HOW TO SLICE YOUR MORTGAGE IN HALF . . . LEGALLY

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HOW TO BEGIN

In order to apply the program to your homestead debt, you'll first need to obtain the amortization schedule specifically calculated for your mortgage. (If you don't have a copy, your loan company may charge about $5.00 to provide you with one.) It will resemble the table shown here. Now, figure out how many payments you've already made, so you can identify the interest/principal breakdown on the next month's installment. When you write out your check, add—to the amount you'd routinely owe—the total of the following five months' principal payments (they'll be surprisingly small) . . . and pay the entire sum to the mortgage company.

For instance, I had already made 24 payments before I started this plan. When the 25th remittance was due, I added the principal amounts for numbers 26, through 30 . . . which were—respectively—$10.35, $10.45, $10.55, $10.65, and $10.75 (as indicated on the amortization schedule) for an additional payment of $52.75. So that month I shelled out a total-including my regular remittance—of $300.25.

By doing this, I made six of the 360 payments at one time . . . and effectively beat the mortgage company out of $1,184.75 in interest charges that I would've paid had I allowed the mortgage to go its full life!

After one year of adhering to this procedure, I had covered 72 mortgage installments (20% of the loan's life) instead of 12 . . . at a total extra cost to me of about $700. Yet I'd saved almost $12,000 worth of interest charges in the process.

Now I know not everyone can afford to add five extra payments against principal to each month's check. However, any number of additional installments that you can manage to send will help. It does seem as if the banks would be against this kind of thing, but most aren't: After all, the sooner an old mortgage is paid off, the sooner the lending institution can offer that money to someone else (likely at a still higher interest rate).

I do hope you'll consider following my advice, because if your budget has room for this plan, it will reap you a lot of long-term savings, and help us all beat the high cost of living the American Dream!

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