Pay half your payment every two weeks and you make 26 half payments a year. That is 13 full payments, not 12. Enter your loan to see what the 13th payment is worth, and what the look-alike plans really do.
Three different products use the same name. Only one moves your payoff date, and it is free.
| Plan | Each year | Payoff | Interest | Kept |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MonthlyYour current schedule | … | … | … | … |
| Twice a month24 half payments, often sold as “true bi-weekly” | … | … | … | …About $0 |
| Every two weeks26 half payments: accelerated bi-weekly | … | … | … | …The real one |
| Paid bi-weekly programThe same 26 drafts, minus fees | … | … | … | … |
Price a program
One honest note: many servicers hold half payments until month-end instead of crediting them when they arrive. If yours does, the small timing edge goes, and the whole benefit is the 13th payment itself. You can make that payment yourself, free, with no program.
Open any year to read its payments one by one. Interest is what the loan costs you that month; principal is what comes off the balance.
The CSV holds every payment, one row each, whatever is open here.
| Year | When | Interest | Principal | Extra | Balance |
|---|
One honest note: these rows are principal and interest only. Property tax, insurance, HOA dues, and PMI ride along in your real payment, and they do not change the payoff math on this page.
Step 3
The free way to get the same result: add one-twelfth of your payment to the autopay you already have. No program and no new payment dates.
The link holds your loan and your round-up, so a bookmark keeps them. The reminder is a calendar file your device makes; nothing is sent.
The calendar, payment by payment, and the shortcut the payoff calculator uses.
The same math at three prices.
Same arithmetic, three prices. Dollar figures use the example loan: $400,000 at 6.5% for 30 years. Run your own numbers above.
Divide your payment by 12 and add that as a principal-only extra to the monthly autopay you already have. On the example loan that is $211/mo. It captures the same $116,000-class savings as a bi-weekly calendar, within about $1,154 of the true 26-payment simulation. No servicer sign-off, no new payment rhythm, nothing to cancel. This is the set-and-forget version.
Paid every two weeks? Half-payments that match your paycheck can be easier to live with than one big monthly hit. That is a real budgeting win. Before enrolling, get two answers in writing: it costs $0, and each half is applied to the loan when received, not parked until month-end. If either answer wobbles, use #1; the math is identical.
Third-party programs run the same arithmetic and charge for it. The usual price: a setup fee plus a fee per draft, about $1,865 over the example loan at $295 + $2.50. That’s more than the entire benefit the “bi-weekly timing” itself provides. The savings they advertise come from your 13th payment, not their service. If a program you can’t cancel is truly the only way you’ll stick with it, it still beats doing nothing. But you are paying for arithmetic your bank does for free.
Each answer below uses your loan and what you pay now. Open a tool to change the rest; your numbers carry over.
Bi-weekly paymentsYou are here
Bi-weekly on the payoff calculator?
Try any extra amount, one-time payments or bi-weekly, and watch the date move.
Open the payoff calculatorSee every payment?
Every payment, split into interest and principal, with the rows an extra amount deletes.
Open the scheduleDebt-free in 20 years?
Or pay $61,225 once, today. Any other month works too.
Pick a dateDebt-free by age 65?
This line uses an example birthday, Jun 1985. The tool uses yours.
Price it in birthdaysInvest the $200 instead?
Assumes 7% a year after tax, to Jul 2056. Paying extra earns a guaranteed 6.5%; the 7% is not guaranteed.
Race the two roadsRecast after a $50,000 payment?
The new payment is $2,208.67. Keep paying $2,528.27 instead and the loan ends in May 2048.
See both roadsRefinance at 5.5%?
The usual formula says 25. This line uses an example offer: 5.5% and $6,000 in costs, rolled in, a year from now.
Price an offerPay off the loan a year from now?
Your statement would show $395,529.10. The payoff adds 14 days of interest at $70.44 a day.
Price the payoffWhen can PMI stop?
Without a request it stops at payment #102. This line uses an example home value of $450,000.
Find both datesOn a $400,000 loan at 6.5% for 30 years, an accelerated bi-weekly schedule (26 half-payments a year) saves about $117,000 in interest and ends the loan 5 years 10 months early. The savings scale with your balance and rate; enter your own loan above for the exact figure.
Exactly one. There are 26 two-week periods in a year, so 26 half-payments equal 13 full payments: twelve on schedule plus one extra that goes entirely to principal. That 13th payment, repeated yearly, is where essentially all the savings come from.
Twice a month is 24 half-payments a year: the same twelve full payments, just split. On the example loan it saves about $1,227 over thirty years, roughly nothing. Every two weeks is 26 half-payments (thirteen full payments) and saves about $117,000. Programs and even servicers blur the two, so count the drafts per year before believing any savings claim.
No. Add one-twelfth of your payment to your monthly autopay as a principal-only extra. That replicates the 13th-payment effect within a rounding error. No enrollment, no fees, no change to your payment date. The main payoff calculator’s bi-weekly toggle models exactly this.
They usually do send your money to the lender, so not a scam in the legal sense. But the savings they advertise come from your own 13th payment, not their service. The fees, often $1,000 to $2,000 over a loan’s life, buy arithmetic your bank does for free. Some also hold your half-payments until month-end, which removes even the timing benefit.
Common, and it doesn’t matter. Servicers that don’t run bi-weekly schedules will still accept a principal-only extra with your normal payment. Add one-twelfth monthly, or make one full extra payment each December; both land within dollars of the true bi-weekly calendar.
Crediting policy. This page assumes each half-payment is applied when it arrives, with interest accruing per period. Most U.S. mortgages actually accrue interest monthly on the scheduled balance, and some servicers hold halves until month-end. Every honest variant lands in the same savings band; the difference is a few hundred dollars across decades. The scheme that matters is 26 half-payments versus 24, not the crediting fine print.