homeowners insurance, which a first mortgage often collects in escrow, usually stay outside a home equity loan payment and keep arriving as separate bills. Budget for them on top of the number this page produces, along with any HOA dues.

Closing costs are separate again. A home equity loan can carry an origination fee, an appraisal, a title search and recording charges, and the CFPB notes in its guide to consolidating card debt that those costs can run into the hundreds or thousands of dollars. Rolling those charges into the loan instead of paying them at the table raises the balance, and every dollar of the increase carries interest for fifteen years. The itemized list arrives on the Closing Disclosure before you sign.

Equity, combined loan to value and the lender's checks

Equity is the home's value minus what is still owed on it, the definition the CFPB uses in the same explainer. A 350,000 dollar home with a 240,000 dollar first mortgage has 110,000 dollars of equity. Add a 40,000 dollar home equity loan and the combined loan to value is 80.0 percent, with 70,000 dollars of equity left.

Lenders set their own ceiling on that combined figure, and there is no federal number to quote, so the useful question at application is what cap the lender applies and how it treats a HELOC or a second lien in the count. Income, credit history and existing debts all enter the decision as well. The calculator shows the combined loan to value because it is the number a loan officer will mention first, and seeing it before the call makes the conversation shorter.

A home equity loan is secured by the house, so a missed payment puts the property at risk. The CFPB makes that point directly and suggests talking to a HUD approved housing counselor before borrowing to pay off other debts. HUD's housing counseling page lists the 800-569-4287 line for finding a local agency.

The three day window to cancel

A home equity loan is a non-purchase money mortgage, and that gives most borrowers a right of rescission. The CFPB explains in its answer on the right of rescission that the window is three business days, that Saturdays count as business days while Sundays and federal holidays do not, and that the clock starts only after three things happen: you sign the note, you receive the accurate Truth in Lending disclosure, and you receive two copies of the notice explaining the right to cancel.

Cancelling requires written notice to the lender, not a phone call, and the letter has to be delivered or mailed before midnight of the third business day. If the disclosure or the notice was wrong or missing, the CFPB notes the window can stretch to three years. Practically, that makes the days right after closing the easiest moment to walk away, before the money has moved.

Timing works like this: close on a Friday, receive the disclosures that afternoon, and Saturday counts as day one, Sunday does not, Monday is day two, so written cancellation has to go out by midnight on Tuesday. Funding is typically held until the window closes. Cancel inside it and the lender has to return any money or property paid as part of the deal, generally within 20 days of receiving the notice.

Interest deductibility under the 2025 IRS rules

The IRS Publication 936 for 2025 limits the mortgage interest deduction to debt secured by a qualified home, and only where the borrowed money buys, builds or substantially improves that same property. Spend a home equity loan on credit cards, a boat or tuition and the interest drops out of the deduction, whatever label the lender used. Qualifying debt caps at 750,000 dollars, half that for a married couple filing separately, and the return has to itemize on Schedule A before any of it matters.

The publication covers the 2025 return. Lawmakers have moved these thresholds before, so pull the edition that matches the year you file. Nothing in this calculator touches taxes. Bring the deductibility question to a preparer who can see the whole return, and read the payment figures here as loan arithmetic alone.